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On April 30, 1926, Coleman was in Jacksonville, Florida. She had recently purchased a Curtiss JN-4 (Jenny) in Dallas. Her mechanic and publicity agent, 24-year-old William D. Wills, flew the plane from Dallas in preparation for an airshow and had to make three forced landings along the way because the plane had been so poorly maintained. Upon learning this, Coleman's friends and family did not consider the aircraft safe and implored her not to fly it, but she refused. On take-off, Wills was flying the plane with Coleman in the other seat. She was planning a parachute jump for the next day and was unharnessed as she needed to look over the side to examine the terrain.

About ten minutes into the flight, the plane unexpectedly went into a dive and then a spin at 3,000 feet above the ground. Coleman was thrown from the plane at 2,000 ft (610 m), and was killed instantly when she hit the ground. Wills was unable to regain control of the plane, and it plummeted to the ground. He died upon impact. The plane exploded, bursting into flames. Although the wreckage of the plane was badly burned, it was later discovered that a wrench used to service the engine had jammed the controls. Coleman was 34 years old.

Pretty interesting bio.

• She was born in 1892.
• She literally picked cotton, lol.
• Wikipedia also gives her the intersectionality of Native American because her dad was Cherokee
• She went to France twice to train with WW1 aces because US flight schools didn't train women or blacks
• She was killed because she bought a lemon.
• She died when her biplane yeeted her out during a spin because she wasn't strapped in as she wanted better mobility to scout for a future parachute jump, as she made a living as a stunt barnstormer.