The Blue Angels pilot who died in Thursday’s Tennessee crash flew in the 2015 Rhode Island National Guard Open House Air Show.
Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss of the Blue Angels not only participated in the event, he also treated NBC 10’s Kerri Corrado to a special flight ahead of the show.
“In the blink of an eye,” Corrado said, “I was hanging upside down over the ocean.”
Corrado was on a daring, once in a lifetime ride with the Navy’s Blue Angels.
But before she and Kuss took off, he warned her that the flight wasn’t going to be all roses.
“I was briefed on how to battle through the G-force or “The G monster” that I was about to encounter in the fighter jet,” Corrado said.
It’s called the HIC maneuver. Saying the word “hic” and doing muscle contractions keeps blood in your head.
“Standing on the ground you are under one times the force of gravity. Your normal body weight,” Kuss told Corrado.
But when you’re up in the aircraft, the more positive Gs you pull, the more pressure you feel against your own body weight.
“I hopped in the plane, buckled up, and we were off at intense speed, nearly straight up in the air,” Corrado wrote.
Shortly after, she experienced her first encounter with the G-force. Then more than halfway into my flight, she blacked out.
“It wasn’t my most graceful moment in life,” Corrado said.
“We were pulling 7-and-a-half Gs, 7-and-a-half times your weight,” Kuss said.
But she bounced back to consciousness a few seconds later.
“You caught up with some sleep,” Kuss told Corrado. “It happens. You were doing a great job. More practice and you will have it down perfectly.”
While she was in the back passed out, Kuss was in the pilot’s seat enjoying the view. To get to his level takes practice — and a lot of it. Winter training consists of flying two three times a day for six days a week, and you have to be in top shape.
“A small example of what the American military men and women are capable of with hard work, discipline, and united team efforts,” Kuss said.
Kuss crashed Thursday while practicing for a performance in Nashville. He was a native of Durango, Colorado, and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Marines in 2006. He had previously served in Afghanistan before joining the Blue Angels.
The same day Kuss died, aU.S. Air Force Thunderbirds jet crashed following a flyover met with President Barack Obama in Colorado.The Air Force identified the pilot as Maj. Alex Turner, of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, who safely ejected into a field.
