Two crashes from the two premiere demo team in the U.S. on the very same day.
In what is a really incredible coincidence, a U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds F-16 and a U.S. Navy Blue Angels F/A-18 have crashed on Jun. 2, 2016.
The first incident occurred to the Thunderbirds F-16 shortly after the demo team performed a flyover at the annual Air Force graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs, attended by President Barack Obama.
The pilot managed to eject before the aircraft crash landed (based on the photos that have emerged online) in a field not far from Peterson AFB, Colorado. According to the reports the jets involved in the incident is #6 that is assigned to Maj. Alex Turner a pilot with 1,200 flight hours and more than 270 combat hours over Libya and Iraq, at its first display season with the team.
As the news of the Thunderbirds was starting to make the rounds, a U.S. Navy Blue Angels Hornet
crashed after takeoff during a practice flight around 3 p.m. local in Tennessee.
The first photographs that have emerged online show a fireball and thick black plume of smoke just beyond the runway at Smyrna Airport. Unfortunately, the pilot did not make it and was killed in the incident.
@NC5_JKnutson @NC5 pic.twitter.com/fhLTl9LpZd
— Mark King (@kingmark32) June 2, 2016
All other Blue Angels aircraft landed safely.
Needless to say, military jets are involved in air crashes all around the world every now and then. The odds of two incidents occurring on the very same day (1 hour apart) at the two U.S. military demo teams solos (looks like both were #6) was unbelievably low. Until it happened today.
More from The Aviationist
Jun. 2, 2016 will be remembered as one of the most unusual (and sad) days in the history of U.S. military aviation.
Top image (right) credit: @HalieShults
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