Atlanta(CNN) The pilot was killed Saturday afternoon when a biplane crashed during an air show at a metropolitan Atlanta airport, authorities said.
DeKalb County public information officer Shiera Campbell confirmed Sunday that Greg Connell was the pilot.
The webpage for Connell's company said he lives in Trenton, South Carolina, and began flight training in 1989.
The biplane and another aircraft were performing stunts in tandem during the next-to-last performance of the day at the Good Neighbor Day Open House Airshow at DeKalb Peachtree Airport, said CNN Digital news writer Melissa Gray, who attended the show with her family and witnessed the crash.
Popular planes and how to recognize them
Boeing's 787 Dreamliner has been in commercial service since 2011. There are currently two variants -- the 787-8 and the 787-9 (pictured). Its unique jagged nacelle (engine cover) makes it easy to spot.
The new generation Airbus A350XWB entered commercial service in January 2015. There are three sizes -- the A350-800, A350-900 and A350-1000 -- but the only one in service now is the A350-900. Plane-spotting tip: It's the only airliner with curly wingtips.
Chances are you've flown on a 737, which has been around since 1967 and is the best-selling airplane of all time. It comes in several variants. To distinguish it from the Airbus A320, look at the nose. It's pointier.
The A320 is one of the world's best selling aircraft thus a popular sight on runways around the world. Its forward tail is straight and flush with the fuselage, unlike its short-haul rival, the Boeing 737, which has a V connection (see previous photo).
The wide-body twin-engine Airbus A330 is primarily used on medium to long-range flights. It has a large wing tip and a pointed nose. It comes in two sizes -- the A330-200 and the longer A330-300 -- and has been in service since 1994.
On November 28, 2005, Boeing wrapped up the 23-year run of the single-aisle 757 passenger airplane with the delivery of the 1,050th and final plane to Shanghai Airlines. There are still hundreds of them in service though. They come in two versions -- the 757-200 and the 757-300.
The 757 is often confused with Boeing's larger 767. Coming in three size variants, the 767 was the company's first wide-body twin-jet and took its first flight in 1981. Differences between the two Boeing families include size, nose shape and position of the front wheel.
Only the Airbus A380, the A340 (pictured) and Boeing 747s have four engines. Unlike the Boeing 777, the A340 has a conical exhaust vent. Expect to see fewer A340s in the skies as the years pass given Airbus stopped producing them in 2011.
The Boeing 777 family comes in two sizes -- the 777-200 and the 777-300. How to know you're looking at a Boeing 777-300? It's longer than other single-deck planes and has five doors on each side of the aircraft.
No prizes for picking this one out of the skies. In 2007, the four-engine Airbus A380 "superjumbo" took the place of the Boeing 747 as the world's largest passenger jet, first entering commercial service with Singapore Airlines. It's the only aircraft with two decks.
Sadly these beautiful birds will likely become harder to spot, with Boeing recently announcing their
manufacturing rate is to be halved to six a year. The world's first wide-body airline, the Boeing 747 went on to change not only aviation but the entire tourism industry. Like the A380, it's an easy one to spot -- it's the only plane with an extra half deck.
Video shot at the show and posted on YouTube showed the two planes flying past each other low to the ground. The biplane ascended for a loop and came straight down to the ground.
"It immediately split apart, with the front of the plane rolling a few times in a fireball," Gray said.
Fire trucks responded and put out the fire, Gray said. No spectators were injured. The announcer said the show in Chamblee was over and the crowd left.
"It happened directly in front of the crowd," Gray said. "There were no gasps from the crowd. It was as if everybody could not believe what they had just seen."
Another CNN employee at the airshow, Senior News Editor Amanda Watts, said the biplane appeared to be shaking and "acting squirrely" before the crash.
"Around me, everybody sucked in air, then silence," she said. "It was a skeleton of a plane left. It was completely burned out."
The crash was the first in the three decades of the annual air show, according to Campbell.
There are scores of air shows, large and small, throughout the world, especially during summer months. The Good Neighbor show is one of 33 in North America this month, according to the International Council of Air Shows.
One of the worst accidents occurred last August at Shoreham Airport in southeast England. Eleven people were killed and 14 were injured when a vintage jet plane crashed onto a highway during a performance.