Blue Angels commander resigns over air maneuver

By VANESSA HO, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
Updated 03:08 p.m., Friday, May 27, 2011

The commanding officer of the Blue Angels has resigned after performing a below-standard air maneuver at a Virginia show Sunday.

"With deep personal regret, I shared with my command today that I will be voluntarily leaving the greatest flight demonstration team," Cmdr. Dave Koss, said in a statement released Friday.

"I performed a maneuver that had an unacceptably low minimum altitude."

The incident, in which four of the squad's six F/A-18 Hornets flew lower than normal during a diamond formation, prompted a safety stand-down, KIRO-TV reported. No injuries or damage were reported.



Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Blue-Angels-commanding-officer-resigns-over-air-1399350.php

We'd be out playing and wouldn't hear him until he suddenly revved the engine and we'd look up and there was this plane maybe a hundred feet up or so dive bombing us. We'd scatter and he'd varoom up about 20 ft or so from the ground.

This happened several times.

My mom finally witnessed one of these incidents. I think she thought I was telling tall tales before this. (No seriously mom...there's this crazy ass pilot dive bombing us when we play baseball in the field...I Swear!) and was alert enough to get the tail number.

She reported it. It was enough to stop the dive-bombings. But not enough for him to lose his pilot license or stop his recklessness. He died in a crash a few years later. My mom had gotten his name through the reporting of the incident and told me when a small plane crashed a few years later that it was the same guy.