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.

I'd prefer to wait for the official investigators to release their findings.

Pilot named
 

Blues return home today
The Beaufort (S.C) Gazette
BEAUFORT, S.C. -- A U.S. Navy Blue Angels pilot was killed after crashing Saturday afternoon while performing at an air show.
Lt. Cmdr. Kevin J. Davis, a native of Pittsfield, Mass., was piloting the No. 6 jet when it went down at about 3 p.m. (CDT), 30 minutes into the show at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort (S.C.).
RIP

A Known Phenomenon
 

This same "inside of the turn" rejoin phenomenon caused an F4E crash off the Range at Evans Head, Qld and a number of crashes of Mirage III's off Saltash Bombing Range near RAAF Williamtown NSW (A3-61 & A3-77 & A3-109) and near RAAF Butterworth Malaysia (A3-32 & A3-37).
.
This RAAF F4E (reg: A69-7203) aircraft was lost 16/06/71 off Evans Head, NSW with the loss of both crew. Report extract below (from this link ):
.
During the bombing phase, the No.2 aircraft in the formation suffered a suspected hang-up of one bomb so a decision
was made to return via the alternate route to base with No.2 aircraft flying as leader.
The No.2 aircraft reported off the range at 1943 hrs, heading 120 M and climbing out to 6,500 ft. As he (the lead aircraft) was passing 2,500 ft the RSO instructed the formation to maintain 1,000 ft due to conflicting traffic (Cordite formation). The instruction was acknowledged by No.2 and he commenced a descent to 1,000 ft, turning to port onto a heading of 010 M. No.1, at this stage, was in the process of rejoining his No.2 on the inside of the turn from about three miles astern.
While the leader was levelling at 1,000 feet, he entered a patch of low cloud causing the rejoining aircraft to lose visual contact. The leader then stopped his turn until he emerged from the cloud and the joining aircraft regained visual contact. The leader then resumed his port turn and rolled out on the desired heading. He then looked behind to see lights, which he thought to be the other aircraft, at his 8:30 position and very low. Almost immediately the lights disappeared.
.
Leader's statement: 'The range then told me not to climb above 1,000 ft. I acknowledged and started a descent back to 1,000 ft. I also started a left turn. During the turn (30° bank) I entered cloud and No.1 called lost contact. I rolled wings' level and called my heading of 030 M. Shortly after, I broke out of cloud and he said "confirm heading 030". I replied "affirmative". He then said "contact, we're in your left eight o'clock, continue your turn".'
'I then rolled left to a heading of 010 M (only about 20° of bank was used). After No.l's call, my navigator advised me that he had the aircraft in sight and that he was moving into position.' 'Once I was steady on 010 M, I looked to the left and saw what I believe was an aircraft in my left 8.30 position, very low on me. This almost immediately disappeared...'
.
Extract #2
Evaluating the evidence
During the investigation, the route flown by the formation on the night of the accident was reconstructed, using two other Phantom aircraft. The pilot of the rejoining aircraft reported the following observations.
'As No.1 commenced the descending left turn, I attempted to match his angle of bank and remain in the same plane as his wing. To do this I had to be at a lower altitude than No.1. Although I had prior knowledge that No.1 was to descend and there was a good visual horizon on this day, there was no sensation of a descent when remaining in the same plane as No.1's wing.'
When No.1 went into the 20° left bank turn onto 0100M, I matched his angle of bank and when I noticed that he was rolling wings level, I rolled into a 30° right bank turn to effect the rejoin as I was approximately one mile from No.1 in his low 8 o'clock position. My altimeter at this point indicated 3,000 ft. and No.1 was still at 4,000 ft.'

Thanks BOAC, no need for an investigation then.:ugh:

Video of Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis aka KOJAK
 

http://www.nctimes.com/movie/blueangel/viewer.html Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis aka KOJAK

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cc9_1177225142 MCAS Beaufort Air Show photos, and crash site photos

http://myaviation.net/search/photo_s...100&size=large photo of fallen Blue Angel 6

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/04/21...ash/index.html CNN update story and crash scene video

I take my children to the end-of-season Blue Angels show every year in Pensacola. Their act is riveting. I also know 3 ex-Blues that now fly for my company. This is so tragic. We spend so much time talking about the worthlessness of today's youth - this guy was 33 and had accomplished so much. A sad day indeed.

