Posted by admin on April 22, 2007, 12:50 am || Total Votes: 0
One pilot is dead after a navy Blue Angel jet crashed during an air show in Bueaufort and plunged into a small neighborhood. Witnesses say the planes were flying in formation around four this afternoon when one dropped below the trees and crashed. Here's what we know so far: authorities say several homes were damaged, but did not catch fire. They say eight people on the ground were injured. Navy officials say they will work overnight to secure the crash site because of possible hazardous materials.
Officials will not release the name of the pilot or tell us which plane crashed. It's the policy of the Department of Defense to wait 24 hours out of respect of the family, but officials say the pilot’s mother and father were at the air show at the time of the crash.
The Blue Angels- one of America’s most prestigious group of pilots.
Hundreds of people gathered at the Bueaufort air show Saturday afternoon to see the group perform- but the show ended in tragedy.
“It looked like a whole lot of debris. It was a mess,” described a witness.
One of the F-18 jets crashed behind a house three miles from the air field. Debris littered the area, injuring at least eight people.
Police rushed to the scene while state troopers blocked cars from the area. Still- others who lived nearby like Michael Hardin ran to the crash site.
“You could tell it was a plane crash, but you couldn't tell what was what. The cockpit…the wing,” said Hardin.
“The squadron is grieving the loss of a great American, a great naval officer, and most of all a great friend,” said Lieutenant Commander Anthony Whaley was in the air when his fellow pilot went down. He says the group is committed to safety and that it would be inappropriate to speculate what caused the crash.
Despite the tragedy Sunday’s show will go on without the angels.
The last fatal crash involving the Blue Angels happened in October of 1999. Two pilots died when their F-A 18 went down while trying to land during a training flight. Another crash happened in 1990 and a fatality occurred in 1985. Saturday's accident brings the total number of pilots killed in air shows or training to 24 -- since the group first formed in the late forties.
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