BEAUFORT, S.C. Apr 21, 2007 (AP)— A Navy Blue Angel jet crashed during an air show Saturday, plunging into a neighborhood of small homes and trailers and killing the pilot.
Witnesses said the planes were flying in formation during the show at the Marine Corps Air Station at about 4 p.m. and one dropped below the trees and crashed, sending up clouds of smoke.
[...]
The crash took place in the final minutes of the air show, said Lt. Cmdr. Anthony Walley, a Blue Angel pilot. The pilots were doing a maneuver which involved all six planes joining from behind the crowd to form a Delta triangle, said Lt. Cmdr. Garrett D. Kasper, spokesman for the Blue Angels. One plane did not rejoin the formation.
Aυτο το ξερατε;
The Blue Angels fly F/A-18 Hornets at high speeds in close formations, and their pilots are considered the Navy's elite. They don't wear the traditional G-suits that most jet pilots use to avoid blacking out during maneuvers. The suits inflate around the lower body to keep blood in the brain, but which could cause a pilot to bump the control stick a potentially deadly move when flying inches from other planes.
Instead, Blue Angels manage G-forces by tensing their abdominal muscles.
In their entire history, 24 pilots from the group have been killed in air show or training accidents. There have been 261 pilots and squad leaders in the squad's history giving the job a 9% casualty rate.
Προηγουμενο ατυχημα σε airshow πρεπει να ειναι αυτο
July 5, 1985 - Aircraft 6 and 7 (A-4F) collide at Niagara Falls, killing Lt. Cmdr. Michael Gershon.
