Pilot identified after deadly Navy Blue Angel crash

Developing Story: The local fire chief is reporting one dead following the crash of a Navy Blue Angel shortly after take off during a practice run for an airshow in Tennessee. The airshow was scheduled for this weekend.  According to local news:

Larry Farley, Rutherford County fire chief, said his dispatcher were told one person was killed. A U.S. Navy spokesman confirmed about 3:30 p.m. that a Blue Angel jet was involved in an incident.

A fireball and thick black plume of smoke from the crash could be seen just beyond the runway at Smyrna Airport and from Interstate 24.

The identity of the pilot or injury information was not immediately available. All other Blue Angels aircraft have landed and are on the ground.

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Update:

The pilot killed has been identified as Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss. According to Marine Corps Times, “His official Blue Angels biography, Kuss joined the elite acrobatics team in 2014 and accumulated more than 1,400 flight hours. Kuss was a native of Durango, Colorado, and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Marines in 2006. He previously served in Afghanistan before joining the Blue Angels.”

Featured Image: This May 19, 2016, photo shows Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss at an air show in Lynchburg, Va. A Blue Angels F/A-18 fighter jet crashed Thursday, June 2, near Nashville, Tenn., killing the pilot just days before a weekend air show performance, officials said. A U.S. official said the pilot was Kuss.