I can't believe it. How devistating. It was the best show I had seen and it ends in tragedy. The plane crashed a few blocks from my buddies house too. We were trapped at the air field for hours.

Here is one of the last pictures of all six planes together.........










My heart goes out to the entire Blue Angel team and the family of the pilot.

RIP..those pilots are awesome.

These pics were minutes before the crash.








The last pic saddens me because there are only 5 planes and I can't remember if I just missed one or if it was right after the crash.

Nice pics, thank you.

Very Sad.

I have some other great pictures but this thread is reserved for the memory of the Blue Angels and the Number Six plane.


Last one....

They fly over my house practically every day, as I'm located right at the end of the runway.

They typically fly back to Pensacola late Sunday afternoon, doing at least one flyby of the house before they land.

Not sure what the protocol is, but perhaps they'll do the "missing man" formation tomorrow.

From what was going around he clipped a pine tree at the very end of the show and lost part of his wing. The fuselage went quite a ways further before hitting two houses and we heard he ejected but it was too late.

We were stuck for hours and most people didn't know why and once they did it was a little crazy. 10,000 people trying to leave the show at one time made for five foot increments of travel and every station broadcasting the news.

The whole area around us is covered with police, MP's, and every other street blocked and sections of woods taped off.

What a day.

That is very sad, this is the first time I have heard about a Blue Angels plane crashing

Quoted: That is very sad, this is the first time I have heard about a Blue Angels plane crashing

I believe he was #23....they used to lose more.

Several years ago the lead plane went long on a loop and hit the ground. The rest of the planes followed him in.

edition.cnn.com/2007/US/04/21/blueangels.crash/

Quoted: Quoted: That is very sad, this is the first time I have heard about a Blue Angels plane crashing I believe he was #23....they used to lose more. Several years ago the lead plane went long on a loop and hit the ground. The rest of the planes followed him in.

That was the Thunderbirds.

Quoted: These pics were minutes before the crash. img201.imageshack.us/img201/4563/p2210050hq2.jpg img148.imageshack.us/img148/6219/p2210047fv2.jpg The last pic saddens me because there are only 5 planes and I can't remember if I just missed one or if it was right after the crash.

You didn't miss one, that is a display that they do with 5 jets.

Some pictures I took Mar. 23, 2007 at Tyndall AFB, FL.

He probably had to ride the bird all the way to the ground to make sure the crash didn't kill anyone else.

No doubt it is sad indeed, and while of little comfort to anyone, in something like this, perspective holds value.

He went doing what he probably absolutely loved doing, and if you had to pick the way to go, no better way than doing what it is you love doing.

Blue Angel jet crashes at U.S. air show; pilot killed

Last Updated: Saturday, April 21, 2007 | 8:00 PM ET

The Associated Press

A U.S. Navy Blue Angel jet crashed during a South Carolina air show
Saturday, plunging into a neighbourhood of small homes and trailers and
killing the pilot, the county coroner said.

Witnesses said the elite team was flying in formation during the show at
the Marine Corps Air Station when one jet dropped below the trees and
crashed, sending up clouds of smoke. At least one home was reported on
fire.

Raymond Voegeli, a plumber, was backing out of a driveway when the plane
ripped through a grove of pine trees, engulfing his truck in flames and
debris. He said wreckage hit "plenty of houses and mobile homes".

"It was just a big fireball coming at me," said Voegeli, 37. "It was
just taking pine trees and just clipping them."

County Coroner Curt Copeland said the pilot was killed, but did not
release an identification. Copeland said there was a lot of debris at
the crash site and described the scene as horrific.

John Sauls, who lives near the crash site, said the planes were banking
back and forth before one disappeared and a plume of smoke shot up.

"It's one of those surreal moments when you go, 'No, I didn't just see
what I saw,"' Sauls said.

At the Blue Angels command headquarters at Pensacola Naval Air Station,
the petty officer on duty said he "had no comment at this time."

The phone rang unanswered at the marine base.

More than 100,000 were expected to attend the air show and the Blue
Angels were the main attraction. The elite aerial-demonstration team,
which is based at Pensacola Naval Air Station, recently celebrated its
60th anniversary.

