Toledo (Spain), Aug 18 (IANS/EFE) Stunt pilot Alejandro ‘Alex’ Maclean, the only Spanish contestant in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship, died when his plane crashed near an airport in central Spain.

Sources close to the Casarrubios del Monte airfield and emergency services told EFE of the incident, which occurred shortly after midday Tuesday.

The accident, the causes of which are being investigated, occurred within an ‘acrobatic chimney,’ a zone set up in the airspace over the airfield for various types of contest manoeuvers.

Maclean, 41, was participating in the training sessions that the Red Bull Air Race – known as the ‘Formula 1 of the skies’ – periodically organises at Casarrubios.

Alex Maclean finished in ninth place in the latest edition of the Red Bull Championship and he had been Spain’s champion stunt pilot on several occasions.