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Blue Angels pilot killed in Tennessee jet crash

A U.S. official says a Blue Angels F/A-18 fighter jet crashed and killed a pilot near Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday.

Key developments: 

  • Official identifies the pilot killed in Blue Angels jet crash as Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss

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  • Kuss flew in Seattle Seafair last year
  • The Tenn. crash happened around 1:30 p.m. PST
  • No civilians were hurt on the ground
  • The five other pilots landed safely

Kuss, 32, was the pilot of plane No. 6. The jet did not eject when the aircraft crashed in Smyrna, Tenn., a town near Nashville.

See photos of Kuss here.

The Navy says the pilot was beginning to take off during an afternoon practice session when the crash happened. Five other F/A-18 jets landed safely moments later.

Witnesses took to social media to share pictures of a fireball and a thick black plume of smoke from the crash. Images shows residential fences near the wreckage.

The Blue Angels are scheduled to fly 66 demonstrations at 34 locations throughout the nation this year, including Seattle.

The elite acrobatics team was scheduled to perform The Great Tennessee Air Show this weekend.

In the Blue Angels' 70th anniversary year, Thursday's crash makes the 27th Blue Angels fatality since their inception in 1946.

The last Blue Angels crash was in 2007 — and before that in 1999. No crashes have ever happened during Seattle's summer Seafair.

Remembering Capt. Kuss is Seattle

Captain Jeff Kuss flew during in Seattle last year during the Seafair Festival, where the Blue Angels show has been a staple of the celebration for six decades.

“Everyone is here [in the Blue Angels] for a common goal, and discipline, and we like to display that across the country in form of a flight demonstration,” he told KIRO 7 News in 2015.

Kuss took anchor John Knicely along for a ride in 2015.

During the flight, they talked about his love for the Blue Angels and how it was an honor for him to fly with the team.

Kuss told Knicely he had flown multiple combat missions overseas.

Kuss joined the Blues in September 2014 with more than 1,400 flight hours to his name.

Blue Angels and Seattle 

The Blue Angels show is considered the most impressive demonstration at the Boeing Seafair Air Show.

See photos from the 2015 show here.

KIRO 7 News reached out to Seafair for a statement:

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and everyone affected by this tragedy. The U.S. Navy Blue Angels have a long-standing tradition in Seattle and other cities around the country. "

-Richard Andersen, Seafair President & CEO

In 1994 and 1995 the Blue Angels didn’t fly at Seafair because they didn’t get a safety rule waiver from the Federal Aviation Administration. That waiver was typically given so they could fly over boats on the log boom, but was not granted in ’94 and ’95 because of safety concerns.

The waiver was granted again for the 1996 Seafair festival after dozens of complaint calls to the mayor’s office and FAA.

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The Blue Angels first flew at Seafair in 1952.

Second separate crash of the day for performance teams

This is the second fighter jet crash of the day for the military's elite fighter jet performance teams.

An Air Force Thunderbird F-16 crashed earlier Thursday in a field near Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, just after ceremonies at the nearby academy where President Obama delivered the commencement address.

The pilot ejected safely and is walking around, not hurt, according to a U.S. Air Force tweet.

Cox Media Group

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