What happened
On May 31, 2015, at approximately 1430 UTC, a midair collision occurred near Corropoli, Italy, involving two aircraft: a Vans RV8, registration I-LOVI, and a Vans RV7, registration I-AMEL. Both aircraft were participating in an airshow and were performing in a "mirror formation" at the time of the accident.
During the maneuvers, the I-LOVI appeared to lose altitude and struck the I-AMEL. The impact caused the RV8 to break up in flight before falling into the Adriatic Sea. The pilot of the RV8 sustained 1 fatal injury. The pilot of the RV7 performed a forced landing into the sea and was able to exit the aircraft with 1 minor injury.