Blue Angel Crash in TN

[mike londke]

Sam and I were looking forward to the show this weekend. These guys lay it on the line for us all the time. Condolences to the pilots family. http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2016/06/02/navy-blue-angel-jet-crashes-smyrna/85308972/

[Sean McEntee]

Thunderbirds lost one too up in Colorado Springs.  Must not have been too bad, that one--pilot punched out ok and pictures show the mostly intact airplane sitting in a field.

Also 3 killed and 9 still missing at Ft Hood from an LMTV that was swept off of the tactical river crossings out on the Owl Creek training area.

Rough day for the military...

[mike londke]

Just announced they will not perform this weekend.

[Fred Cronenwett]

So sad to hear about this, they were just here in St Louis 2 weeks ago when I got this picture of #6 that just crashed. The Thunderbirds lost an airplane also, luckily the thunderbird Pilot ejected.

Fred

[55chevr]

They fly on the edge of the performance envelope. Any anomaly, engine, airframe, pilot could cause an incident.   "The sky, more so then the sea, is unforgiving of the slightest mistake." inscribed on barracks wall at Ft Benning Airborne School.

[Chad Hill]

Very sad, this marine aviator was the father of two young children.

Although the cause of this crash is still apparently unknown, I would like to point out some things. Last month during an airshow in St. Louis, one Blue Angel Hornet lost an engine in flight. The pilot landed and jumped into a turning spare to rejoin the others.

Several news reports state that 70% of USMC F-18s and CH-53s are not airworthy. I have two family members in military aviation and they say these reports are accurate and widespread across many aircraft types in all the services. My friends at work that still fly in the reserves tell me that parts for some aircraft are robbed from museum aircraft. When I flew in the USN during the 1980s we averaged about 300 hours a year of flight time, barely enough to maintain proficiency. I am told now that the average is far lower.

Do any of you remember the neglect of our military during the four years that Jimmy Carter was president? Well, we have now had 7 and 1/2 years of O'Bama and our forces have shrunk to the lowest level since 1940. Something to keep in mind this November.

[john e. holliday]

It is sad to lose a great pilot and plane.   I remember years ago when we would do demos at Richards-Gabuar Air Base.  The first day the Angels were doing their portion of the show and during the 4 plane maneuvers it seemed one was falling behind.  They finished with out incident as the one plane made what seemed like an emergency landing on the far runway that had a cable set up.  He came to a stop quick.  The next morning when I arrived they had the one plane out on the far runway working on it.  What seemed like an hour it took off and went almost vertical.   He was doing passes back and forth as well as rolls.  Made what looked like a normal landing for a Navy pilot.  The show that day was one I thought was one of their better shows.  But, no more air shows as the politicians saw fit to shut the base down