FORT LAUDERDALE - A small plane whose pilot was practicing stunts for an air and sea show crashed Friday in the Atlantic within view of a crowded beach, killing the aviator, officials said.
Pilot Ian Groom was recovered from the water but was pronounced dead at Broward County Medical Center, Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue said. No one else was on the plane.
Groom, piloting a Sukhoi 31, a Russian-built, single-seat plane, was practicing stunts about 2:15 p.m. when he entered a flat spin and failed to recover, said Kathleen Bergen, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
The plane was practicing for the McDonald's Air & Sea Show that begins today, officials said.
Hundreds of beachgoers saw the plane's wings sheared off as it hit the water about 2,000 feet offshore. Bergen said the Coast Guard and divers responded immediately.
Gun safety demonstrator shoots self
ORLANDO - A federal drug agent's supervisors are investigating after he shot himself in the leg during a gun safety presentation to children.
The Drug Enforcement Administration agent, whose name was not released, was giving the presentation on April 9 to about 50 adults and students organized by the Orlando Minority Youth Golf Association, witnesses and police said.
He drew his .40-caliber duty weapon and removed the magazine, according to the police report. Then he pulled back the slide and asked someone in the audience to look inside the gun and confirm it wasn't loaded, the report said.
Witnesses said when he released the slide, one shot fired into the top of his left thigh.
"The kids screamed and started to cry," said Vivian Farmer, who attended the presentation with her 13-year-old nephew.
"But the point of gun safety hit home. ... After seeing that, my nephew doesn't want to have anything to do with guns."
The agent was treated at Orlando Regional Medical Center and returned to work, DEA Special Agent Joe Kilmer said.
Piracy judgment against O.J. Simpson
MIAMI - DirecTV moved closer to winning its lawsuit against former football star O.J. Simpson for allegedly pirating its satellite television signal when he failed to respond to the company's complaint.
A clerk issued a default judgment Thursday at the request of attorneys for DirecTV Inc., which brought the suit March 4. Simpson, served April 5, did not respond by the Monday deadline.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard must still issue a formal ruling and decide whether to award damages. Federal agents removed satellite TV equipment from Simpson's house in the Kendall neighborhood during a search Dec. 4, 2001. The raid occurred as authorities were investigating Simpson in an alleged Ecstasy and satellite signal theft ring. Simpson was never charged.
