The Air Force pilot, who safely ejected from his Air Force Thunderbird before it crashed in Colorado, has ties to the Capital Region.
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News of the crash broke while Obama’s motorcade was returning to Peterson Air Force Base for his flight back to Washington.
A Thunderbird pilot ejected safely before his jet crashed in El Paso County.
ABC news reported that President Obama thanked Turner for his service and expressed relief he wasn’t seriously injured. He also thanked the first responders who acted quickly.
Officials say they are canceling the shows while they investigate Thursday’s crash, but they didn’t say how long the team will be grounded.
The ceremony ended with a bang, as fighter jets in tight formation streaked across the sky over the stadium as graduates tossed their caps high in the air.
The pilot was in good condition, but he will undergo medical screenings, according to the Thunderbirds team.
The pilot in this case was able to eject from the cockpit and parachute to safety.
Two fighter jets from the military’s elite performance teams crashed within hours of each other Thursday. The Thunderbirds have an annual operating budget of $35 million, said Air Force Staff Sgt. Katie Maricle, a spokeswoman for the Air Combat Command.
“We have to chart a smarter path”, he said.
He said it appeared the nose was ripped from the rest of the F-16. “So anything that involves that, I am full of smiles afterward”, Capt. Kuss said. “I ran outside. Three or four degrees to the left and that jet would have hit our house”.
“I was (deployed) out on an aircraft carrier”.
The plane crashed in a field around 1 p.m.
The Thunderbirds are scheduled to headline the Toledo Air Show on July 16 and 17.
“Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do anything or no because- let that be your fuel and just prove them wrong because if we stopped every time someone told us no, we wouldn’t have made it through prep school or anywhere”, said another graduate. Nobody on the ground was injured during the crash, officials said on Twitter.
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There were concerns that the Thunderbirds would be forced to miss the show on June 18-19 because of yesterday’s crash of Thunderbird 6.
