Top Gun: Maverick flight instructor dies in small plane crash during air show in New Mexico | US News
The flight instructor who trained actors in the 2022 Top Gun: Maverick movie has died in a small plane crash during an air show in New Mexico. Charles Thomas “Chuck” Coleman was the only person on board the two-seat Extra Flugzeugbau EA300 monoplane when it went down around 2:30pm local time on Sunday. Mr Coleman was performing aerobatics when the plane crashed during the Las Cruces Air and Space Expo at Las Cruces International Airport, city officials said. The air show was called off after the crash, which happened about half a mile west of the airport. Mr Coleman’s website said he was based out of California and was an engineer, aerobatic and test pilot with more than 10,000 hours of flight time. He performed at hundreds of air shows and had provided more than 3,000 rides in aerobatic aircraft, according to his website. As the instructor for actors in Top Gun, which stars Tom Cruise, he flew more than 100 flights to prepare the cast for flight in US Navy F-18 Hornets. Image: Chuck …