My prayers and condolences to the pilot’s family and to his brother Blue Angel pilots. It is a true tragedy; I hope that no one on the ground was injured.
I live in Pensacola and personally know the previous base commander at NAS Pensacola. I will try to get in touch with him and see what I can find out. We are sad here in Pensacola tonight and our prayers and thoughts are with his family and fellow aviators.
Very sad, my prayers and hopes go out to the families affected by this. It seems to be the general thought that the pilot stayed with the aircraft to avoid as much damage as possible to the people on the ground, and for that, we should honor him a hero! Giving his life to keep others safe, what a sacrafice!
If anyone is wondering maybe “why didn’t he eject?” Airshow pilots have “safe ejection areas” that are memorized prior to performing. They are for that reason. I have performed at airshow’s and know that they can be few and small depending on the area. One may got out after all options are exhausted, but that is normally too late. A pilot will do everything in his/her power to keep anyone from getting hurt during their perfomance. That means we are willing to make the sacrifice.
What a rotten thing…just awful.
Such a loss is always a shock. To us mere mortals, individuals such as Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis are far more than ordinary people. Their dedication and professionalism is awe inspiring.
Drew’s right - it’s very possible that Lt. Cmdr. Davis felt he could not safeguard those on the ground if he ejected…and chose to ride it in.
I remember building the 1/72 Revell Blue Angels set in 1964 -65? Saw them several times over the years. Always impressive.
The Blue Angels Flight team of 2000 came to my Dad’s hospital bed between shows when they were in Grand Jct. CO. He was dealing with pancreatic cancer and the area Marine recruiters asked them to drop by. It was a good day for him. Good fellows each one. My thoughts and prayers to his family. Blue Skies Jet Jockey…
We had a family friend that was killed in an F-16 crash a few years ago. He stayed with the plane to steer it clear of a neighborhood and elementary school is what we were told.
As a spectator at this air show, the first time I realized something wasn’t right was the tempo of the show seemed to make a change. That and the fact the crash truck came across the runways, beacons turning but no siren and drove down the flight line.
At this point, I turned around and at my 7:00 position I saw the smoke plumb from beyond the trees outside the base perimeter. The first five jets of the team were forming up at an area to the left of show center, at 9:00 position, with the smoke approximately a mile away. The narrator announced the line about “Navy and Marine Aviators are trained to perform short take-off and landings about aircraft carriers. Boss is now lining up the team to perform an example of this training.” Now, as many of these shows as I’ve been to, the usual operation is the jets come across the show front, break and land. Well, this time all I saw was in-line landing lights with Boss cutting a line towards the smoke. At this same time, the ASR helio was lifting off and headed in the same direction. Angel “5” went to check out as well while Boss circled the site with show smoke to mark the area. Angel “5” broke off and headed to land.
The crowd sensed something wasn’t right as some base personnel began calling their on-duty contacts and the word spread one Angel was down. Angel 2,3,&4 parked, dismounted and walked to the end of their respective aircraft to speak with their ground personnel. The narrator announced the usual custom of the Blue Angels meeting the crowd and signing autographs would not that place and they thanked everyone for comeing to the show. The base was locked down for about two hours before traffic was allowed to move. Up until that time, the only thing moving was emergency equipment. A very, very small inconvenience for the reason.
My opinion was as low as he was and in trying to get around to get with the rest of the team, he probably clipped one of those tall pine trees near the Laural Bay area. Going 400-500 mph as they say they go, Angel “6” probably didn’t have time to think about ejecting before he was down. May the Good Lord have received the soul of this young Naval Aviator with His Love and Kindess.
The SUnday show went on as scheduled!
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I shall continue to attend these shows as they are manificent to watch and the sound is nothing more than “thunder in my heart and soul!”