A US Navy Blue Angels F/A-18 jet crashed in Smyrna, killing the pilot. The plane crashed around 3:00 o’clock Thursday afternoon in a field between the Sam Davis Home and the airport.In an announcement from the Navy, Captain James “Jeff” Kuss was killed in the crash. They said that all six Blue Angels aircraft were practicing for this weekend’s Great Tennessee Airshow when Captain Kuss’ aircraft went down shortly after take. off in a field between the Sam Davis Home and the Smyrna-Rutherford County Airport.
A news release from the Navy, says an F/A-18 Hornet with the Navy’s elite demonstration squadron crashed shortly after take-off Thursday (6/2/2016), killing the pilot just days before a weekend air show performance.
Blue Angels pilot Marine Captain Jeff Kuss was killed in the crash.
Captain Kuss’ biography says that he joined the elite acrobatics team in 2014 and accumulated more than 1,400 flight hours. He was a native of Durango, Colorado, and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Marines in 2006. He previously served in Afghanistan before joining the Blue Angels
The Smyrna crash was the second military fighter jet performance team crash to occur on Thursday (6/2/2016). Earlier in the day, a U.S. Air Force Thunderbird F-16 crashed after a flyover at the US Air Force Academy’s graduation near Boulder, Colorado. President Barack Obama was in attendance there. The Thunderbird pilot was able to safely eject before his aircraft hit the ground
(WGNS RADIO)