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A sad day for the Blue Angels

falcon409

falcon409

Moderator
Staff member
I didn't know this til just awhile ago. Marine Capt Jeff Kuss flying with the Blue Angels in Smyrna, Tenn. was killed when his aircraft crashed during a practice for the local Air Show. It is said that he radioed that he was going to attempt to keep it away from the neighborhood and apparently he was successful in doing so. Condolences to his family and to the entire Blue Angels Family on this loss. This happened yesterday and in another part of the country, a Thunderbird aircraft was lost during a flyover at a graduation ceremony in Colorado. That pilot ejected safely.
 
The truth of the matter is that the Blue Angles aircraft are poorly maintained and in rough shape. Before anyone asks, I have first hand knowledge of this but that is all I can say. Whether this was the cause of the crash we will not know because the navy will never release the results of the investigation.
 
What with budget cuts,Loss of Competent people..Shortage of Parts ..Downsizing..Many have been pointing this out...ditto the Navy!..horror story's of Scavenging parts..from Grave yards From Museums..No fixing these Planes with 100MPH duct Tape...Over all,its not good news ...Many fear an increase of failures!...........
"Today, many in the Air Force are questioning whether a similar mission could still be accomplished, after years of budget cuts that have taken an undeniable toll. The U.S. Air Force is now short 4,000 airmen to maintain its fleet, short 700 pilots to fly them and short vital spare parts necessary to keep their jets in the air. The shortage is so dire that some have even been forced to scrounge for parts in a remote desert scrapheap known as “The Boneyard.”

“It's not only the personnel that are tired, it's the aircraft that are tired as well,” Master Sgt. Bruce Pfrommer, who has over two decades of experience in the Air Force working on B-1 bombers " We all hope it Improves !
 
It is a very sad day indeed. Manpower and loss of quality people are definitely an issue. I cannot speak for them, but I have definitely seen it on the H-60 side of the Navy. Cannibalizing parts (taking all the good parts from down aircraft to keep up ones flying), running with lean manning, loss of qualified people. It all starts to add up after awhile. I would hope that is not the case in this. The other bad side to this is the Blue's birds are ones that are usually older frames that have been used to the maximum extent (out of cat shots/traps as those are limited through their airframes life). Is just a shame when a life is cut short, and it really hits home in Naval Aviation as a whole as it is a stark reminder that what we do is deadly. I know I try to do my best everyday, and 13 years in I haven't had to deal with that personally so far.
 
Update, I finally saw the full video of what happened leading up to the crash and it appears to have been possible pilot error. # 5 & 6 departed in the usual manner and #5 executed his Dirty Roll while #6 extended out on the runway heading and pitched up to set up for entering his Split-S maneuver with a return the show center. Everything looked normal in the climb except he executed 540 degrees aileron roll rather than a half roll to inverted before his pull at the top to come back down. The descent back down and level out looked normal except he appeared to be a bit low before disappearing below the treeline before the smoke plume rose up over the trees. Again, he appeared to be leveling off normally but some have noted that it appeared that he entered the Split-S about 1000ft AGL too low (similar to what happened with T-Bird #6 years ago at Mountain Home AFB). Those listening to radio traffic indicated there was no distress call or any indication at all that he had any mechanical difficulty with the aircraft. Unfortunately instances of Controlled Flight Into Terrain have happened all too many times with different teams. This video (from about the 1:20+ mark) shows where the Blues Boss nearly led the formation to disaster in front of a large crowd:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlUWQlXQB20
 
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