Thunderbirds and Blue Angels both lose aircraft on same day

[cupper]

One has a good outcome, the other not.

Rest in Peace Sir

Thunderbirds F-16 crashes following Air Force Academy graduation; pilot reported safe

http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/breaking-news/2016/06/02/thunderbirds-f-16-crashes-following-air-force-academy-graduation/85307094/

One of the Air Force’s elite Thunderbird pilots crashed Thursday following a flyover for the Air Force Academy’s graduation ceremony.

The F-16 was returning to Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, shortly after the flyover when it crashed, an Air Force official confirmed.

The pilot of the No. 6 jet, Maj. Alex Turner, is being medically evaluated after he ejected safely, Air Force officials said during a press conference. He joined the team in October 2015, officials said. The No. 6 jet is one of the solo pilot aircraft.

The F-16, assigned to the 57th Wing at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, crashed around 1 p.m. and Turner was recovered by local first responders, said Master Sgt. Chrissy Best, a Thunderbirds spokeswoman. Turner ejected south of the Colorado Springs airport.

The crash posed no hazard to the public, Best said. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

The Thunderbirds' website says Turner has logged over 1,200 flight hours as an Air Force pilot, with more than 270 combat hours over Libya and Iraq.

When asked whether the pilot steered the aircraft towards the empty field deliberately, Best said, "Any time a pilot ejects we always try to go down into an unpopulated area."

Pictures on Twitter appear to show the F-16 Falcon in the middle of a field following the crash.

President Obama, in town after delivering the Air Force Academy graduation's commencement speech on Thursday, met with Turner. A U.S. Army helicopter, supporting Obama's visit to the Academy, was released to respond to the crash, officials said.

"The pilot seemed in fine form, saluted POTUS as he approached and then shook his outstretched hand. The two had a brief chat," according to a White House press pool report. "The President thanked the pilot for his service to the country and expressed his relief that the pilot was not seriously injured. The President also thanked the first responders who acted quickly to tend to the pilot," the press report said.

The official said the Air Force will perform a "thorough investigation into the causes of the mishap, and those findings will be released when the investigation is complete."

The last Thunderbirds crash was in 2003 at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho.

Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James tweeted: "My thoughts are with the pilot, their family and friends and all [Air Force Thunderbirds]. Glad to hear pilot is safe."

In an unrelated incident, a U.S. Navy Blue Angels jet crashed after takeoff during a practice flight around 3 p.m.Thursday near Smyrna, Tennessee.

Air Force Times will update this story when more information becomes available.

Photos at the link.

Blue Angels jet, Thunderbird F-16 crash in separate incidents

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/02/politics/military-plane-crash/

The pilot of a Navy Blue Angels F/A-18 that crashed Thursday in Smyrna, Tennessee, has died, town manager Harry Gill told reporters. There were no civilian injuries, he said.

A U.S. Navy Blue Angels F/A-18 jet and an Air Force Thunderbirds F-16 crashed Thursday in separate incidents in Tennessee and Colorado, officials said.

The Thunderbirds F-16 crashed south of Colorado Springs, Colorado, after it and other Thunderbirds flew over a U.S. Air Force Academy commencement ceremony attended by President Barack Obama.

Lt. Col. Christopher Hammond, commander of the Air Force's Thunderbirds demonstration team, told reporters that the pilot, Maj. Alex Turner, experienced an unspecified problem as he was trying to land after the flyover and ejected.

"He had already put his gear down, and that's when the incident occurred," Hammond said, adding that Turner radioed that he was maneuvering so he wouldn't hit any houses. "He made a conscious effort to direct his aircraft away from some of the local neighborhoods."

Turner is in his first air-show season with the Thunderbirds, having joined the team in October. He has flown in 22 shows so far, Hammond said. Turner has more than 1,500 hours in F-16s and was a very experienced pilot before joining the Thunderbirds, Hammond said.

The crash occurred 5 nautical miles south of Peterson Air Force base, well away from the stadium where the military branch's ceremony was taking place, officials said.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

There were no reported casualties on the ground, though the plane was badly damaged, said Robb Lingley of the Peterson Air Force Base public affairs department.

President Obama later met with the pilot when he visited the air force base.

"The President thanked the pilot for his service to the country and expressed his relief that the pilot was not seriously injured. The President also thanked the first responders who acted quickly to tend to the pilot," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.

Hours later, a U.S. Navy Blue Angels F/A-18 crashed in Smyrna, Tennessee, during practice for an upcoming air show, Navy spokeswoman Cmdr. Jeanette Groeneveld said.

Groeneveld said the military doesn't have any immediate reports of injuries but is still waiting on news about the fate of the pilot.

But Rutherford County Emergency Management Director Tharrel Kast told CNN one person died as a result of a plane crash. Kast wouldn't say whether the crash involved a Blue Angels jet or whether the person who reportedly died was the pilot or someone on the ground.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

The odds of that happening on the same day..... RIP

 

[cupper]

The odds of that happening on the same day..... RIP

Add to that, 5 US Army troops were killed and several more missing when a troop carrier was overturned or swept away during a flood situation in Fort Hood.

