Russia's aerobatic team Russian Knights has pulled out from the MAKS 2009 air show because of a fatal collision between two of its Su-27 fighters, a Russian Air Force spokesman said Monday.

"All aerobatic teams from the Russian Air Force listed for the MAKS 2009 air show, except the Russian Knights, will perform at the event in line with the program," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Russian Air Force spokesman Vladimir Drik as saying.

Two Russian Knights fighters collided in mid-air near the Zhukovsky airfield southeast of Moscow on Sunday. The team's commander Igor Tkachenko was killed, and two other pilots and five civilians were wounded in the accident.

The two fighters were rehearsing for the MAKS 2009 air show that opens on Tuesday. First held in 1993, the biannual MAKS air show is Russia's largest and most important exhibition in the aerospace industry.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have expressed their condolences to Tkachenko's family.

The Russian Knights aerobatic team, which specializes in Su-27 fighters, was formed on April 5, 1991.