Blue Angel down in Smyrna TN,

This story is just developing and I`m on my lunch break so not much time. Just a little while ago I got the word a F-18 from the Blue Angles has crashed practicing for this weekends airshow. Hopefully the pilot and passenger got out ok, will be back in a few hours with more.

Here a quick link reporting the story.
wjla.com...

Most of all .....hopefully they weren't over a populated area in addition to themselves not being hurt.

a reply to: StratosFear

www.denverpost.com...

What are the chances of a Thunderbird and a Blue Angel crashing on the same day? I hope someone isn't testing Electronic Warfare projects on our elite pilots...

And a thunderbird crashed near the Air Force academy today too. Pilot is okay

Local TV station reporting a fatality.

a reply to: StratosFear
Here is a photo from Twitter. I hope everyone is ok!

a reply to: DinobotIV

Both are flying old aircraft and are putting a lot of stress on them. The Thunderbirds aircraft that were sent to the Boneyard several years ago were overstressed to the point they had to be scrapped.

Any EW system that could affect them like that would have had to be right on top of them.

Says one person is dead in the blue angel crash. Doesn't specify who.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I foolishly assumed these guys may have received a little better treatment because of all the show stuff they do. The EW statement probably was a little naive on my part. It just came to mind that Russia was talking about some EW equipment that they were using to overwhelm the electronics on a destroyer a while back. Much rather be dead in the water then dead in the air, followed by dead on the ground.

a reply to: Shamrock6

It came down in a field behind a bowling alley. The pilot was the fatality.

a reply to: DinobotIV

They're some of the best cared for aircraft flying, but the Angels are all flying C/D Hornets.

a reply to: Zaphod58

You know if he was outside the ejection envelope or not?

a reply to: Shamrock6

Not yet. I'm keeping a pretty close eye on it but it's only been 2 hours. Based on where, I'd say he rode it in. There were houses and businesses in the area.

Live news stream:

wkrn.com...

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Shamrock6

Not yet. I'm keeping a pretty close eye on it but it's only been 2 hours.

Yea still early yet. Saw somebody is already tweeting that the pilot rode it in to ensure it didn't hit any houses. Not sure how they can "know" that already but it makes for good retweets I suppose.

a reply to: Shamrock6

I'm willing to bet he did. The Thunderbirds pilot rode it down until just before impact to make sure it didn't. Fighter pilots have a tendency to do that.

But it's too early to be certain he did yet.

One witness said she went inside just before the crash after watching them for a few minutes. She said it was do loud and shook her house do hard she thought a car hit her house.

Another witness was in her car and said all appeared normal when the nose suddenly pointed straight down. They thought it was a stunt until they saw the fireball.

I live 5 minutes from that bowling alley. Haven't heard much for details. The talk radio here is talking about all of the military budget cuts that have affected the blue angels. And of course they are blaming Obama.


The field behind the bowling alley is a couple hundred acres.
a reply to: StratosFear

a reply to: Zaphod58

Here is a photo of the other Jets!

a reply to: Quantum12

You're watching the news stream. I was going to do the same thing.