Navy jet crashes into homes at air show

A US Navy jet crashed during an air show in South Carolina, plunging into a neighbourhood of small homes and caravans and killing the pilot.

Witnesses said the planes were flying in formation during the show in Beaufort yesterday, when one dropped below the trees and crashed, sending up clouds of smoke.

The plane was part of the Blue Angels, a non-combat, flight demonstration squadron that flies at air shows around the country. They fly at high speeds in close formations, and their pilots are considered the Navy’s elite.

Raymond Voegeli, a plumber, was backing out of a driveway when the plane ripped through a grove of 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.

County coroner Curt Copeland said the pilot was killed, but did not release a name. He described the scene as horrific.

Eight people on the ground were injured. Several homes were damaged.

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.

The crash took place in the final minutes of the air show, said Lt Cmdr Anthony Walley, a Blue Angel pilot. He said the name of the pilot would not be released until relatives were notified.

“Our squadron and the entire US Navy are grieving the loss of a great American, a great naval officer and a great friend,” Walley said.

A navy statement said the pilot had been on the team for two years and it was his first year as a demonstration pilot.

Yesterday’s show was at the beginning of the team’s flight season, and more than 100,000 people were expected to attend. The team, based at Pensacola Naval Air Station, recently celebrated its 60th anniversary.

The Blue Angels do not wear the traditional G-suits that most jet pilots use to avoid blacking out during manoeuvres. The suits inflate around the lower body to keep blood in the brain, but which 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.