The plane clipped the top of a pine tree in a sharp turn maneuver at the end of the exhibition. While an investigation is being held to determine exactly what happened, there are no further details about the crash itself.
Fred Yelinek told CNN he saw the crash the jet come down about 100 yards from him with an "earth-shattering rumble," sparking a "huge fireball" and hurtling pieces of debris into homes. The plane crashed around 4pm, about 3 miles away from the Marine Corps air base in Beaufort.
"Our squadron, and the entire U.S. Navy, are grieving the loss of a great American, a great naval officer, and most of all, a great friend," Walley said at a nighttime news conference in Beaufort, South Carolina.
The accident is currently under investigation but a U.S Navy statement did say the pilot had been on the team for just over two year but this was his first as a demonstration pilot.
There were eight injuries of people on the ground; the extent of the injuries is still unknown.
Pam and Bill Edwards said they were watching the air show from the media stand when they realized something was terribly wrong.
"It was right at the end of the air show ... we counted four planes landing, and there was one circling in that smoky area right over the crash site," Bill Edwards said.
"I looked around the sky, and there was nothing else there. Then we saw the emergency helicopter go up, and we automatically assumed the worst at that point."
The Sunday Air Show started with a Tribute to the pilot. Smoke Streamed from behind one of the as it peeled away from the others to complete the "missing man formation," the traditional salute for a lost military aviator.
The most recent Blue Angels crash was in 1999 in South Georgia. Two pilots were killed trying to land in a training exercise.
Saturday's show was at the beginning of the team's flight season, and more than 100,000 people were expected to attend. The team, which is based at Pensacola Naval Air Station, recently celebrated its 60th anniversary.
The Blue Angels, founded in 1951, perform for an estimated 15 million people at air shows each year.