Beaufort is about 60 kilometres northwest of Hilton Head.

Quoted: He probably had to ride the bird all the way to the ground to make sure the crash didn't kill anyone else.

That's about the only reason he wouldn't have ejected.

(CNN) -- A jet flying in formation with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels precision flying team crashed into a Beaufort, South Carolina, neighborhood, causing an "enormous fireball" during an air show, authorities said.

The Navy aviator was killed, Beaufort County Coroner Curt Copeland said. The F/A-18's pilot is the only known fatality.

Fred Yelinek told CNN he saw the crash occur about a mile from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, which was holding the two-day show. He said the jet came down about 100 yards from him with an "earth-shattering rumble."

Yelinek said the jet struck a stand of pine trees, and pieces of the plane hit homes, but he didn't see any catch fire. The pieces were "as big as a hand but no larger," he said.

The Associated Press described the crash site as a neighborhood of small houses and trailers.

Photos from the site showed a street littered with debris, some of it resembling blown-out tires, and nearby trees on fire with smoke trailing away. There were no large pieces of debris.

Pieces of a tree and the plane crashed into the home of a neighbor, Yelinek said, but she was uninjured. Pieces also hit other houses and smashed car windshields, he said.

"Most people were very shaken but unhurt," the witness said.

"I was working on a pump in the yard across the street from the initial impact, and I heard the Blue Angeles go over ... in a full, tight formation," Yelinek said.

"And then, four or five minutes later, I hear them coming again, expecting to see pretty much the same thing. But I didn't hear any strange noises. And then it was the crashing sound of pieces of the airplane coming through the trees in the yard across the street."

"And then a huge fireball, maybe 200, 300 yards further on down. The debris started from the first impact with a pine tree, which was maybe 100 yards from my location."

"Part of the tree and the debris went through a house in that yard, then the main body of the airplane continued on about 300 more yards and hit about one city block further down at the intersection of Shanklin and Pine Grove roads.

"There's a lot of houses on all four corners of that intersection. And there was a lot of fire at that intersection, and continuing thereafter."

Another witness, Gerald Popp, said the six jets had been flying for about five minutes before one of them turned south, toward the Broad River.

"I saw him go down lower than the trees, and next I saw a big black cloud of smoke," said Popp, who also lives in Beaufort.

Pam and Bill Edwards said they were watching the air show from the media stand when they realized something was terribly wrong.

"It was right at the end of the air show ... we counted four planes landing, and there was one circling in that smoky area right over the crash site," Bill Edwards said. "I looked around the sky, and there was nothing else there. Then we saw the emergency helicopter go up, and we automatically assumed the worst at that point."

Justin Cooke, an off-duty air traffic controller at the base, told CNN that some of the runways used in the air show are near military base housing, which gets constant flyovers from the base's jets. But he said he didn't think the jet crashed into the base housing area.

"From my understanding, northeast of base housing is a residential area," Cooke said.

Although he was unable to confirm the jet had struck there, he said "one of my Marines said the power was out temporarily, and stuff had knocked off their walls from the impact" of the crash.

"The base is on lockdown," Cooke said.

While the cause of the crash is unknown, he mentioned that birds pose a frequent problem to jets flying in the area, and can cause a crash.

"On an F-18, you have two motors, and if they take [a bird] in the engine, it could cause engine failure and shut that down," he said. He said the plane is capable of flying in excess of 450 mph.

The aerobatic maneuvers were to be repeated Sunday as part of the Low Country Blues Festival. The show also featured other aerial demonstration teams and civilian and military aircraft displays.

CNN meteorologists said the weather in Beaufort, which is near Savannah, was clear.

The last crash involving the Blue Angels was in 1999 in south Georgia. Two aviators were killed when their F/A-18 jet crashed while trying to land during a training flight.

Needless to say, those of us close to the team are pretty stunned right now.

I've talked to a couple of my friends who work with the team,  and there is no official word what happened. Some very informed speculation, but nothing I'm going to share.