Rest in Peace Troops 

Fort Hood was closing roads at time truck overturned, killing 5 soldiers

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/03/us/texas-floods/index.html

(CNN)Fort Hood commanders were closing some roads on the Army base in Texas at the time floodwaters overturned a truck on a training mission, killing at least five soldiers and leaving four more missing, Christopher Haug, spokesman for the post, said Friday.

But Haug said the troops learning to operate the Light Medium Tactical Vehicle were not sent out in conditions too dangerous for training.

"It was a situation where the rain had come and the water was rising quickly," he said. "They regularly pass through these weather conditions like this. This was a tactical vehicle, and at the time they were in proper place. Just an unfortunate accident that occurred quickly."

The Army -- with help from civilian agencies -- is using ground, air and dog teams in the search for the missing soldiers, who were swept away by the rising waters of Owl Creek.

"There is a very large effort to try and find them," Haug said. "This is a remote area. It's difficult to see; as you know weather conditions are not helping us out right now."
Owl Creek regularly experiences flash floods, said Michael Harmon, emergency management coordinator for Bell County, Texas.

Twelve soldiers were on the training mission before floodwaters overturned their vehicle after it became stuck in the flooded creek on a road in a remote section of the base, Maj. Gen. John Uberti said Friday. Soldiers in a following vehicle rescued three of their comrades, he said.

The three soldiers are in stable condition in a hospital and are to be released soon, Uberti said.

He thanked the surrounding communities for their outpouring of prayers and emotional support.

"They will be needed in the tough days ahead," he said at a news conference.

Rescuers recovered some of the soldiers' bodies from the water downstream from the vehicle.

Uberti declined to take questions about the incident. Haug also declined to go into detail about the training mission except to describe it as "routine."

Retired Col. Robert Morgan, however, told CNN affiliate KXXV-TV that the Light Medium Tactical Vehicle may not operate well in high waters. The truck, which is used to transport troops and cargo, sits from 6 to 8 feet off the ground.

Severe storms have pummeled Texas, leading to a record rainfall total in May. Gov. Greg Abbott has declared a state of disaster across 31 counties as more rain is expected.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers warned that saturated ground and swollen creeks, bayous and rivers cannot absorb the downpour.

 

[cupper]

Update, they have raised the death toll to 9 troops.

Fort Hood Death Toll Grows To 9 After Truck Overturns In Flooded Creek

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/06/03/480579273/at-least-5-soldiers-dead-in-fort-hood-after-truck-overturned-in-swollen-creek?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20160603

Nine soldiers are dead in Fort Hood, Texas, after a tactical vehicle was swept away by a flood-swollen stream late Thursday. Military officials had initially reported five soldiers died in the flooding — but a search for four missing soldiers resulted in the discovery of their bodies Friday.

That information came in an update delivered Friday afternoon; only hours earlier, Maj. Gen. John Uberti had said that while the four soldiers were still missing, finding them remained the top priority.

We've updated this post to reflect the four additional deaths.

"Heavy rains have drenched central Texas over the past couple of weeks, causing rivers and streams to swell," Nathan Bernier of member station KUT in Austin reports for our Newscast unit.

"That's what happened at Fort Hood, and when the driver of a tactical vehicle carrying a group of soldiers tried to pass a low-water crossing, the vehicle was swept away and overturned," he adds.

Three injured soldiers were rescued soon after the incident and were in stable condition, according to a statement from Fort Hood.

The soldiers' truck overturned just as commanders at Fort Hood were closing roads at the Army post, according to the AP.

The search effort to find the four lost soldiers included aircraft, canine search teams, heavy ground equipment and swift-water rescue boats," Bernier reported Friday morning.

The creek is 20 miles long and passes through heavily wooded terrain, The Associated Press notes. The agency also quotes a Fort Hood spokesman who says that the area where the accident occurred had not been affected by earlier floods.

"The 1st Cavalry Division is grieving after a training accident at Fort Hood during flash flooding this morning. We are deeply saddened by the loss of several Troopers and continue search operations," Maj. Gen. John C. Thomson III, 1st Cavalry Division commanding general, said in the statement Thursday.

Flooding has affected large sections of central Texas; hundreds of people in the Houston area have been evacuated, and the Brazos River and several other waterways have risen to record heights.

The AP notes that the region is already waterlogged, and more rain is anticipated:

"Across Texas, many were watching a new batch of storms that could dump up to 10 inches of rain from Thursday through Saturday and worsen flooding caused by waterways that already have risen to record levels. ...

" 'With the rain that's predicted, that's not going to help things as that water has no place to go,' said Lt. Lowell Neinast, with the police department in Richmond, where more than 700 people have been evacuated. ...

"This week's storms are the latest in a string of torrential rains since May 2015 that have put swaths of the state underwater. Some areas now overwhelmed by water had run dry two years ago due to drought conditions."

Gov. Greg Abbott has declared a state of emergency in 31 counties.

More than half of Texas is under flood watches or warnings.