Blue Angel 6 was killed in crash yesterday

Turkey · June 03, 2016, 10:52:41 AM

http://airshowstuff.com/v4/2016/blue-angel-6-killed-in-crash-during-smyrna-tn-practice/

Captain Jeff Kuss was practicing a split-s maneuver shortly after takeoff (a regular part of the Blue Angels airshow), in which he rolls inverted and levels out the opposite direction. He lost control and put the aircraft in a field rather than ejecting and letting it crash into a nearby bowling alley (this is largely speculation but has been supported by various accounts).

Just saw these guys preflighting their jets on the way in to work yesterday. These guys haven't had a crash in over a decade, and I can't imagine what they and their families are going through right now. Coincidentally, the Air Force equivalent team, the Thunderbirds, also had a crash earlier yesterday morning after performing at a graduation ceremony in which the president was speaking; their pilot safely ejected.

DAS B00T x2 · June 03, 2016, 10:55:31 AM

The fuck, I saw the Blue Angel crash yesterday but not the Thunderbirds.

And last week a performer who was going to be at the Mid Atlantic Air Museum's WWII weekend put a p47 into the Hudson...

Luciana · June 03, 2016, 10:56:18 AM

Huh, I was just reading about them again yesterday too completely unrelated to this. That's weird.

aREALgod · June 03, 2016, 11:21:11 AM

Glad he died a hero rather than ejecting and living as a coward

Kitsune 狐 · June 03, 2016, 01:59:29 PM

Wow poor guy.

Solonoid · June 03, 2016, 02:20:16 PM

What an hero.

🂿 · June 03, 2016, 07:11:10 PM

*presses F to pay respects*

June 03, 2016, 07:14:22 PM

That's terrible. He should've just ejected, but he made a sacrifice to protect the people in the bowling alley.