Blue Angel aircraft has gone down

[benjaminarthurt]

Blue Angel Down at Airshow

Saturday, Apr 21, 2007 - 04:26 PM


NEWS 3 has confirmed a Blue Angel aircraft has gone down somewhere near Pine Grove Road in Beaufort. NEWS 3 has crews on the scene and we'll have the latest tonight at 6 and 11.

From www.wsav.com

Also on CNN

 

[benjaminarthurt]

CNN is reporting that the aircraft is down in a "residential neighborhood". Sounds like this could be bad, does anyone in the area have a confirmation?

 

[SCPD]

Someone has to be listening on the scanners is this area...... Any word on the pilot?

 

[ScannerDude244]

I just read it on my local news website

http://www.theksbwchannel.com/news/12736945/detail.html

 

[fireant]

they had a report on CNN confirming one dead however did not state if it was the pilot or a person in the neighborhood.

fireant

 

[scannerfreak]

Fox new confirms coroner in route, unknown for who yet. Sad, I used to watch them every year at El Toro Air Force Base growing up as a kid. My Grandmother worked there and we always had the VIP seats up front.

 

[fmon]

Fox new confirms coroner in route, unknown for who yet. Sad, I used to watch them every year at El Toro Air Force Base growing up as a kid. My Grandmother worked there and we always had the VIP seats up front.

However, Fox had a text streaming indicating the pilot was killed. They were interviewing Capt Nash USN Retired at the time.

 

[fireant]

Any one know which plane # crashed?

fireant

 

[blueline_308]

Plane 6

 

[abqscan]

Any one know which plane # crashed?

fireant

Reports said it was #6

http://www.beaufortgazette.com/breaking_news/story/6477257p-5768379c.html

 

[usnasa]

Did anyone record the radio transmission from this very sad story ?

 

[Smith29180]

I was there and had scanner on and in hand when they was finishing up and begining their final approach. I looked up and only seen 5 then looked towards us 21 and saw the smoke .No comms from #6 he was having trouble only the boss told the other to land like normal and he would go back to the smoke and circle till help arrived . Then the controlled chaos began. Up till then it had been a perfect day great weather and great performers. Our thoughts and Prayers go to the family of LCDR Kevin J Davis.
Ron

 

[usnasa]

thank you Smith29180

 

[bpalmer]

I just got back from the crash site. The pilot did not make it and at least 8 on the ground injured.

The aircraft went through a lot of trees and power line before impact and debris scattered for as best I can tell a half mile or more before the resting place.

Billy KE4CEV

 

[jerry12]

any up date on what happen ?

 

[bpalmer]

Knowing how long aircraft incidents take to investigate it may be a year before anyone knows for sure, unless some sort of black box was in place and shows a mechanical or electrcial fault.

Yesterdays airshow with the blues had an estimated 90,000 folk todays without the blues only an estimated 30,000.

Good airshow today and a very good missing man formation by the Geico Skytypers Former T-6 Navy aircraft.

 

[poltergeisty]

Fox new confirms coroner in route, unknown for who yet. Sad, I used to watch them every year at El Toro Air Force Base growing up as a kid. My Grandmother worked there and we always had the VIP seats up front.

I too have seen the Blue Angels many, many times. It's interesting you mention El Toro. Do you remember the jet crash there back in the early 90's? I think it was 92-93 and was a F-15.

We were just leaving when we heard these jets take off (among the other sounds of jets in the air) and looked back at the runway to see, when this one taking off I guess didn't have enough power and hit the ground. Huge explosion! of course and security was all all over the place. One thing about explosions , first you see it, then you hear it, then you feel the heat. That's how close we were to the runway. Miraculously and unbelievable, the pilot did live and a few years latter was on that show Rescue 911 hosted by William shatner.

When I was in the boy scouts, one of my scout leaders was an Air traffic Controller there at El Toro. I believe El Toro isn't a functioning base anymore, however I have been searching through Google maps, looking a various places I know reminiscing of the past for hours on end and noticed that the base seems still functioning.


In case someone didn't see the report.

