Blue Angel crashes...
 

Sad stuff..


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070421/...ue_angel_crash

season opening show too. 1 month until USNA graduation, hope they can regroup in time, that would be a great tribute.

I just saw on the news where this was the pilots first show. He had been in training for a year and yesterday was his first time out for real.....sad....

Its very sad, but this is one of the toughest activities that people can participate in. They pratice for months upon months 6 days a week 7 hours a day, but in the end your still in the hands of a machine. Very sad day.

ntsb report not out yet but my peeps tell me g lock did em in..thats when you black out during a high g manuver...he was found in one piece..with abroken neck and a broken wrist/arm....totally un real..when the jet came off his last manuver a check in with the boss is required..blue angle .. one ,two three .four, five and .he keyed it up to say six then got out si............. the funrall was very moving.. huge flower arangments from harrison ford and roy jones jr.. derek brooks. and w...............

Seems like they would have safeguards for that stuff!

its not that they dont train for it..the dont use g suits.. using the abdominal mucsles to ward off g lock..the fly 18 inches apart.. the use old aircraft that have been used in the fleet.. the give them a once over .. checking the air frame then turn them into blue jets..where as the air force. thunder chickens get brand new f- 16s and wear g suits... pussys...lol .. the blues have a great record of only 3 lost aircraft in 25 years..

Hooves: thanks for the info! I had heard he was a rookie....such a tregedy!

yes no rookies .he had 3200hrs in a f-18.. they train in el centro ..out by you in cali getting the crew and and team together.. if you get a chance check out blue angles.. a year in the life.... great stuff....sorry to sound like a know it all..but they our the home town guys..they pracitice over our area every tues and weds,, all summer..we love our blues..

Hooves,
I would be very very surprised if he if he hit g-loc( loss of consciousness) Grey out occurs first and usually gives a pilot a great heads up on whats coming next. While blue angels peform at the at the edge of the envelope in what the human body can withstand without the use of external manipulation, the pilots are very keenly aware of the point in which grey out occurs. When grey out sets in, we are trained to roll wings level(upside down or right side up does not matter) until the grey out disappears. One of the symptoms of grey is inability to respond to verbal commands. With him keying the mike, it shows he at least understand what he was supposed to do which to me sounds like he was not in grey-out. So unless he increased the g-forces on the plane drastically(possible but no probable), something else must have happened. The fact that he didn't say anything doesnt surprise me at all. We are all trained to Aviate, navigate, and communicate, in that order. I'm not saying he didn't hit g-loc, i'm just throwing out another possible explanation for the tragic event.

thats what i heard from the team..the fact that they were practicing days after makes me think it may be true..but a mechanical is not out of the question..bird..hmm two engines..

If it was a flameout, it wouldn't affect both systems unless it was a castrophic fuel line breakdown which seems very unlikely. If its mechanical, I would lay my money on a stuck aileron or rudder, or some type of computer chip failure on that system. If you heard if from the team, its much better info then i have. I'm just giving out my personal knowledge and what i know. But if you talked to the team then it must have been g-loc. Such a shame, son don't be a hero break formation and level out.

I am of course sad for the pilot but the discussion is very interesting.

I am also sad for the pilot.
Is there any truth to the rumor that a UFO was sighted before the crash?