Max Nash / AP
In this Sunday, July 29, 2007, file photo, acrobatic pilot Mike Mangold of Victorville, Calif., stands with a trophy after winning the British leg of the Red Bull Air Race World Series over the Thames River in Greenwich, London.
Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015 | 12:07 p.m.
APPLE VALLEY, Calif. — A two-time world champion Red Bull air racer has died in a jet crash in Southern California.
The company announced Monday that 60-year-old Mike Mangold was one of two people killed in Sunday's crash at Apple Valley Airport northeast of Los Angeles.
Authorities say the two were in an L-39 — a high-performance jet trainer developed in Czechoslovakia — when it crashed in a fireball shortly after takeoff. The other person on board hasn't been identified.
Mangold, a graduate of the Air Force's elite weapons school, flew jets for American Airlines and competed in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship, winning the overall title in 2005 and 2007.
Red Bull says after retiring from competition, Mangold was a commentator and a pilot coach.
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