Did UAV take down Blue Angel?

Joined
Jun 8, 2015
Messages
9
Reaction score
2
Age
49
I admit it's complete conjecture, but you have a perfect scenario for a uav to take down a jet yesterday.

1. Everyone knew where the practice would be and could estimate the time of practice.
2. Smyrna is a very loosely controlled airport (I'm a pilot and have flown out of Smyrna). There are no scheduled flights out of Smyrna. Only charter, private, and a few military. Of course, it's not even necessary to be on airport property. There are residential neighborhoods in every direction.
3. It's easy to predict the active runway
4. The Blue Angels are probably the most photogenic squadron in the world
5. It takes one idiot with a $500 flying camera and no sense of others' well being to park it 200 feet in the air at the end of the runway.
 
I agree with all of those points. They had a show this past weekend on Long Island and my cousin's daughter (a local news reporter) got a ride in one. People line the fence at the end of the runway to experience the low-level fly-by. I live about about 3.5 miles from the airport but in the direct flight path to the airshow location and had loads of planes passing over my property all day -- including VERY low-flying support helicopters traveling back and forth. Absolutely no place for a drone to be in the air.
 
Airshows and low-level aerobatic formation flying are inherently dangerous as you can easily tell looking at a list of airshow crashes: List of air show accidents and incidents - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Blue Angels have suffered quite a lot of crashes in the past:
During its history, 27 Blue Angels pilots have been killed in air show or training accidents.[41] Through the 2006 season there have been 262 pilots in the squadron's history,[42] giving the job a 10% fatality rate.
  • 29 September 1946 – Lt. Ross "Robby" Robinson was killed during a performance when a wingtip broke off his Bearcat, sending him into an unrecoverable spin.
  • 1952 – Two Panthers collided during a demonstration in Corpus Christi, Texas and one pilot was killed. The team resumed performances two weeks later.
  • 2 August 1958 - Lt. John R. Dewenter landed, wheels up at Buffalo Niagara International Airport after experiencing engine troubles during a show in Clarence, NY. The Grumman F-11 Tiger landed on Runway 23 but exited airport property coming to rest in the intersection of Genesee Street and **** Road, nearly hitting a gas station. Lt. Dewenter was uninjured, but the plane was a total loss.
  • 14 October 1958 – Cmdr. Robert Nicholls Glasgow died during an orientation flight just days after reporting for duty as the new Blue Angels leader.[43]
  • 15 March 1964 – Lt. George L. Neale, 29, was killed during an attempted emergency landing at Apalach Airport near Apalachicola, Florida. Lt. Neale's F-11A Tiger had experienced mechanical difficulties during a flight from West Palm Beach, Florida to NAS Pensacola, causing him to attempt the emergency landing. Failing to reach the airport, he ejected from the aircraft on final approach, but his parachute did not have sufficient time to fully deploy.[44]
  • 2 September 1966 – Lt. Cmdr. **** Oliver crashed his Tiger and was killed at the Canadian International Air Show in Toronto.
  • 1 February 1967 – Lt Frank Gallagher was killed when his Tiger stalled during a practice Half Cuban 8 maneuver and spun into the ground.
  • 18 February 1967 – Capt. Ronald Thompson was killed when his Tiger struck the ground during a practice formation loop.
  • 14 January 1968 – Opposing solo Lt. Bill Worley was killed when his Tiger crashed during a practice double immelman.
  • 30 August 1970 – Lt. Ernie Christensen belly-landed his F-4J Phantom at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids with one engine stuck in afterburner. He ejected safely, while the aircraft ran off the runway.
  • 4 June 1971 – CDR Harley Hall safely ejected after his Phantom caught fire and crashed during practice over Narragansett Bay near the ex-NAS Quonset Point in Rhode Island.
  • 14 February 1972 – Lt. Larry Watters was killed when his F-4J Phantom II struck the ground, upright, while practicing inverted flight, during winter training at NAF El Centro.
  • 8 March 1973 – Capt. John Fogg, Lt. Marlin Wiita and LCDR Don Bentley survived a multi-aircraft mid-air collision during practice over the Superstition Mountains in California.
  • 26 July 1973 – 2 pilots and a crew chief were killed in a mid-air collision between 2 Phantoms over Lakehurst, NJ during an arrival practice. Team Leader LCDR Skip Umstead, Capt. Mike Murphy and ADJ1 Ron Thomas perished. The rest of the season was cancelled after this incident.
  • 22 February 1977 – Opposing solo Lt. Nile Kraft was killed when his Skyhawk struck the ground during practice.
  • 8 November 1978 – One of the solo Skyhawks struck the ground after low roll during arrival maneuvers at NAS Miramar. Navy Lieutenant Michael Curtin was killed.
  • April 1980 – Lead Solo Lt. Jim Ross was unhurt when his Skyhawk suffered a fuel line fire during a show at NS Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. LT Ross stayed with and landed the plane which left the end of the runway and taxied into the woods after a total hydraulic failure upon landing.
  • 22 February 1982 – Lt. Cmdr Stu Powrie, Lead Solo was killed when his Skyhawk struck the ground during winter training at Naval Air Facility El Centro, California just after a dirty loop.
  • 13 July 1985 – Lead and Opposing Solo Skyhawks collided during a show at Niagara Falls, killing opposing solo Lt. Cmdr. Mike Gershon. Lt. Andy Caputi ejected and parachuted to safety.[45]
  • 12 February 1987 – Lead solo Lt. Dave Anderson ejected from his Hornet after a dual engine flameout during practice near El Centro, CA.
  • 23 January 1990 – Two Blue Angel Hornets suffered a mid-air collision during a practice at El Centro. Marine Corps Maj. Charles Moseley ejected safely. Cmdr. Pat Moneymaker was able to land his airplane, which then required a complete right wing replacement.[46]
  • 28 October 1999 – Lt. Cmdr. Kieron O'Connor, flying in the front seat of a two-seat Hornet, and recently selected demonstration pilot Lt. Kevin Colling (in the back seat) struck the ground during circle and arrival maneuvers in Valdosta, Georgia. Neither pilot survived.[47]
  • 1 December 2004 – Lt. Ted Steelman ejected from his F/A-18 approximately one mile off Perdido Key after his aircraft struck the water, suffering catastrophic engine and structural damage. He suffered minor injuries.[48]
  • 21 April 2007 – Lt. Cmdr. Kevin J. Davis crashed his Hornet near the end of the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort airshow in Beaufort, South Carolina, and was killed.[49]
  • 2 June 2016 – A Blue Angel F/A-18 crashed while taking off for a practice run two days before an airshow at the Smyrna Airport in Smyrna, Tennessee. Opposing solo Cpt. Jeff Kuss did not eject and was killed in the crash. There were no injuries or fatalities on the ground.[50]
There is no need to come up with unlikely and totally imaginary scenarios to explain what happened in Smyrna.
 
