Body of US stunt pilot David Riggs found in lake in northeast China

The body of a notorious US stunt pilot has been found in a lake in northeastern China where he had crashed during a rehearsal for an air show earlier this week.

David Riggs, whose pilot’s license was suspended at the time of the accident, crashed into Lake Caihu near Shenyang city in Liaoning province on Tuesday. Divers recovered his body on Friday.

An 18-year-old Chinese woman who was working as his translator also perished in the accident.

“It's likely he was killed on impact, but we don't know for sure yet," Zhang Fang, the head of the search team, told the Associated Press.

Riggs crashed while attempting a tricky stunt in which the wheels of his high-performance single-engine Lancair 320 skimmed along the surface of the water at high speed.

His plane broke into pieces after hitting the lake.

The well-known Hollywood stunt pilot was one of the star attractions of the AOPA-China Fly-In 2013, which began Friday.

He was less popular back home where his antics had led to pilot's license being suspended twice and convictions for bank, wire and passport fraud, the AP said.

His behavior had also inspired a website called aviationcriminal.com, which was aimed at bringing him down.