Posted: 4/23/2007 3:43:33 PM EDT
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The local news (Charleston, SC) has shown a couple accounts from witnesses to Saturday's crash who say the pilot rode the jet in to avoid houses. One elderly woman whose home was damaged by debris said, "If he didn't have control of it, I wouldn't be here." No greater love... 
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I wouldn't be surprised if that turns out to be the case. Knowing the boys like I do, that would've been one of the first priorities after he realized he had a problem. That said, the video I've seen of the crash, and the conversations I've had with those close to the team indicate he went down AWFULLY damned quick, especially given the manuever he was doing, which wasn't particularly violent. I'm still bummed about it, and feel for my friends on the team that knew Kojak way better than I did.  SG |
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From today's Boeing News: Fallen Angel The Facts Behind The Blue Angels Air Show Crash Air Safety Week 04/30/2007 Blue Angel #6 crashed about 4:00 p.m. on April 21, three miles from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina. The F/A18 clipped the top of a tree during a formation rejoin behind the crowd, in preparation for the team's grand finale flypast for a pitch and break into the circuit for landing. Understanding why these spectacular accidents happen increases the aerodynamic body of knowledge for accident investigators in the commercial aviation arena. The April 21 aircraft wreckage was scattered along a rural roadway, hitting a vehicle and several homes. Eight people on the ground were injured and the pilot died. This was the 26th death in the aerobatic team's history and the third fatal Blue Angels crash in 10 years. In 1999, two pilots of the Blue Angels were killed when an F/A-18 crashed into a stand of pine trees in Georgia as the team practiced for a show. The rejoin join-up comes after the downward bomb-burst known as the fleur-de-lis (or Delta Vertical Break) scatters the six team-members to the four points of the compass. Conjecture about the cause of these crashes has centered on the fact that the team doesn't wear lower body G suits because the sudden inflation of the suit under g onset can affect the delicate stick-grip required for close formation flying. The inference is that G-LOC (or G induced loss of consciousness) may have been to blame. Others have hypothesized about a birdstrike penetrating the canopy and disabling the pilot. However, there is another possible explanation, based on eyewitness accounts of the aircraft's final maneuvering and a snatch of video footage. During the low-level rejoin, the classic threat is that of the concentration and focused gaze of the rejoining pilot on the low (inside) side of the leader's turn towards him being upward. (i.e., he is looking up skywards at the lead aircraft and also taking spacing on the aircraft that he is supposed to follow in the rejoin). If the leader banks slightly further toward the rejoining #6 for geographic positioning alignment, this can have a much magnified and disproportionate effect on the team-member rejoining from well down on the "low side". It can cause for the rejoining team-member an unnoticed and inadvertent significant height loss This consequence is caused by the distant rejoining team-member rolling and pushing in concert with the leader's roll to a higher bank angle, to maintain his correct extended echelon rejoin "line" of relativity (and to keep visual contact). This is a well-known cause of accidents in military rejoins, particularly at night or over water, where inadequate peripheral vision of the proximity of terrain/water can fail the "low-man" formation rejoiner, simply because of where he is looking. The dynamics of the Blue Angels crash are difficult to visualize in four dimensions. However #6, joining in turn as the last rejoiner, had to resolve his early rejoin geometry and go from high 8:30 (relative to Lead) with a large heading differential to low on the inside of the leader's left turn (as the formation re-formed up behind the crowd at 500ft AGL). In the video of the mishap, the aircraft is seen in a steep left bank with a high descent rate. He gets through about 90 degrees of turn, rolling left and descending, still looking towards Lead for his echelon rejoin line and to be co-planar with Lead's bank-angle. He is about 1,500 ft behind when he vanishes into the treetops. To visualize an "echelon rejoin line", think of a line between the leader's eyes and his own port wingtip, and extend it. That projected line changes both as Lead turns (laterally) and whenever he rolls (vertically). Lead can therefore unintentionally influence a large height change on a distant rejoiner looking to straddle that line, simply by changing his bank angle. Why does the rejoiner need that line? Rejoin geometry says that for a brisk but controlled rejoin, he must rejoin along that echelon line (or just below it) or risk latterly losing sight of the leader (or the whole formation) below his RH canopy sill, and that would constitute a severe collision hazard. The dilemma is that his concentration and focus must necessarily be on the formation (to his right and above) and the required geometry of his rejoin, and so he can fatally forget momentarily about the ground on his lower left-hand side. A moment is all that it takes. Overcooked rejoins have always been one of the greater formation flying threats, particularly at low-level and with the added pressure of time when performing in front of a crowd. Joe Farrell, who had a plane on display at Saturday's air show, says that the jet largely appeared in control. "It looked like it was in absolute control all the way into the ground," Farrell says. "We watched the guys try to reform. He made the turn and slid right into the ground." Saturday's airshow was the seventh display from the commencement of the team's flight season, which began last month. The Navy's Blue Angels are stationed in Pensacola and scheduled to fly in another 66 air shows this year. The F/A18's flight recorder was found in a pond next to the crash site. Military investigators say it is in good shape, and it has been sent away for analysis." If you're not Boeing, this link probably won't work: BNN Angel Link Merlin |
God bless him |
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One of the people I work with has a daughter that's an Enlisted member of the Blue Angels. She's an AD2, aircraft turbine engine mechanic second class. Last year she brought her family to SeaFair to meet the Blue Angel team. Her mom told me that Lcdr. Kevin Davis was a down to earth kind of guy, someone who really liked the enlisted team members and who had no problem having a beer or listening to their problems or giving them a pat on the back. She told me that her daughter and the entire jet engine shop has really taken the death of Kevin hard, they know that they have to go on as it's what Kevin would have wanted them to do. The next time I have a beer I'll raise the glass and give a toast and thank God that there are men and women like Lcdr. Kevin Davis in the US Navy, and I'll ask God to keep each and everyone of them safe. Eternal Father, Strong to save, Whose arm hath bound the restless wave, Who bid'st the mighty Ocean deep Its own appointed limits keep; O hear us when we cry to thee, for those in peril on the sea. O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard And hushed their raging at Thy word, Who walked'st on the foaming deep, and calm amidst its rage didst sleep; Oh hear us when we cry to Thee For those in peril on the sea! Most Holy spirit! Who didst brood Upon the chaos dark and rude, And bid its angry tumult cease, And give, for wild confusion, peace; Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee For those in peril on the sea! O Trinity of love and power! Our brethren shield in danger's hour; From rock and tempest, fire and foe, Protect them wheresoe'er they go; Thus evermore shall rise to Thee, Glad hymns of praise from land and sea. |
The two videos I've seen would support that hypothesis. The jet was certainly in control as it went in. SG |