US Navy Blue Angels Commander Relieved of Duty

[MIKE JG]

US Navy's Rear Adm. Bill Sizemore, Chief of Naval Air Training, relieved Cmdr. Dave Koss, the commanding officer of the Blue Angels of his duties following the incident at the Lynchburg Regional Air Show on Sunday, May 22. This will result in the cancellation of the Blue Angel's appearance at the 2011 Rockford Airfest.

The Blue Angels have announced that Capt. Greg McWherter will replace Cmdr. Koss as the commanding office (aka 'Boss') of the Blue Angels. The replacement required the cancellation of at least the next two scheduled performances in order to provide Capt. McWherter time to train and practice with the team to ensure a smooth and safe transition to a new lead.

Cmdr.Koss issued a statement today following the Navy announcement of his departure. 'With deep personal regret I shared with my command today that I will be voluntarily leaving the greatest flight demonstration team. I performed a maneuver that had an unacceptably low minimum altitude.

“This maneuver, combined with other instances of not meeting the airborne standard that makes the Blue Angels the exceptional organization that it is, led to my decision to step down.

"I have the utmost respect for the Sailors and Marines of the Blue Angels organization and all that they embody. The reason this team is so successful, brings thrills to millions of fans across America, and represents the U.S. Navy so superbly is because of the absolute commitment to safety and perfection by every member of the team.

"I am honored to have been a part of this organization and I look forward to watching its success in the future.”

The Navy also announced that the Blue Angels appearance on June 11-12th at the Evansville Freedom Festival was also canceled. When the team will return to the air show circuit to complete the remainder of it's 2011 scheduled has not been announced.

Wonder how long it will take them to get up to speed with the new Boss??

Incident in question can be seen in this YT video:

Starts at 1:10 into the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlUWQlXQB20

[fishlips]

My god, the boss should be pushing a broom not an FA/18. I can't believe he wasn't flying the numbers. What was doing flying visual in formation lead, bugger him.

[maddog65]

My god that could have been a horrible accident!!! The whole team could have plowed into the ground. The boss defintely lost SA on that part of the show. it was a good thing that 2 and 3 realized what was going on and broke off.

[MIKE JG]

It doesn't look that bad until you watch a video of what that maneuver is supposed to look like height wise, then it's very apparent just how low they got. Could have been very ugly.

I feel bad for the upcoming airshows that will not get the Blues this year, for most airshow go'ers, the big military teams are the main reason they go to the show.

I wanna know which one of them called "clear" breaking up the formation. No.1 executes a smooth but way too low pull out and is followed precisely by the slot pilot. Two and Three bail out pretty abruptly. Why 1 and 4 didn't pull harder makes me wonder if they were even aware of how low they were.

[phantomfreak]

Reminds me of the Thunderbirds crash in '81 or '82 when the diamond flew into the ground. I believe that one was caused by a mechanical failure on the leads aircraft.

[fishlips]

I would say they had no idea how low they were otherwise one of the formation would have called no joy for numbers much much sooner. When your packed in that tight the lead closest to you is the only reference you have to rely on, no time to look at the HUD. These are highly skilled pilots whom take the leaders role, so I would say there is a lot more to this error than we'd ever know. 2 and 3 most likely damaged the airframe, you can bet your life that pins are being replaced.