YUKON, Okla. (AP) – A single-engine plane crashed Sunday during an air race, seriously injuring the pilot and leaving a rescuer dead, authorities said.

The plane lost power and crashed shortly after noon. The pilot was airlifted to an Oklahoma City hospital and was listed in critical condition.

A member of the airport’s ground crew was killed when he fell from the back of a pickup truck racing to the scene of the crash, said John Clabes, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Fire officials said the small plane apparently hit the edge of the runway.

The two-day event at the Clarence Page Airport featured three to four races a day between heats of five planes.

Scott Rayburn, owner of Aerospace Refinishing Inc., a business on the airport grounds, said the planes involved in the races were small, propeller-driven aircraft between 12 and 15 feet long.

“They’re like oversized model airplanes,” Rayburn said. “This is definitely not something you want to fly in from here to Texas. They look like coffins with wings.”