BRUNSWICK, Maine — During a special appearance Thursday morning at the Brunswick Executive Airport, one of the Blue Angels jets, part of the U.S. Navy’s aerobatics team, fishtailed off the runway during landing and became stuck in the mud.
As the jet neared the end of the runway, it fishtailed on some ice. Pilots managed to make the turn onto the taxi, but then the jet spun around on the ice and slid off the runway.
Capt. Corrie Mayes was one of the two pilots in the jet at the time. She said both the jet and the pilots are fine.
“As you all saw, we are having a little bit of difficulty with the jet. But it’s nothing significant,” she said. “The weather, we just slipped off the runway a little bit down there. We’re getting pulled out now. The jet is in perfectly good condition.”
Mayes says all but the end of the runway was clear. She said the jet wasn’t able to stop before hitting the ice, and after it did there was not enough runway to take off again.
Several unsuccessful attempts were made to free the F-18 Hornet from the ice and get it back on the runway, but as of late Thursday afternoon, the jet is still stuck in the snow and ice.
The Blue Angel sent a jet to the airport because the Navy’s aerobatics team is the featured performer at the 2015 Great State of Maine Air Show, which is scheduled for Labor Day weekend of 2015.
A Blue Angels engineering crew is on its way to Brunswick to make sure the jet was not damaged.
Watch the video here on WGME’s website.