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/playe...cident&Horrible Accident&US&-1&News&208&&&exp

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/playe... Alive&Lucky to Be Alive&US&-1&News&159&&&exp

 

[scannerfreak]

I too have seen the Blue Angels many, many times. It's interesting you mention El Toro. Do you remember the jet crash there back in the early 90's? I think it was 92-93 and was a F-15.

We were just leaving when we heard these jets take off (among the other sounds of jets in the air) and looked back at the runway to see, when this one taking off I guess didn't have enough power and hit the ground. Huge explosion! of course and security was all all over the place. One thing about explosions , first you see it, then you hear it, then you feel the heat. That's how close we were to the runway. Miraculously and unbelievable, the pilot did live and a few years latter was on that show Rescue 911 hosted by William shatner.

When I was in the boy scouts, one of my scout leaders was an Air traffic Controller there at El Toro. I believe El Toro isn't a functioning base anymore, however I have been searching through Google maps, looking a various places I know reminiscing of the past for hours on end and noticed that the base seems still functioning.


In case someone didn't see the report.

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/playe...cident&Horrible Accident&US&-1&News&208&&&exp

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/playe... Alive&Lucky to Be Alive&US&-1&News&159&&&exp

Absolutely remember this, May of 1993, but that pilot died. I think the one you are referring to where the guy lived was in 1988 and I wasn't there for that. The Jet that crashed in 93 was a F-86 if I recall. That weekend they had the "new" stealth bomber on display and my sister and I and we were actually over checking it out when the crash happened. We heard it and saw the smoke, but my father and grandmother were still in their seats (front row VIP seats literally right in front of the runway) and my Dad video taped the whole thing. They said they could feel the heat of the crash on their faces. If I recall he was doing a loop and never pulled back up and went nose down into the ground. I never saw the tape as I was a teenager and my Dad would not let me view it.

He turned it over to the base right away as my grandmother was an AA for a very high ranking official there and he never got it back. On a side note, My favorite part of the Air show was the ground display with the tanks and the jets flying over bombing targets. Man that was cool. It was always cool how we got to sit up front in nice cozy chairs with refreshments and food with roughly 500,000 people sitting in the grass/dirt behind you I even got to sit in the cockpit of a Blue Angel (still have the pics) begging for them to take me up, lol.

You are right, the base was closed, not sure what goes on there now, I could always ask my grandmother she retired from there in 1994 which was my last show. Those were the days!

 

[b52hbuff]

Absolutely remember this, May of 1993, but that pilot died. I think the one you are referring to where the guy lived was in 1988 and I wasn't there for that. The Jet that crashed in 93 was a F-86 if I recall.

Ah El Toro chat. I arrived to CA in '92 and pretty much went every year until the base closed.

Here is the F-86 crash:
http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/2006-8-22_F_86_El_ToroCrash.wmv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeNCfkKGi7U

Watching the video still makes me wince. I was there but didn't see the point of impact. I was in the grandstands, but there was a slight obstruction in front of me. At first, I thought the flames were part of a pyro demo.

My understanding i that this was simply pilot error. He started the loop too low. The pilot was part of a Sabre/MiG team. The Sabre pilot got sick, so instead of doing the normal routine, the MiG pilot flew the Sabre solo.

Here is the accident report:
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20001211X12416&ntsbno=LAX93LA199&akey=1

One interesting point is that the pilot mirepresented himself as an A-4 pilot.

As for the F-18 crash, that was before my time:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/319177/aviation_military_f16_f_16_falcon_f18_crash/

The title is messed up, but the video is in fact the F-18. The comments provide more reference.

as for El Toro itself, here is base information:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/el-toro.htm

Orange county is tearing up the whole thing. The runways are being ripped up, even though John Wayne airport is packed and has shorter runways.

Interesting recycling article:
http://www.cdrecycling.org/press/el-toro.pdf

 

[scannerfreak]

Ah El Toro chat. I arrived to CA in '92 and pretty much went every year until the base closed.

Here is the F-86 crash:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeNCfkKGi7U

Holy crap, I didn't know that existed. Unreal, at :28 in on the youtube one you can see the white seats we were always in. Can't tell but I would bet that is the very area we were in, I need to watch a little closer. Wow..Thanks for that post..