Video of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels plane crash has hit the internet, with the cell phone footage showing a giant fireball as the F/A-18 jet crashed during a practice run in Tennessee on Thursday.
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However, representatives from the U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team are still scheduled to appear.
In a news release, Navy officials said the pilot of the F/A-18 jet was taking off around 3 p.m. when the “mishap” occurred approximately two miles from the airport runway.
There have been at least four crashes and five deaths involving Blue Angels pilots since 1980, according to a search of news reports. “We will investigate this accident fully and do all we can to prevent similar incidents in the future”, Adm. John Richardson, the Navy’s top officer, said in a Facebook post.
“He was a smart guy who worked hard and grew a lot in his time here”, said Dr. Stephanie Owings-Edwards. “We extend our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to the family of the pilot, and those he served with”.
Captain Kuss graduated from Durango High School and studied economics at Fort Lewis College in Durango.
Kuss is a Durango native, and his parents still live and work in Durango.
His jet crashed during a training flight in the Smyrna, Tennessee area.
He promises whether the Blue Angels are a part of it or not, the show won’t disappoint. He joined the Blue Angels in September 2014 and has accumulated more than 1,400 flight hours and 175 carrier-arrested landings.
Phelps said the nausea didn’t leave him the entire time but, despite getting sick, he took away a lot of fond memories from his time with Kuss.
A witness told WTVF that all of a sudden one of the planes flew by very close, then took a nose toward the ground.
Relatives say a Blue Angels pilot who died when his jet crashed in Smyrna had wanted to fly since he was a child. “It made me realize what incredible shape and endurance Blue Angels pilots have to be in”.
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Baldor reported from Washington. TheBlue Angels were practicing for the show. Events have included special community meetings with current and former Blue Angels and flyovers by the team of downtown Pensacola.
