Pad plavog anđela :: Nauka ~ Tehnika ~ Military

U subotu na jednom aeromitingu u Južnoj Karolini srušio se jedan F-18 iz sastava akro grupe Blue Angels.
Preuzeto iz jednog američkog časopisa.

A pilot with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels died today when his plane crashed into a South Carolina neighborhood during an air show, authorities said.

Witnesses said the elite demonstration team was flying in formation near the end of the show at the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort when one of the six F/A-18 Hornet jets dropped below the trees and crashed. Wreckage showered down, and eight people on the ground were injured. Raymond Voegeli, a plumber, was backing out of a driveway when the plane ripped through a grove of pine trees, dousing his truck in flames and debris. He said wreckage hit " "plenty of houses and mobile homes."

"It was just a big fireball coming at me," said Voegeli, 37. "It was just taking pine trees and just clipping them."

County Coroner Curt Copeland said the pilot was killed but officials did not release his identity. Local media reports indicated that the No. 6 jet crashed. The No. 6 jet is piloted by Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis, 32, of Pittsfield, Mass.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

Blue Angels Lt. Cmdr Anthony Walley, who flies the No. 2 jet, said no other jets were involved in the crash.

"Our squadron and the entire U.S. Navy are grieving the loss of a great American, a great naval officer and, most of all, a great friend," Walley said.

When the Blue Angels performed in San Francisco in October, Davis, while serving as the team's narrator, flew three guests, including this reporter, during individual 45-minute flights.

As we prepared to take off from San Francisco International Airport, Davis chatted with air traffic control, checked his instruments and made clear he wasn't out there to showboat.

"This is not an opportunity for me to try and make you sick or try and make you black out, so at any time if you don't feel comfortable, or you feel like you're losing consciousness or you're feeling nauseous, just say stop -- or say anything -- and we'll stop what we're doing and we'll find something else to do that doesn't involve making you feel ill," Davis, whose call sign is "Kojak," told me before our flight on Oct. 4.

A commercial pilot on a neighboring runway got on the air and said, "Hey Blue Angel 7, the two naval aviators in the Delta jet over there wish they were flying that thing."

"Copy that," Davis replied with a chuckle.

Like all Blue Angels, Davis was the consummate naval aviator who didn't break a sweat during some very challenging maneuvers. "Keep breathing, keep flexing, Henry," Davis said in a normal voice as this reporter passed out at 7 Gs.

Today's crash happened during the Blue Angels' seventh show this season. During a typical show, four jets alternate in front of the crowd while the two other jets, known as "solos," fly toward each other and do other maneuvers in tandem. This year, Davis was the "opposing solo" pilot and the team's applicants officer, who helped screen Blue Angels' pilots for the 2008 team.

An off-duty air traffic controller at the military base told CNN that birds often pose a problem to planes in the area. Blue Angel pilots can dodge birds during level flight but less so during precise aerial maneuvers.

The last Blue Angels fatality happened in October 1999 in Georgia. Pilots Kieron O'Connor and Kevin Colling, flying in a two-seater Hornet jet, died while trying to land during a training flight. An investigation found that O'Connor might have suffered a rib injury before the flight that affected his ability to fight off G-forces by tensing his abdominal muscles.

The Blue Angels are trained to ward off G-forces without the help of G-suits, garments with air bladders that repeatedly deflate and inflate to help maintain blood supply to the brain. The suits' movements would interfere with the control stick between a pilot's legs.