Algernon D’Ammassa Las Cruces Bulletin

This story was last updated on October 20 at 10:10 PM.

The second annual Las Cruces Air and Space Expo came to an abrupt end Sunday afternoon when a plane crashed during an aerobatic flight over the city’s municipal airport west of downtown.

In the immediate aftermath of the crash, the city released some details: A single plane crashed at about 2:30 p.m. The pilot was not identified as family members were notified. Later, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported that New Mexico State Police, who conducted the initial investigation, confirmed that a person had been killed.

The Las Cruces Bulletin could not independently confirm the death Sunday evening, but tributes appeared on the Facebook page of stunt pilot and flight instructor Chuck Coleman.

The event, which was scheduled to end at 4 p.m. on Sunday, was immediately canceled.

A livestream of Sunday’s air show appeared to show that the crash occurred around 2:32 p.m. during a solo aerobatic performance by Coleman.

Spectator Terre Blevins, who attended both days of the expo, captured Coleman’s thrilling display on her cell phone.

For four minutes, Coleman performed loops, rolls and Cuban maneuvers, regularly pulling straight up and gliding over the runways with a stream of white paraffin smoke trailing the plane. Then suddenly the plane seemed to tumble awkwardly before nose-diving into the ground and disappearing behind a layer of desert undergrowth some distance from the spectators.

“It was a big mess,” Blevins recalled, “and then I looked at the guard next to me. I thought, ‘Did he crash?’ And she just took off running.”

Blevins said she brought her 87-year-old father, an air show enthusiast, and they met Coleman briefly before his performance. She said they were both in shock after witnessing the crash.

“He died doing what he loved,” she said. “I feel bad for his family.”

The livestream’s audio captures the sounds of onlookers exclaiming in horror, and the announcer asking them to remain in their seats as first responders rush to the crash site. The livestream ends abruptly just after a fire vehicle is able to race down the runway.

Blevins said that after first responders arrived on the scene, spectators were instructed to leave the airport quietly and refrain from posting about the crash on social media until more information was available.

According to his website, Coleman is an aerospace engineer, air show stunt pilot and flight instructor who has flown in hundreds of air shows flying an Extra Flugzeugbau 300L two-seat aircraft. This was the plane he flew on Sunday, according to his appearance at a media event at the airport on October 18, when he pointed to the plane on the tarmac behind him.

Coleman has also appeared in films and television, and trained actors in the film “Top Gun: Maverick.”

Neither city police nor state police reported there were any passengers on Coleman’s flight.

A phone number associated with Coleman went straight to voicemail on Sunday evening, as commenters on his Facebook page reported witnessing his plane crash.

Coleman had also flown at the first aerospace expo last year.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more details become available.