Blue Angels Crash

[Hosakawa Tito]

Apparently, it was the pilot that died. Considering where the plane crashed it's a miracle no one on the ground was killed.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

BEAUFORT, S.C. - A Navy Blue Angel jet crashed during an air show Saturday, plunging into a neighborhood of small homes and trailers and killing the pilot, the county coroner said.

Witnesses said the planes were flying in formation during the show at the Marine Corps Air Station and one dropped below the trees and apparently crashed, sending up clouds of smoke.

This is a breaking news update. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BEAUFORT, S.C. (AP) — A Navy F-18 Blue Angel jet crashed during an air show Saturday, plunging into a neighborhood of small homes and trailers and setting at least one on fire, witnesses said. One person was killed.

Witnesses said the planes were flying in formation during the show at the Marine Corps Air Station and one dropped below the trees and crashed. 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.

"It was just a big fireball coming at me," said Voegeli, 37. "It was just taking pine trees and just clipping them."

He said wreckage hit "plenty of houses and mobile homes."

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."

A woman who answered the phone at the county coroner's office said one person died in the crash. It was not immediately clear who it was. The phone rang unanswered at the Marine base.

More than 100,000 were expected to attend the air show and the Blue Angels were the main attraction. The elite aerial-demonstration team, which is based at Pensacola, recently celebrated its 60th anniversary.

Beaufort is about 35 miles northwest of Hilton Head Island