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2007 Blue Angels South Carolina crash

21 Apr 2007 · Near Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, Beaufort, South Carolina, United States

United States Navy aerobatic team the Blue Angels McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet · Reduced consciousness from high acceleration

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Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
Event fatalities
1 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
0
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
8 · all on the ground
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Military

McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet

Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
162897
Onboard fatalities
1
Route
From not recordedTo not recorded

Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.

From the Wikipedia article

The 2007 Blue Angels South Carolina crash occurred on Saturday, April 21, 2007, when the Number 6 US Navy Blue Angels jet crashed during the final minutes of an air show at the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in Beaufort, South Carolina. The pilot, Lieutenant Commander Kevin Davis, died. Eight people were injured on the ground.

The Navy report attributed the crash to pilot error, when LCDR Davis executed a fast and tight maneuver that exposed him to much higher acceleration than usual. The high acceleration caused him to become disoriented and lose track of how close he was to the ground. In response, the Navy increased standards for Blue Angels pilots to train for high levels of acceleration.

Accident

At approximately 4 p.m., all six McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets of the Blue Angels were making their final turns into the landing pattern when Lt. Cmdr. Davis, piloting Blue Angel #6, left the pack. The plane crashed in a residential neighborhood about three miles from the Marine Corps Air Station. This was followed by a plume of black smoke, which Blue Angel #1 immediately began to circle while the others landed. Several rescue helicopters and local emergency vehicles went to the crash site in response to 9-1-1 calls.

Text from the Wikipedia article “2007 Blue Angels South Carolina crash” (revision 1367633245, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

Sources

Wikipedia article: 2007 Blue Angels South Carolina crash
Article
2007 Blue Angels South Carolina crash
Revision
1367633245 · 2026-08-04 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q4608078
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "2007 Blue Angels South Carolina crash" (page 10832869, revision 1367633245)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
Wikipedia article coordinates
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
Ground fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: ground fatalities
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.