2016 Blue Angels Tennessee crash
McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet · Accident
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
- Unknown
- 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
- Aircraft type
- 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
- 163455
- Operator
- Blue Angels
- Onboard fatalities
- 1
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Approximate · Estimated position: Smyrna, Tennessee, the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The 2016 Blue Angels Tennessee crash occurred on Thursday, June 2, 2016, when the Number 6 US Navy Blue Angels jet crashed during a practice flight over Smyrna, Tennessee. The pilot, Captain Jeff Kuss, 32, died. The incident occurred roughly 2 miles away from Smyrna Airport.
The crash was attributed to pilot error and cloudy weather. Nobody on the ground was hurt. The Blue Angels cancelled their performance in the Great Tennessee Air Show after the crash as well as scheduled performances in Syracuse and Dayton.
Accident
At approximately 3:01 p.m., shortly after takeoff, Captain Kuss attempted to perform a Split S maneuver during practice. While his afterburners were still on, he began diving to finish the maneuver, but was going too fast at too low of an altitude. After realizing he was going to crash, he attempted to eject from the plane, but was too late. He had stated over the radio just before the crash that he had turned his afterburners off, but it was later found out that was not true.
In the report released by the Navy, it was reported that his behavior prior to the incident was unusual, neither signing for his aircraft nor activating his transponder.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2016 Blue Angels Tennessee crash” (revision 1365544894, 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: 2016 Blue Angels Tennessee crash
- Revision
- 1365544894 · 2026-07-23 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q136735455
- 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 "2016 Blue Angels Tennessee crash" (page 81103724, revision 1365544894)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata 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 is an armed force according to Wikidata
- 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.