Blue Angels Remain Grounded for Safety Review

The precision flying team, the Blue Angels have canceled their headline performance at an upcoming midwest air show as they continue a safety review.

The Navy's air demonstration team announced Saturday it won't perform at the annual Rockford AirFest in June. The team is in a "safety stand-down" after flying too close to the ground during a maneuver at an air show in May.

Navy Commander Dave Koss is voluntarily leaving the team soon after some of its jets flew at a lower altitude than allowed at a Virginia air show last weekend.


Two military air demonstration teams and the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team are still scheduled to perform at the Rockford AirFest. The event will be held June 4-5 at the Chicago Rockford International Airport.

The Blue Angels also cancelled an appearance at the Evansville Freedom Festival Airshow in Indiana on June 11-12.

Koss announced his departure four days after the team said it was going on an indefinite safety stand-down because of the error.

Four of the six F/A-18 Hornets flew below their specified altitude in a diamond formation at the Lynchburg, VA., show. All six aircraft landed safely about three-fourths of the way through the scheduled performance without damage to the planes or injury to the pilots. The exact altitude they violated has not been released.