The CO of the Blue Angels has been relieved...

[Speedy]

Interesting post on David's excellent blog.

http://cencio4.wordpress.com/2011/05/29 ... erobatics/

I can think of a number of occasions were national military aerobatic teams have, sadly, made a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT in the jargon) but I can't recall another occasion where a display team leader has stood down or been stood down due to a close incident or incidents. (I'm no expert on modern mil.) Of course you'd only have to go back a few years to when that event would not make a public press release.

Regards,

If I remember, Cdr. Cochran 'stood down' as Skipper of the Blues in 1995. I can't cite any specifics, but scuttlebutt at the time was that there were a few incidents that scared the hell out of everyone involved. And just like what appears to have happened last week, the team aparently lost confidence in their leader.