USAF Thunderbird Crash and Fatality

[Jetguy06]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/thunderbirds-p ... d=54264575

I believe I speak for everyone when I say our thoughts are with the family of the fallen pilot. This is a heartbreaking event.

As has been mentioned in previous accident posts, let's not speculate as to the cause of the crash. This post is simply meant to inform of the loss, and to mourn as well.

[alan CXA651]

Sad news indeed , thoughts and codolancies with the family and friends of the pilot .
regards alan.

[mattgn]

Always sad to hear of another fatality in this sphere.
We had one here a couple of weeks ago: rear seat occupant (Engineer) of a Red Arrows Hawk killed. Pilot survived.

[Talus]

Sad, prayers for the family and the thunderbirds.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Buffy Foster]

RIP... :'(

[DHenriques_]

For those of us who in our lives have heard the soft call from a high performance airplane and entered through that open door to embrace that call, life changes and will forever be “different” .We never really return to the place from which we came.
Our world on the other side of that door is hard to explain to those who stayed behind and for those who came with us and share the experience of high performance aviation no explanation is necessary.
As with everything we experience in life, what is good comes with a price. Aware of this, we work as a community to minimize that cost.
But try as we may, and working as hard as we can to minimize the cost, there will be days when things go wrong.
When that happens, we share the pain with the men and women who make up our community. We come together and we make every effort to learn from what has happened.
Then we stand together and face forward into tomorrow.

[speedy70]

Beautifully put Dudley.
Thank you.

Regards Chris

[HighBypass]

Wonderful eulogy, Dudley.

[Roadburner426]

This has unfortunately been a pretty bad week for military aviation in general. Marines also lost a 53 and a harrier earlier on in the week. It is a reminder to keep vigilant whether on the maintenance side or piloting side of the house that is for sure. May he rest in peace.

[alfakilo]

For those of us who in our lives have heard the soft call from a high performance airplane and entered through that open door to embrace that call, life changes and will forever be “different” .We never really return to the place from which we came.

Absolutely and well said. We all knew the risks, but it was worth it.

Throw a nickel on the grass...

[batt]

This has unfortunately been a pretty bad week for military aviation in general. Marines also lost a 53 and a harrier earlier on in the week. It is a reminder to keep vigilant whether on the maintenance side or piloting side of the house that is for sure. May he rest in peace.

It was a bad week. Two Army helicopter pilots also died on Friday when their AH-64 crashed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Wish all the families and squadron/platoon mates peace and condolences.