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Local Teacher Recounts Flight With Blue Angel Capt. Jeff Kuss
June 3, 2016
Like the rest of America, Northview High School teacher Anna Barry was shocked to learn that Blue Angels pilot Capt. Jeff Kuss died Thursday in a crash in Smyrna, TN.
But for Barry, the news was particularly hard because she had come to know Kuss last November when she flew with him as Escambia County’s Teacher of the Year.
“He was so nice; this is just terrible,” Barry said when she learned of the crash. “He was just so polite, so nice, very personable.”
“He was very knowledgeable and very capable. I am just shocked to know it was him.”
Barry’s flight included many of the demonstration maneuvers that Blue Angels fans know from airshows, including flying upside down and barrel rolls. Her flight was not in the #6 plane that crashed Thursday; it was in the #7 plane, the only two-seater. She said at the time that the entire experience was “surreal”.
“He was so easy to talk to, like I had known him for a long time,” Barry said. “He was funny, a genuinely nice guy.”
She said Kuss talked about how he and his wife loved living in East Hill, and how he loved Pensacola just as much as Pensacola loves the Blue Angels.
When asked if she would fly again with the Blue Angels, Barry paused before answering. “Yes. Yes I would fly with them again. It’s scary to think about what could happen, but the Blue Angels are the very best at what they do.”
While an official cause for the crash has not yet been released, there has been much speculation in the media that Kuss went down with his ill-fated F/A-18 in order to avoid hitting a densely populated apartment complex. He’s being called an American hero for sacrificing his life to perhaps save many others.
“He loved being a Blue Angel,” Barry said. “He is a hero.”
File photos by U.S. Navy, Regina Barry and others for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
3 Responses to “Local Teacher Recounts Flight With Blue Angel Capt. Jeff Kuss”
My prayers go out for the family, praying God give his wife & family peace & comfort. I know he was a great pilot.and I commend him for giving his life so others could live if that be the case.
Military pilots have always been a cut above and to be chosen for the Blue Angels just shows what these aviators are made of…Rest in Peace Captain Kuss, Semper Fi Marine…with great respect for all you did.
And THAT is what makes heroes – others’ lives and well-being more important than their own. Capt. Kuss is a shining example of the Marine Corps motto – Semper Fidelis ~ Always Faithful. Some politicians need to take note and follow that example.