Flying Legend F-14 pilot Dale Snort Snodgrass killed in plane crash

Dale Snort Snodgrass | a legendary F-14 pilot with more than 4,800 hours and 1,200 carrier landings in a Tomcat. A former Top Gun instructor, he was Fighter Pilot of the Year in 1985 Naval Institute reported

Former U.S. Navy F-14 demo pilot, Dale “Snort” Snodgrass has died in a plane crash in a single engine Marchetti SM.109 in Lewiston, Idaho. The cause of the plane crash is yet unknown. Snodgrass was a legendary F-14 pilot in the U.S. Navy and was famously photographed in a knife edge banana pass of the USS America aircraft carrier in 1988.

The aircraft caught fire just off the airport’s taxiway Charlie on landing.

Snodgrass performing the famous low level "banana pass" of USS America (CV-66) in 1988. He was rumored to have been grounded for the maneuver, but it was actually an approved demonstration conducted during the carrier's tiger cruise. pic.twitter.com/W1ws4jQt7u

— U.S. Naval Institute (@NavalInstitute) July 25, 2021