--- description: Eddie Andreini had been flying since he was a teenager, but he died at 77 on Sunday when his plane crashed while upside title: Pilot Dies in Air Show Crash During Acrobatic Maneuver image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56770e2afa5a62ac/69868dd606f2c11d6232ebc8/pilot-eddie-andreini-crash.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Aviation](/tag/aviation/) ## Aviation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # California Air Show Cancelled After Pilot Dies in Crash  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent May 5, 2014 11:51 AM CUT  Pilot Eddie Andreini flies his Boeing Stearman over the crowd at Vandenberg Airforce Base, Calif., on Oct. 30, 2004, during the Western Air and Space Show. Pilot Eddie Andreini flies his Boeing Stearman over the crowd at Vandenberg Airforce Base, Calif., on Oct. 30, 2004, during the Western Air and Space Show.Aaron Lambert—Santa Maria Times/AP  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent May 5, 2014 11:51 AM CUT A vintage airplane [crashed](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-california-air-show-20140504,0,3925328.story "undefined") during an air show in California on Sunday, killing the septuagenarian pilot and causing officials to cancel the rest of the show. Eddie Andreini, 77, was killed when his PT-17 biplane crashed during the “Thunder over Solano” Air Expo at about 2 p.m. on Sunday, Travis Air Force Base said on its [website.](http://www.travis.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123409639 "undefined") A base spokesman told [Reuters ](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-california-air-show-20140504,0,3925328.story "undefined")that Andreini was doing an acrobatic maneuver before the crash. It wasn’t immediately clear whether anyone else was on board. Andreini had been flying since he was a teenager, and had been performing in air shows for the last 25 years, Col. David Mott told [CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/04/us/california-air-show-crash/ "undefined"). He also said the plane was upside down when it hit the ground. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/87614/california-air-show-cancelled-after-pilot-dies-in-crash/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/87614/california-air-show-cancelled-after-pilot-dies-in-crash/"},"headline":"California Air Show Cancelled After Pilot Dies in Crash","datePublished":"2014-05-05T11:51:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:38:57.570Z","description":"Eddie Andreini had been flying since he was a teenager, but he died at 77 years old on Sunday when his vintage plane crashed while upside-down in the midst an acrobatic maneuver during an air show at California's Travis Air Force Base","url":"https://time.com/87614/california-air-show-cancelled-after-pilot-dies-in-crash/","keywords":["Aviation","California","plane crash"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56770e2afa5a62ac/69868dd606f2c11d6232ebc8/pilot-eddie-andreini-crash.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56770e2afa5a62ac/69868dd606f2c11d6232ebc8/pilot-eddie-andreini-crash.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pilot Eddie Andreini flies his Boeing Stearman over the crowd at Vandenberg Airforce Base, Calif., on Oct. 30, 2004, during the Western Air and Space Show.","caption":"Pilot Eddie Andreini flies his Boeing Stearman over the crowd at Vandenberg Airforce Base, Calif., on Oct. 30, 2004, during the Western Air and Space Show.","creditText":"Aaron Lambert—Santa Maria Times/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/aviation/","name":"Aviation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/87614/california-air-show-cancelled-after-pilot-dies-in-crash/","name":"California Air Show Cancelled After Pilot Dies in Crash"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Calif. Air Show Crash Kills Well-Known Stunt Pilot","description":"Well known as a daring stunt pilot for decades, a 77-year-old California man died Sunday as tens of thousands looked on at an air show near San Francisco. Some witnesses questioned the response to rescue Eddie Andreini.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SFnQBYzz/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-05-05T16:21:56.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SFnQBYzz.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/87614/california-air-show-cancelled-after-pilot-dies-in-crash/","duration":"PT1M32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/87614/california-air-show-cancelled-after-pilot-dies-in-crash/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```