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By
Associated Press
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Published: Mon, January 14, 2008 - 12:07 pm
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) - Military investigators blame a U.S. NavyBlue Angels pilot for his fatal crash last year.
A report obtained by The Associated Press says
Lieutenant Commander Kevin Davis got disoriented and crashed after not
properly tensing his abdominal muscles to counter the gravitational
forces of a high-speed turn.
Davis died in April when his F/A 18 Hornet went down in South
Carolina.
An investigator says Davis never lost total control of the
flight stick in the turn at six times the force of gravity. A
temporary decrease in blood flow to his brain caused by the
gravitational pull likely caused Davis to experience tunnel vision.
The Pensacola-based Blue Angels fly without the G-suits most
fighter pilots wear to avoid blacking out. The suits inflate and
deflate air bladders around the lower body to keep blood in the
brain and heart.
The air bladders can cause a pilot to bump the control stick. So
the Blue Angels instead learn to manage the forces by tensing their
abdominal muscles.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Blue Angels Fly, Crowds Smaller
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I would like to know what scientific “Proof” was discovered to give this report. Especially when I read ...(gravitational pull “likely” caused).....in the above statement. ie. was he wearing a blood pressure cuff? How does one know if he tensed his stomach muscles? Very weird report.