Blue Angel crash at airshow

[Occam's Razor]

The post above yours is a good reason why speculation becomes so frustrating. Its not you or I putting forth possibilities, that's the difference. What Andy posted is what we should all be thinking of right now.

I understand. A civilian-only pilot posts something that seems to have a fundamental flaw in it, following the loss of a very experienced pilot...and we reel.

I'm not getting any sense of disrespect for Kevin, or diminishment of the tragedy here. I'm reading pilots scratching their heads at how such a skilled aviator performing a relatively routine maneuver (that's how the narrator annouces it), can buy the farm. It can be unsettling to other people (those on this Forum) who make their living being confident in their ability to execute routine maneuvers when they see a top-notch driver crash.

Maybe it would be a good idea for those of us with experience in fighters share some of the difficulties of trying to rejoin quickly, and understand that it's possible to mourn properly and ask, "How could this happen to a guy like that?"

I mentioned that even a former Blue Angel was publicly speculating, and I don't think anyone can question his sense of loss after this tragedy.

 

[guppygoshawk]

Maybe it would be a good idea for those of us with experience in fighters share some of the difficulties of trying to rejoin quickly, and understand that it's possible to mourn properly and ask, "How could this happen to a guy like that?"

Absolutely. I think that its paramount that everyone understand that 'routine' for the Blues is not neccecarily routine for anyone else.

 

[Kaman]

Very sad to hear that a Naval Aviator who just happened to be a member of the Blue's was killed. He is representative of the countless others that put it on the line everyday in the fleet and have made the ultimate sacrifice.

Fair Winds and Following Seas to LCDR Davis, United States Navy

 

[bubbers44]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBIpKf-1yJ8

Final post. Does the initial portion of the video before his final turn to join look like normal flight? It is about half way through the video. This was the one and only thing that I was trying to ask.

 

[Huggyu2]

I'm not sure what you're referring to, but it all looks pretty normal up until the rejoin.

 

[svcta]

does to me, I just don't see any "toppling" or anything that looks abnormal. That's my only observation.

 

[Fedora]

Aviation Week just did a great article about 3 weeks ago on the Blues.
If you want to know what their typical routine is and the type of men who fly these aicraft, it is a must read.
Stuff happens. All will come out in due time. This was a great pilot doing what he loved to do best. God bless him.
The Blue Angels influenced me in my decision to become a pilot and a Naval Aviator. I'm sure there are many others like me out here.

The Navy put out a music video of the Blues to a song called "your wildest dreams" by the Moody Blues. It sent goosebumps down my arm and made me swell up with pride. I would love to get a copy of it if anyone knows how to get one please let me know. I was one of those small boys looking up all those years ago.

 

[peter185]

The Van Halen music video for "Dreams" featured the blues flying A-4's, it was a sweet video.

 

[AdlerDriver]

Does anyone know if the "Blues" use data-linked in-cockpit video like the T-clones do? The in-cockpit video of the T-bird guy who tried to pull through the vertical too low was pretty enlightening. From what I understand, they all have a camera that shoots the video back to a collection point vs. an on board tape.
If that is available here, it would seem like it might shed some kind of light on this accident.

 

[Publishers]

I certainly was not trying to minimize the difficulty of the rejoin -- only to put it in the perspective of other maneuvers that may be more stressful. In my comments, I asked for comments from fighter drivers about the AOA and maintaining the high speed turn. It looked from the film like about a 135/140 degree turn in with a slight downward momentum and the nose never came up.
I had introduced this young man to my son and made the remark at the time how I hoped my son would grow up just like he did. He had such a way with people and was my favorite Blue.