Blue Angels Crash (Merged)
 

Everyone's being pretty tight-lipped, but it appears a US Navy Blue Angel went down at an air show in Beaufort, S.C. No word about the pilot...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18248797/

Blue Angel down
 

Apologies if this is posted elsewhere on the board but I haven't seen it...Mods please relocate if you consider it appropriate.

"A member of the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels precision flight team has crashed during an air show in Beaufort, South Carolina, witnesses tell CNN."

The local newspaper, the Beaufort Gazette, reports:

"A Blue Angel crashed Saturday afternoon while performing at an air show at the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort.
Authorities say the pilot, still not identified, was killed in the crash.
It was not immediately known whether anyone else was hurt in the crash.
Emergency crews at the scene of the crash site called for the coroner about 4:20 p.m., indicating that the pilot was killed in the crash.
Police reports indicate that the Blue Angel clipped power lines near Shanklin Raod in Burton about 4 p.m. and went down about 30 minutes into the unit's show at Marine Corps Air Sttion Beaufort."

Dunno why but I always feel especially sorrowful when one of the "best of the best" of military types, chosen to be part of display teams, have the worst of all sh*t happen to them.

RIP whoever you are. Thoughts and prayers to your family and friends.

Blue Angels Crash
 

Just announced on the news tonight - apparently 1 pilot killed at a US air show. :sad:

Can't find anymore info yet.

Report here http://www.thestate.com/136/story/42843.html

RIP

really sad news. My sympathies to the pilot involved and their family
Questions do need to be asked - this is 23rd death in team's history

RIP
 

Terrible news - saw the Angels years ago as a cadet; wonderful stuff.

Thoughts with the family.

RIP

S41

G-d speed on your flight west...

So sad to lose anyone. These guys train so hard and so much yet the margin of error is so small.

Blue Angel Pilot killed in Air Show Accident
 

http://www.kptv.com/news/12736945/detail.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/04/21...ash/index.html

http://www.beaufortairshow.com/index.asp

http://www.blueangels.navy.mil/index.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xlFTbvVh9E

Apologies, did not see previous post!!!

The full story from Chicken Noodle News is here. This piece does not mention whether the pilot was in fact the flightleader. It does introduce speculation from an "off-duty air traffic controller" that a bird strike might have been the cause (he said it, I didn't!).

Certainly a tragedy, even more so when the "elite" are involved. It's my understanding airshow rules are pretty stringent in the US, but nevertheless this might invite even more scrutiny (parts of the wreckage reportedly landed in a residential area).

RIP LCDR Kevin J. Davis
 

Lieutenant Commander Kevin Davis is a native of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and graduated from Reading Memorial High School in 1992 where he played football and was active with the Civil Air Patrol. He attended Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Science with honors in 1996.


Kevin reported to Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola, Florida, for Officer Candidate School and aviation indoctrination in September 1996. He completed primary flight training at NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, and transferred to NAS Meridian, Mississippi, for intermediate and advanced flight training. While there, he flew the T-2C Buckeye and TA-4J Skyhawk, and received his wings of gold in June 1999.


Kevin reported to Fighter Squadron 101 (VF-101) at NAS Oceana, Virginia, for training in the F-14 Tomcat and was the "Top Stick" in his class. In July 2000 he reported to the VF-11 "Red Rippers" where he completed deployments aboard the aircraft carriers USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) and USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67). While with the "Red Rippers," Kevin served as the airframes/corrosion branch officer, air-to-ground training officer and head landing signals officer. His deployments included extended operations in the North Arabian Sea and Arabian Gulf in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.


In July 2003, Kevin transitioned to the F/A-18 Hornet through Strike Fighter Squadron 125 (VFA-125) at NAS Lemoore, California, and then reported to the Fighter Composite Squadron (VFC-12) "Omars," stationed at NAS Oceana, Virginia. While at VFC-12, Kevin served as a Navy adversary pilot providing valuable air-to-air training for fleet squadrons.


In December of 2004, Kevin graduated from the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN) as an adversary pilot. During his tour at VFC-12, Kevin worked as the schedules officer, legal officer, FRS/SFARP officer and assistant operations officer.


Kevin joined the Blue Angels in September 2005. He has accumulated more than 2,500 flight hours and 200 carrier arrested landings. His decorations include the Air Medal, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, and various personal and unit awards.

Check 6,
Thanks for that info,
He had accomplished so much.
I guess you just never know when your time is up
Very sad, condolences to the family.
Millski Aus :(

It crashed in a residential district, 8 civilians injured. Several houses on fire apparently.

RIP

Apparently members of his family were at the show. Very tragic.

Thoughts are with the family :sad:

Blue Angels' AirShow Crash
 

Blue Angels jet #6 crashed about 4 p.m. on Saturday 21 April, about three miles from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina. The F/A18 clipped the top of a pine-tree during a formation rejoin behind the crowd, in preparation for the team's grand finale flypast and pitch and break into the circuit for landing. The aircraft wreckage was scattered along a rural roadway, impacting a vehicle and several homes. Eight people on the ground were injured and the pilot died. The rejoin join-up comes after the downward bomb-burst known as the fleur-de-lis scatters the six team-members to the four points of the compass. Conjecture has centered upon the fact that the team doesn't wear G suits because the sudden inflation of the suit under g onset can affect the delicate stick-grip required for close formation flying. The inference is that G-LOC (or G induced loss of consciousness) may have therefore been to blame. Others have hypothesized about the possibility of a birdstrike penetrating the canopy and disabling the pilot. However there is another possible explanation, based upon eyewitness accounts of the aircraft's final maneuvering.
.
During the low-level rejoin, the traditional and classic threat is that of the concentration and focused gaze of the rejoining pilot on the low (inside) side of the leader's turn towards him being upward (i.e. upon the lead aircraft and the aircraft that he is supposed to follow in the rejoin). If the leader banks slightly further toward the rejoining #6 for geographic positioning alignment, this can have a much magnified and disproportionate effect upon the team-member rejoining from well down on the "low side" ( i.e. it can cause (for him) an unnoticed and inadvertent height loss). This is caused by the distant rejoining team-member rolling and pushing in concert with the leader's roll to a higher bank angle - in order to maintain his correct extended echelon rejoin "line" of relativity. This is a well-known cause of accidents in military rejoins, particularly at night or overwater - where inadequate peripheral vision of the terrain/water can fail the "low-man" formation rejoiner, simply because of where he is looking.

Dagger Dirk,
Are those your words or are you quoting someone else?

Synopsis sounds correct
 

.
Dagger Dirk's Summary sounds about right
.
"Joe Farrell, who had a plane on display at Saturday's air show, said the jet largely appeared in control.
"It looked like it was in absolute control all the way into the ground," he said.
"We watched the guys try to reform. He made the turn and slid right into the ground."
Saturday's show was at the beginning of the team's flight season, which began last month, and more than 100,000 people were expected to attend."
.
from link

- it matters not - it is absolutely right.