U.S. Navy "Blue Angels" jet crashes
Pastor Dale Morgan
Sunday April 22, 7:33 AM Reuters
*U.S. Navy "Blue Angels" jet crashes*
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A jet fighter flown by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels
demonstration team crashed on Saturday in South Carolina, eyewitnesses said.
Curt Copeland, the coroner in the county where the crash occurred, told
Reuters the pilot of the aircraft had died.
The show in Beaufort, South Carolina, was attended by thousands of
spectators.
"They were doing manoeuvres and generally when the planes loop around
they cross the runway and then turn around and basically when they
turned around we saw a cloud of black smoke," said Brett Hindshaw, a
South African who was visiting Beaufort for the air show.
"We started counting and we saw five aircraft. Four of them landed but
the lead pilot circled over the accident sight and then one or two
military helicopters took off and went in that direction," he told
Reuters by telephone.
"Then all the ambulances and military fire trucks stationed along the
runway took off."
Witnesses said one of the six Blue Angels jets disappeared as the planes
flew low in close formation behind a grove of trees.
One witness, Fred Yelinek, told CNN the jet went down in a high-density
residential area and debris hit at least one house and cars, but there
was no sign of injuries to people on the ground. He said there was a
"huge fireball" at the crash site.
"It's behind the tree line behind the naval air station, away from the
ocean," said Hindshaw. "We can hear sirens in the distance, fire trucks
and stuff beyond the trees."
The Blue Angels, based in Pensacola, Florida, fly Boeing F/A-18 Hornets.