He has been identified by United States officials as Marine Captain Jeff Kuss. A U.S. Navy spokesman confirmed about 3:30 p.m. that a Blue Angel jet was involved in an incident.
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Two months ago, when the squadron arrived at the Smoky Mountain Air Show in Alcoa, Tennessee, Kuss told a reporter from WATE-TV that he remembered looking up at the Blue Angels as a little boy. “It is hard to deal with, but my job is to have press conferences like this and deal with it”, said Michael Emoff, who has been with the Dayton Air Show for 12 years.
A native of Durango, Colo., Kuss joined the Blue Angels in September 2014 and had accumulated more than 1,400 hours of flight time.
As the Navy’s Blue Angels prepare for the Marine Corps Beaufort Air Show in SC, the CBS News correspondent goes for a spin on one of …
The Blue Angels were practicing to perform at an airshow in Smyrna this weekend.
The Navy says the pilot was beginning to take off during an afternoon practice session when the crash happened. Its president, Bud Shuback, couldn’t have been impressed more by the lead pilot the Blue Angels sent to Westover to represent them. The pilot was able to safely eject from the jet. It’s the Blue Angels right?
Meantime, the military community in western MA is still in shock after yesterday’s crash, as Captain Kuss had flown at the Great New England Air Show at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee.
It was the second fighter jet crash of the day for the military’s elite fighter jet performance teams. “We extend our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to the family of the pilot, and those he served with”, said the Navy in a published statement.
The Navy’s elite flying team was expected to be the main attraction at the Syracuse airshow, which is scheduled for June 11 and 12. He said, “Professional but at the same time personable”.
The Blue Angels, like the Air Force’s Thunderbirds and Army’s Golden Knights Parachute Team, are seen as ambassadors for the branch of service they represent. That pilot ejected safely.
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The famed Blue Angels will not fly this weekend at The Great Tennessee Air Show after a deadly accident on Thursday.
