An Air Force Thunderbirds plane crashed after an Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs which President Barack Obama was attending, according to reports from the Associated Press and other sources.
The pilot ejected from the aircraft and walked away unharmed, a Peterson Air Force Base representative told the Denver Post.
The air demonstration team was performing at the graduation ceremony near the Colorado Springs airport. The crash occurred about 15 miles south of the Air Force Academy, while the president was still at the location of the graduation ceremony.
The Thunderbirds were founded in 1953, taking their name from Native American folklore in the area of Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. They have performed demonstrations to show the skill of the pilots and performance of their aircraft since that time.
Accidents aren’t unknown: a crash in 1933 was found to have been caused by a structural fault in a F-105B Thunderchief aircraft and necessitated a switch away from the F-105B back to the F-100C Super Sabre.
A Blue Angels crash has also been reported on the same day, in advance of an air show in Tennessee.
This story is developing; more will be posted as it is updated.
