{"id":10407,"date":"2026-07-19T08:50:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T03:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=10407"},"modified":"2026-07-19T08:50:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T03:50:26","slug":"pilot-admits-miscalculated-turn-in-shocking-viral-blue-angels-flyover-lauded-by-maga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=10407","title":{"rendered":"Pilot Admits \u2018Miscalculated\u2019 Turn in Shocking Viral Blue Angels Flyover Lauded by MAGA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5743714\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5743714\" class=\"wp-image-5743714 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/am14.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/07\/blue-angels-1200x538.jpeg\" alt=\"Blue Angels in a split screen with rep michelle salzman and a member of the blue angels\" width=\"1200\" height=\"538\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5743714\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Screenshots via X and Facebook<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The pilot behind the shockingly low Blue Angels Pensacola Beach flyover told Florida state Rep. <strong>Michelle Salzman<\/strong> (R) it was a &#8220;mistake&#8221; \u2014 not a stunt \u2014 and that he&#8217;s &#8220;shaken by what happened.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/michellesalzmanforcongress\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Salzman posted to Facebook<\/a> on Saturday that she learned the real story from the pilot himself during a &#8220;heart-to-heart&#8221; talk about the incident.<\/p>\n<p>The pilot&#8217;s comments were in stark contrast to the online reaction to the viral moment, which MAGA proponents deemed a cause for celebration.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He didn\u2019t make excuses. He didn\u2019t try to shift blame. He simply talked about the miscalculated a turn, something no pilot ever wants to experience, especially one who has dedicated his life to flying at the highest level of precision,&#8221; Salzman wrote.<\/p>\n<p>She continued:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>More than anything, he talked about the weight he\u2019s been carrying since that moment. He shared that he was shaken by what happened and needed time to process it. You could see the disappointment on his face. This wasn\u2019t someone brushing off a mistake, it was someone who holds himself to an incredibly high standard and was deeply affected by falling short of it. The Blue Angels train relentlessly because they understand the responsibility that comes with representing our military and our nation. They\u2019re human beings operating extraordinary machines under extraordinary conditions. They strive for perfection, but they\u2019re still human.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Salzman added, &#8220;What impressed me most wasn\u2019t that a mistake happened. It was the humility, accountability, and professionalism with which he has responded.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Blue Angels team leader Capt.\u00a0<strong>Adam Bryan<\/strong> was the first to come out and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/acting-navy-secretary-announces-no-reprimands-for-blue-angels-pilots-who-flew-startlingly-close-to-beachgoers\/\">call the pass &#8220;unsafe.&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;During yesterday\u2019s circle and arrival maneuvers, one of our pilots found himself over the beach line, over a crowd in an unsafe situation,&#8221; Bryan said, adding, &#8220;So we\u2019ll have a heavy review of what happened yesterday to ensure that, one, we don\u2019t put ourselves in unsafe situations again, and two, that we learn from it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Acting Secretary of the Navy <strong>Hung Cao<\/strong> said there would be &#8220;no reprimands.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFlight debrief complete. No reprimands. No firings. No problem. That\u2019s the sound of Freedom! Semper fi and Hooyah,\u201d Cao wrote on X.<\/p>\n<p>Defense Secretary <strong>Pete Hegseth<\/strong> mocked those questioning the safety of the low pass, posting, &#8220;The flyovers will continue until morale improves.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hegseth has twice brushed off low-altitude passes by Army Apache helicopter pilots, the first occurring in March near <strong>Kid Rock\u2019s<\/strong> Nashville Home. The second happened earlier this month over a beach in South Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>The pilots were initially suspended, a punishment Hegseth later lifted.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/pilot-admits-miscalculated-turn-in-shocking-viral-blue-angels-flyover-lauded-by-maga\/\">Pilot Admits \u2018Miscalculated\u2019 Turn in Shocking Viral Blue Angels Flyover Lauded by MAGA<\/a> first appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\">Mediaite<\/a>.<\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Screenshots via X and Facebook The pilot behind the shockingly low Blue Angels Pensacola Beach flyover told Florida state Rep. Michelle Salzman (R) it was a &#8220;mistake&#8221; \u2014 not a stunt \u2014 and that he&#8217;s &#8220;shaken by what happened.&#8221; Salzman posted to Facebook on Saturday that she learned the real story from the pilot himself&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/am14.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/07\/blue-angels-1200x538.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}