My friends who are actually on the team haven't returned the one call I tried to make, understandably. I'm not going to try again until Monday.

I'm going to go be depressed now.

SG

The Air show is continuing tomorrow, but without the Angels.  I am stationed at MCAS Beaufort and it was really hectic here for a while, but all is quiet now.  Bad day in Beaufort.

Pat

This is my first show to ever see the Blue Angels and I will always remember it in honor of the pilot.

Quoted: This is my first show to ever see the Blue Angels and I will always remember it in honor of the pilot.

Which is exactly what he'd want.

SG

Quoted: (CNN) -- The Navy aviator was killed...

Word around the neighborhood is that he wasn't a sailor.

Nevermind.  That little tidbit came from a women who just explained to my wife that F/A-18's do not have ejection seats.  

RIP Aviator.

Quoted: This is my first show to ever see the Blue Angels and I will always remember it in honor of the pilot.

I have seen them a number of times, it takes a lot of skill to fly their displays.

God Bless him, and all of the Blues and their families at this time.

At least they're doing what they love to do.  RIP Pilot

May he rest in peace.


(BTW, that is three things so hopefully this stream of bad things is over)  

RIP

I always loved seeing them fly at air shows.

Quoted: Quoted: (CNN) -- The Navy aviator was killed... Word around the neighborhood is that he wasn't a sailor. Nevermind.  That little tidbit came from a women who just explained to my wife that F/A-18's do not have ejection seats.

That doesn't make much sense to me....

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: (CNN) -- The Navy aviator was killed... Word around the neighborhood is that he wasn't a sailor. Nevermind.  That little tidbit came from a women who just explained to my wife that F/A-18's do not have ejection seats.   That doesn't make much sense to me.... i57.photobucket.com/albums/g237/dizzlehollywood/CAYLEHO3.jpg i57.photobucket.com/albums/g237/dizzlehollywood/CASICNJD.jpg i57.photobucket.com/albums/g237/dizzlehollywood/CAGL23ON.jpg i57.photobucket.com/albums/g237/dizzlehollywood/CA4IIGAS.jpg i57.photobucket.com/albums/g237/dizzlehollywood/CAL9P8QW.jpg i57.photobucket.com/albums/g237/dizzlehollywood/CAGNNI35.jpg i57.photobucket.com/albums/g237/dizzlehollywood/CAADA5MZ.jpg

When I saw the picture with the Twin Towers in the background I said "oh, damn" out loud.    

Quoted: Quoted: (CNN) -- The Navy aviator was killed... Word around the neighborhood is that he wasn't a sailor. Nevermind.  That little tidbit came from a women who just explained to my wife that F/A-18's do not have ejection seats.

Actually it should read "Naval Aviator".
This includes Marine Pilots, they are Naval Aviators too.

A family friend has confirmed that the pilot killed was Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis.


United States Navy
Opposing Solo

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.




www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070421/NEWS01/70421022

Quoted: Quoted: (CNN) -- The Navy aviator was killed... Word around the neighborhood is that he wasn't a sailor. Nevermind.  That little tidbit came from a women who just explained to my wife that F/A-18's do not have ejection seats.

I'd tell your wifes friend to fuck right off...  

Performances by the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds are always very inspiring.  Truly amazing stuff...I see them every opportunity I get.

RIP Aviator  

this was a real American hero.  

thoughts and prayers to the family.  

Last year at the beach, we went through P-cola to Destin for the day.

The BA were practicing and we got a free airshow during our drive.

I have seen them a dozen times or more and am still reduced to a little boy with my mouth on the floor while watching them fly.


RIP #6 and my God show mercy to your family.

They do some very high risk flying and do it so well that they make it look easy.

Everybody has to go sometime, he went doing what he loved and at the top of the game.

Looks like he stayed with it to save the lives of others.  That's the highest ideal.

God bless him and all who loved him and flew with him.

Tag for those awesome BA pics on page 1, and massive SALUTE to LCDR Davis, a damn fine pilot.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds, – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless falls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, nor eer eagle flew –
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high, untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

Common sight in my neighborhood:

R.I.P.