UPDATE: MAY 11

APACHE JUNCTION - The pilot of the small plane that crashed, killing both people on board, near Mesa Gateway Airport  has been identified.

Pilot in fatal plane crash identified

azfamily.com

PHOTOS: Plane crash site
VIDEO: Pilot identified
RAW: Flight video from inside plane
VIDEO: Pinal Sheriff's office investigating crash

Aviation Performance Solutions, the company that operated the downed aircraft, has identified the pilot as 57-year-old James Clapper. He and his co-pilot, who has not yet been identified, took off from the airport early Friday afternoon and crashed shortly afterward.

Clapper was an experienced pilot with more than 20 years in both the Air Force and Air National Guard. He was also the Arizona State Champion in Advanced Aerobatics in 1995.

ORIGINAL REPORT:

APACHE JUNCTION -- A small plane has crashed in the remote desert area just east of Apache Junction in Pinal County this afternoon killing both aboard.

The area where the plane went down is about 3 miles southwest of the Renaissance Faire Locale east of Apache Junction near Schnepf and Ocotillo roads.

The plane is a single-engine acrobatic plane.

The circumstances around the crash are still unknown.

The Federal Aviation Administration has arrived to begin an investigation into the crash.

3TV found video from inside of the plane that crashed during a taped instructional flight. It shows the pilot going through various maneuvers in the plane.

The plane took off from Williamsfield Airport in Mesa around 2:30 p.m. Friday afternoon. The plane crashed nose first shortly there after.

The victims have not yet been identified, but 3TV has learned that they are both males, one in his 30s and the other in his 50s and both experienced pilots.

The Pinal County Sheriff's office will assist the FAA with the investigation.