Pictured: The air show pilot who perished in fiery plane crash after plummeting to earth in front of thousands of horrified spectators

• Pilot identified as Glenn A. Smith, of Frisco, Texas
• Soviet-era plane was flying in formation with two other jets when it suddenly plummeted to the ground, killing pilot
• Crash happened in front of thousands of horrified spectators at the Quad-City Air Show in Davenport, Iowa

Casualty: Glenn A. Smith was the CEO of the Warbird Educational Foundation, which owned the Soviet-era jet he was flying

A pilot died yesterday after his vintage plane crashed at an air show in Iowa.
The Soviet jet plummeted to the ground in front of thousands of horrified spectators on Saturday in a massive explosion.
The accident at the annual Quad-City Air Show occurred near a busy interstate highway in Davenport, Iowa.
The pilot of the doomed flight was identified on Sunday as Glenn A. Smith, of Frisco, Texas.
Smith was CEO of the Warbird Educational Foundation that owned the Soviet-era jet he was flying.
The L-39 jet, developed in the former Czechoslovakia in the late 1960s, crashed around 1.30pm on Saturday, according to Jacob Pries of the Davenport Police Department.
The jet was flying in formation shortly before it crashed alongside the I-80 highway.
It plowed into a field near the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center in northern Davenport.
There were no injuries or reports of any damage on the ground, Mr Fries added.
Smith, 58, was the newest member of The Hoppers Jet Team, a squad of pilots who fly the L-39 jets at air shows.

Crash: A pilot has died after his plane went down during the Quad-City Air Show in Iowa

Horrifying: The accident took place near a busy freeway on Saturday afternoon

Plane: The L-39 jet, like the ones pictured above, were developed in the former Czechoslovakia in the late 1960s

According to the Hoppers website, Smith has been flying for about 24 years and held a commercial pilot's license.

A squadron of planes flew over the crash site on Sunday in the 'missing man' formation before the air show continued.

Police spokesman Don Schaeffer said at a news conference that the plane flew directly into the ground, and the pilot did not have enough time to eject from the plane.
'He never had an opportunity to come out of it,' he said.

Tragedy: The pilot of the Soviet-era military training jet has not yet been identified

Emergency: Workers have been combing the fields around the crash site for clues to its causes

Davenport police and federal investigators planned to comb the field for widely scattered wreckage from the plane.
Mr Schaeffer estimated parts of the plane were strewn over an area up to 220 yards, or a tenth of a mile.
Schaeffer said he had no information about what may have caused the crash.
Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration were at the scene, but they did not take part in the news conference.
The crash investigation was expected to resume Sunday morning, Schaeffer said.

Distraught: One of the plane's owners comforts the family of the victim following the disaster