- reviewing your posting history, FC, it appears you have significant difficulty reading and understanding. It is a pity you choose this sad thread concerning a loss of life and injury to amply furthur demonstrate this.

IF you re-read the post by DD, you will see that no single cause was suggested, but the items covered are all relevant and worthy of discussion. My point to you was what difference does it make where his 'words' come from?

I happen to feel particular sadness at this accident, having been in that world, and I know that the low-level rejoin is a particular hazard and nearly caused my demise on one occasion.

Putting all that aside, does anyone know how far into the season they were?

First show of their Season
 

a. I'm familiar with this particular rejoin trap because I lost a friend to it and I've nearly been there myself.
.
b. It ranks next to one other leader trick that also nearly wrote finis to my military career. That was a low speed rejoin of a six-ship at low-level with me on the inside and just about "in" when the leader called "speedbrakes go". That's when you find out about all you know about flying with crossed controls without losing sight or taking it into the flick,spin,crash,burn,die addenda.
It's very hard to bug out of a low-level rejoin when you're on the inside of a turn and performing for a crowd. MMSOBGYTAST
.
DD

Hi BOAC, I believe this was their sixth venue for the 2007 season.


2007 schedule

Don't know whose words these are but I believe the writer described the Delta Vertical Break, not the Fleur de Lis (the Blues do both).

At the moment, it matters not who is right about the cause of this tragic accident, what matters is that a fellow aviator has 'gone West'. To his family and friends I offer my sincere condolences. RIP

...yet another 'Airshow' crash
 

....yup, sure looks like loss of situational-awareness during a critical low-altitude rejoin maneuver. However, the mishap pilot was performing a tight, fast 'descending turn' to join with his Blue Angels formation.

TV News today broadcast a brief amateur video of this F-18 crash -- I recorded it on DVR... and reviewed it frame by frame.

The main Blue Angels formation (5 aircraft) was straight & level at about 500 ft AGL (tree tops in the frame); two of those aircraft were just rejoining to close formation with the leader. The 6th aircraft suddenly enters the field-of-camera-view very high & left of the leader (9 o'clock high on the leader with a large heading differential).

This 6th {mishap} aircraft is in a steep (~60 degrees) left bank with a high descent rate (...like a dive-bomb pass). Looks like he's trying to make a 120 degree left, descending turn to align with the leader's heading & rejoin. He gets thru ~90 degrees of turn, below the leader's altitude & about 1500 ft behind-- and vanishes into the treetops. The whole thing happens in just a few seconds.

I've commented previously here about the high mishap rate in 'airshows', worldwide. This incident reinforces my opinion. :sad:

Whatever..........
 

Sincere condolences to all those affected by this tragic accident.

RIP Kojak

MoJo

Ok.. I think certain people should leave this investigation to the real professional crash investigators. I think an "expert" opinion is a bad thing. Perhaps some of you lot should read your posts again.... This is a rumour network not an authority.

I live not far from Dobbins/(former) Atlanta NAS. Our regional newspaper is called the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Last year,the then Lt Davis took one of the AJC's reporters up for a demo flight. Here on Pprune, we enjoyed the resultant videos. At the time, I remember thinking what a thoroughly nice chap he was, letting the reporter know what was going to happen, how, and when. He was so enthusiastic, too. I watched the videos again tonight in silence with my other half.

RIP Lieutenant Commander Davis.

God bless all. Keep safe.

Here's the famous video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65fZhws76Jk

And here's reporter Steve Beatty's eulogistic remembrance of that day a year ago:

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news...crashside.html

Airbubbas,
Do you have the link to the full version of the famous vid ?
Still can't nelp feeling a little sad for him and his family
:(

This is the original "DREAMS" clip featuring A-4F's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzMzGXRUlaM

here is the remake of "DREAMS" featuring F-18A's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUDPjsvjRkA

RIP LCDR Kevin Davis USN

Unctuous
 

The RAAF incident report you refer to is over 35 years old. Rejoins at low level are not flown as suggested by the comments from the 'rejoining aircraft' in Extract 2. The lesson was learned for obvious reasons. Hardly a 'phenomenon'.

The Blue Angels fly without G-suits. From the vid I get the impression he either blacked out or stalled? Hitting the tree was after the fact. Had to be.