Navy determines cause in fatal Blue Angels crash

Published September 16, 2016 2:42am ET



The Blue Angels flight team member who died during a demonstration in June had been traveling too fast at the time of the incident and was not flying high enough to finish the maneuver he had attempted, according to a Navy report published late Thursday.

A Navy investigation concluded pilot error as the reason for the crash. Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss took flight in Smyrna, Tenn., during a practice run before an air show that was supposed to take place the first weekend of June. His Navy Blue Angel F/A-18 crashed shortly after taking off, just two miles from the regional airport runway.

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