angels pilot update

Updates below

Story with an interview of a guy who had a close call with the jet. It also includes reaction from a teammate "'Our squadron and the entire U.S. Navy are grieving the loss of a great American, a great Naval officer and a great friend,' [Lt. Cmdr. Anthony] Walley said."


Fox identifies the pilot:
The Navy identified the pilot Sunday afternoon as Lt. Cmdr. Kevin J. Davis, 32, of Pittsfield, Mass.

And gets some of the flying part wrong:

The Blue Angels fly F/A-18 Hornets at high speeds in close formations, and are considered the Navy's elite. They don't wear the traditional G-suits that most jet pilots use to avoid blacking out during maneuvers. The suits inflate around the lower body to keep blood in the brain, but they could cause a pilot to bump the control stick — a potentially deadly move when flying inches from other planes.

Instead, Blue Angels manage G-forces by tensing their abdominal muscles.

Emphasis mine. Sorry guys, we all tense our muscles, even the ones who wear fast pants. And we don't just tense our abs. For those of you who do not know the specifics, pilots who pull many G's have to tense their whole lower body to keep the blood flowing to the brain and eyes. Otherwise the pilot can lose vision, known as "greying out," or totally black out and lose conciousness as gravity pulls the blood to the lower extremities. Of course that would not be a good thing. A G suit helps with G straining (tensing of the muscles) by providing something for the pilot to strain against. Generally, a G-suit will add one G to a pilot's tolerance. So if I can pull 4G's in a relaxed state (that's four times my body weight pressing down on me), and I can pull 7.5Gs just straining my legs, butt and abs, then a G suit will help me get to 8.5G's or better.

From what we are hearing, the whole formation was low to the ground. If they were rejoining, and LCDR Davis was above, it might be hard to see closure and depth with the ground. My old man concurs. Also, if LCDR Davis knew there were homes nearby, he might have been trying to avoid them. I wish there was a pilot's eyewitness story to be found, but I'm sure the Navy is keeping them all under raps for accident and safety investigations, as they should.

The Delta triangle, what the team was setting up for:


Blue Angles website
The team

If anyone has anything to add or correct, please let me know. Again, please keep the Davis family in your prayers.

As Blue Angels spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Garrett D. Kasper said, "We will rebuild." Blue skies brothers.

Update:
An Old War Dog is keeping an ear out over at Bill's Bites

The pilot's family may have been present at the show.

blue angels jet crashes in sc

From CNN:

A jet flying in formation with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels precision flying team crashed into a Beaufort, South Carolina, neighborhood, causing an "enormous fireball" during an air show, authorities said.

The Navy aviator was killed, Beaufort County Coroner Curt Copeland said. The F/A-18's pilot is the only known fatality. The aviator's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Officials announced that Sunday's scheduled air show will go on but that the Blue Angels will not take part.

From what I have read, it sounds like one of the other jets in the formation flew CAP over the sight until a helo could get in the air. The jet crashed near a residential area, but no one else was hurt.

More from:
Instapinch
A memorial from OPFOR

Not a whole lot else... I'll keep on it for more info. Please keep the pilot in your prayers.

downed F-16 pilot update

CNN is reporting Maj Troy L. Gibert is now listed as "duty status whereabouts unknown." Searches have not turned up a body, but surveillance aircraft observed insurgents in the area of the wreckage following the crash. The emergency beacon in the ejection seat did not go off, so it appears that the pilot did not attempt to eject. Investigators are now conducting DNA testing on the wreckage.

Here's the military.com article.

f-16 down in iraq

I heard about this many times today, but have not heard many details. I did hear a nastly rumor that the pilot was being dragged around Somolia-style, but I have found nothing to that effect. Here's the links I can find, more to come as the situation is clarified. No where am I able to find anything about the pilot. Our prayers are with him, his family, and his unit.

Al-Jazeera story

Muthana Shakir, an Iraqi journalist in Baghdad told Al Jazeera: "We got credible news saying at 2pm on Monday a US F-16 warplane was downed in al-Garma neighbourhood near the western Iraqi city of Falluja."
"The warplane was downed over arable lands. Witnesses confirmed that the plane was fired on by gunmen's rockets when it was flying on low altitude."
William Caldwell, a US military spokesman, said he would be surprised if the jet was shot down as the F-16's fly very fast and have not encountered any weapons capable of taking them down in Iraq.

Fox News
There is no such thing as an F-16CG boys. That doesn't take much research. Google that stuff.....
WaPo makes the same mistake.

Apparently the Viper crash isn't that big of a deal. I cannot find much on it. Stay tuned.