Blue Angels plane down in SC (1 Viewer)

[Michael_K_Sr]

Apparently crashed in an airshow in South Carolina. Details slow coming in.

 

[Henry Gale]

http://www.airventure.org/2006/news/...s_davis_sm.jpg

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Very sad news. My initial guess is an equipment failure of some sort (which would be shocking...they keep those planes in pristine condition), based on what the witnesses reported. It was the #6 plane/pilot, which is one of the solos (though they do some formations with 1-4). The pilot was killed, but I don't believe anyone else was. A small sliver of good news, I suppose.

 

[MarkHastings]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070422/ap_on_re_us/blue_angel_crash;_ylt=Aks8RaBetdWRgfUrgfiL.3Gs0NUE

It doesn't say if anyone else was killed, but it crashed into a bunch of homes....that doesn't sound very good.

 

[Kirk Gunn]

Tragic.... Always look forward to their annual Naval Academy graduation performance here in Annapolis. Hope they are able to identify and rectify the problem quickly and continue to thrill the crowds.

Interesting comment in the article states they do not wear G-Suits. Perhaps the maneuvers are not actually "that radical", so are not required ?

My heart goes out to his team and family members.

 

[Brian Perry]

I am one of the few people who don't get all that excited by these air shows -- I'm not sure if the danger is played up to create the sense of excitement for the viewer, or if the danger of spectacular crashes is real and therefore an unnecessary risk for people on the ground. If they weren't a recruitment tool for the Navy/Air Force (presumably), I wonder if the shows would even be legal.

 

[mylan]

I need to look this one up further but the maneuvers are "very radical" and the reason they do not use the G suit is that it inflates around the lower part of the body to prevent blood pooling but can also cause the pilot to jerk the stick (no jokes, please) and crash into the next plane. The pilots use a technic where they tense up their abdominal muscles. These pilots are truly the best at what they do.

 

[Keith Mickunas]

mylan basically has it right. In order to keep their sticks incredibly steady, they have a spring pulling them forward, then they rest their arms on their legs. If they wore the G suit their arms would move. All pilots have to show they can withstand a certain amount of Gs without the suits in normal training. After all, they need to continue flying even if the suit were to fail.

It's not unheard of for them to crash due to mechanical problems. Just a few years ago one crashed just off the beach near Pensacola. I never heard what the cause was, but I know the pilot ejected and was OK and later returned to flight status with the team. Also the plane was in shallow enough water that they were able to recover it. So it most certainly couldn't have been pilot error.

The problem is that when they are flying close to the ground a catastrophic engine failure is nearly impossible to recover from. My guess based on the little bit of information available is that a bird was involved. It's possible the pilot didn't eject because he saw the houses and tried his best to not hit them.

 

[MarkHastings]

That was my guess. My mom asked "Why didn't he eject?" and I said that he probably sacrificed his own life to avoid the plane wrecklessly crashing into a bunch of homes and killing innocent people.

Considering the plane didn't kill anyone else, it looks very likely that this is what he did.

 

[bobbyg2]

I saw the Blue Angels perform down here in Florida March of 2006. They were really good. A shame that this had to happen... :frowning:

 

[stumpfoot]

I remember as a kid they would fly over my grandmas house during the air show becasue she only lived a few miles from the airport.