Blue Angel Pilot Killed
One of the members of the US Navy Blue Angels has been killed when his aircraft crashed during an air show.
Witnesses said the planes were flying in formation during the show at the Marine Corps Air Station and one dropped below the trees and crashed, sending up clouds of smoke. At least one home was on fire.
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 did not release an identification. Copeland said there was a lot of debris at the crash site and described the scene as horrific.
John Sauls, who lives near the crash site, said the planes were banking back and forth before one disappeared, and a plume of smoke shot up.
"It's one of those surreal moments when you go, 'No, I didn't just see what I saw,'" Sauls said.
A terrible loss. I have had the pleasure of seeing the Blue Angels fly and I have been thrilled by their precision flying. Spare a kind thought or a prayer for the pilot who was killed and for his family.
By Hurricane Shirley, Saturday, 21 April , 2007 @ 7:22 pm
Very, very sad. I saw them last October here in San Francisco, have been going to their shows for years. I feel sorry for the entire organization, the crowd at the show, and the people who lost their house. Very sad.
By Douglas Keachie, Saturday, 21 April , 2007 @ 11:11 pm
A truly tragic loss. I’ve watched them since I was a kid, and watched in recent years in San Francisco from our Richmond District apartment rooftop.
I will post a shot on my website in remembrance tomorrow, and recall again the sound that awesome is a pitiful adjective 4. 4 is nada proposition, except on ballots….. Of late there was usually a Stealth fighter making cameo apperances, like an excaped, rogue program running loose from Lucas Arts, along with the Blue Angels.
By feeblemind, Sunday, 22 April , 2007 @ 6:32 pm
Considering how risk averse our society has become, I am a little surprised that precision flying teams are still allowed to perform.