By : US Press News


A US Navy jet crashed during an air show, plunging into a neighbourhood of small homes and trailers and killing the pilot, the county coroner said.

Witnesses said the planes were flying in formation during the show on Saturday at the Marine Corps Air Station and one dropped below the trees and crashed, sending up clouds of smoke. At least one home was on fire.

The plane was part of the Blue Angels, a non-combat, elite flight demonstration squadron that flies at air shows around the country.

Raymond Voegeli, a plumber, was backing out of a driveway when the plane ripped through a grove of pine trees, dousing his truck in flames and debris. He said wreckage hit "plenty of houses and mobile homes". "It was just a big fireball coming at me," said Voegeli, 37. "It was just taking pine trees and just clipping them." County Coroner Curt Copeland said the pilot was killed, but did not release an identification. Copeland said there was a lot of debris at the crash site and described the scene as horrific.



Banking back

John Sauls, who lives near the crash site, said the planes were banking back and forth before one disappeared, and a plume of smoke shot up. "It's one of those surreal moments when you go, 'No, I didn't just see what I saw,"' Sauls said.

At the Blue Angels command headquarters at Pensacola Naval Air Station the petty officer on duty said he "had no comment at this time". The phone rang unanswered at the Marine base.