What about the Thunderbirds jet in Colorado that performed for the Air Force Adademy's graduating class and crashed the same day? Maybe we took that down too, eh?

Umm, don't think so.

Here's an article (dated) about military jet crashes:

In one case under scrutiny, a transport plane crashed after the wife of a pilot allegedly was allowed to take the controls, and the plane careened out of control. In another, two Navy fighter pilots and a navigator together on a plane removed their clothes, helmets and oxygen masks and attempted to moon another plane's crew. They passed out and the plane crashed, killing them.

FALSE REPORTING IS ALLEGED IN AIR FORCE PLANE CRASHES
 
  • Like
Reactions: apprentice
I was at an air show in conn.
a bi plane did an inverted spin and went straight into the ground killing the pilot.
never will forget that.
 
I agree. I should have known better than to possibly foment more animosity.

Moderator, feel free to remove this thread.

Thanks
hopefully you are sincere about taking down the original post and are not being sarcastic-it was' after all, stupid to conjecture that this might have been caused by a UAV.
 
I think this is one of the stupidest ideas I have seen yet....lets forget all the illegalities of flying at the end of a runway...you may want to do some research on jet engine testing. You really think a 3 lb plastic drone can take down an f-18?
If this info gets to the russians, north korea or ISIS I will be buying tons of DJI stock.
 
A bird strike can take out an engine or a cockpit for that matter, theyre in the 2lb - 4lb range of birds they test fire at aircraft parts so yes a drone can have a serious impact on an aircraft flying at speed.
The thread itself needs deleted tho, uncalled for attention and all that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Falcon900

Recent Posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
143,066
Messages
1,467,352
Members
104,933
Latest member
mactechnic