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A 74-year-old pilot died along with at least two other people after his Second World War-era aircraft crashed into a grandstand packed with spectators during an air race near Reno, Nevada.

Other reports have said that up to 100 people were injured, and that the number of casualties could rise overnight. Initial reports said a dozen people had been killed. 

Officials at the scene described a "mass casualty situation," with at least 25 people critically injured, according to The Associated Press.

Amateur video captured at the scene shows an aircraft plunging toward the ground and then smashing into a spectator area. The crash occurred around 4:30 p.m. local time.

Mike Draper, a spokesman for the National Championship Air Races, said that the aircraft involved was a P-51 Mustang, and that the well-known racing pilot, Jimmy Leeward, was killed in the crash. Some reports said Leeward was 80 years old, not 74.

Allan Leader, a videographer from Discovery Channel Canada who was at the airfield when the crash occurred, described a scene of pandemonium.

Leader said that he had been shooting video of the audience when he noticed a stark and sudden change in the mood.

"Very quickly, you could see in their eyes that something was going to happen," he told CTV News in a telephone interview Friday evening.

Moments later, there was an impact. Debris shot up from the ground and slammed into other audience members.

"It was utter disbelief," said Leader, who was standing a few hundred metres away from the tarmac when the crash happened.

The annual race, which features both civilian and military aircraft, draws thousands of spectators. But safety concerns have become more pressing in recent years after four pilots were killed during incidents in 2007 and 2008.

The event plays out like a car race 20 metres in the air, with the planes looping around a course at speeds of more than 800 kilometres per hour.

Some witnesses knew that something was wrong when one of the aircraft taking part in the competition began to lose control during a high-speed race.

"You saw pieces and parts going everywhere," said Jeff Martinez, who is also a local weatherman for KRNV TV.

Martinez also saw the plane pull to the right before it plunged straight down.

"Everyone is in disbelief," he said.

With a report from The Associated Press