Gods Speed to “Snort” who was killed in a Marchetti SM.1019 in Lewiston, Idaho yesterday. Had the pleasure to meet him once in 1998. Had over 4,800 hrs in the F14 and over 1200 arrested landings.

One of the best.

A true master of the Tomcat

Nickel on the grass. Funny how these pilots somehow often come to a bad end. Art Scholl died flying for the movie Top Gun. Hal Krier died flying aerobatics as did the incomparable Neil Williams.

As someone in the air show circuit, I also grew up as a kid watching his demos in COMPLETE awe.

Top Gun graduate AND instructor, he flew over 850 air shows in more types of aircraft than I could possibly list.. he was a master of the ultimate Grumman "cat" - which was not an easy aircraft to perfect.

Any aviation loss is tragic, but when these TRULY passionate aviation pioneers who dedicated their lives to the industry pass away, it's even worse. You'll never get a replacement for someone like 'Snort' - a product of the REAL "Top Gun" generation, when dog fighting a 70,000lb carrier-based fighter with your RIO, capable of 1,500 mph was your job description.

Blue skies and tailwinds. I'll forever miss airshows like yours, but thankfully that's probably what got me obsessed with aviation in the first place.

GalaxyFlyer wrote:

Nickel on the grass. Funny how these pilots somehow often come to a bad end. Art Scholl died flying for the movie Top Gun. Hal Krier died flying aerobatics as did the incomparable Neil Williams.

It's sad, but yet again the old mantra of "there are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old bold pilots" rings true. At 70 he was closer to disproving this saying than many... but sadly I've seen it time and time again.

estorilm wrote:

As someone in the air show circuit, I also grew up as a kid watching his demos in COMPLETE awe.

Top Gun graduate AND instructor, he flew over 850 air shows in more types of aircraft than I could possibly list.. he was a master of the ultimate Grumman "cat" - which was not an easy aircraft to perfect.

Any aviation loss is tragic, but when these TRULY passionate aviation pioneers who dedicated their lives to the industry pass away, it's even worse. You'll never get a replacement for someone like 'Snort' - a product of the REAL "Top Gun" generation, when dog fighting a 70,000lb carrier-based fighter with your RIO, capable of 1,500 mph was your job description.

Blue skies and tailwinds. I'll forever miss airshows like yours, but thankfully that's probably what got me obsessed with aviation in the first place.

GalaxyFlyer wrote:

Nickel on the grass. Funny how these pilots somehow often come to a bad end. Art Scholl died flying for the movie Top Gun. Hal Krier died flying aerobatics as did the incomparable Neil Williams.

It's sad, but yet again the old mantra of "there are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old bold pilots" rings true. At 70 he was closer to disproving this saying than many... but sadly I've seen it time and time again.

Great point. While those who were always amazed by his Demos , especially during the "Pukin Dogs" days in the D Model most, in all likelihood, didn't realize just how skilled one had to be to pull of his routine in a F-14. The majority of Demos in his day were still "Lawn Darts" and "Eagles." The F-14 could be very unforgiving in the wrong hands.

GalaxyFlyer wrote:

Nickel on the grass. Funny how these pilots somehow often come to a bad end. Art Scholl died flying for the movie Top Gun. Hal Krier died flying aerobatics as did the incomparable Neil Williams.

The lowest "Nickel on the Grass" I ever saw him do was back in the 90's in Batavia, NY at what was once "The Wings of Eagles" Warbird Airshow.
My jaw just hung open for a good 30 seconds after he went past.

Nickel on the grass is not slang for low pass.

I'm not old enough to have appreciated Dale "Snort" Snodgrass flying the Tomcat (I'm pretty sure he did fly it at McGuire AFB in the late 80s and early 90s) but I definitely first saw him as a civilian at an airshow at NAS/JRB Willow Grove in 2000. He flew an F4U Corsair and an SNJ Texan that day and every year after that until 2012 I got the chance to film his demos in Sabres, Corsairs, Mustangs, MiGs, a Paris Jet, and a T-33. I didn't truly appreciate his Naval aviation career accolades until I was 17 or 18, and when I did, he became one of my aviation heroes. It's not often one gets to meet any of their heroes but I did in 2003, and since then, Snort and I would cross paths multiple times each year until 2012, and we were on a first name or callsign basis with one another.

Sequestration and an incredible job opportunity would take Snort away from flying airshows but he still made appearances at many of the major events.

His airshow career post-Navy retirement was equally impressive between formation acts, solo acts, and as one of the few pilots in the Air Force's Heritage Flight program. Whenever people knew he would be at an airshow, they first asked what he would be flying (he held a surface level aerobatic card in probably a dozen aircraft, maybe more) and then at the show, they watched him fly. I remember this photo made quite the stir nearly 20 years ago and I'm sure it does to this day. I was even present when it happened and have video of it.



Snort's loss is a huge one for the entire military and civilian aviation community.

Here is an article:

Legendary F-14 Pilot Dale ‘Snort’ Snodgrass Dies In A Tragic Plane Crash

Sad day indeed. The high time pilot in the Tomcat community who could push that airplane to it's limits and then some.

Two other articles about him. In an article I read over the weekend it had a link to a terrific interview of him back a decade or so ago. Imagine over 1,200 carrier landings!! Just insane, a real hero and legend

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/dale-sn ... i-sm-1019/

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/capt-da ... ert-storm/

GalaxyFlyer wrote:

Nickel on the grass is not slang for low pass.

Yes, I didn’t mean for it to imply the maneuver. I was more awestruck with respect with what I just witnessed.
My error.

usair1489 wrote:

I'm not old enough to have appreciated Dale "Snort" Snodgrass flying the Tomcat (I'm pretty sure he did fly it at McGuire AFB in the late 80s and early 90s) but I definitely first saw him as a civilian at an airshow at NAS/JRB Willow Grove in 2000. He flew an F4U Corsair and an SNJ Texan that day and every year after that until 2012 I got the chance to film his demos in Sabres, Corsairs, Mustangs, MiGs, a Paris Jet, and a T-33. I didn't truly appreciate his Naval aviation career accolades until I was 17 or 18, and when I did, he became one of my aviation heroes. It's not often one gets to meet any of their heroes but I did in 2003, and since then, Snort and I would cross paths multiple times each year until 2012, and we were on a first name or callsign basis with one another.

Sequestration and an incredible job opportunity would take Snort away from flying airshows but he still made appearances at many of the major events.

His airshow career post-Navy retirement was equally impressive between formation acts, solo acts, and as one of the few pilots in the Air Force's Heritage Flight program. Whenever people knew he would be at an airshow, they first asked what he would be flying (he held a surface level aerobatic card in probably a dozen aircraft, maybe more) and then at the show, they watched him fly. I remember this photo made quite the stir nearly 20 years ago and I'm sure it does to this day. I was even present when it happened and have video of it.

Snort's loss is a huge one for the entire military and civilian aviation community.

What an honor to have known him as you did. The memories you’ll carry with you are a National Treasure.

Really tragic, the video is horrific, not just the crash but the incredibly slow CFR response


I wonder if he could have been saved if they had got to him quicker and before the fire got too bad ?


Does anyone know the cause yet ?

I don't think the preliminary NTSB report is out yet but here is a good discussion of what the cause is likely to turn out to be, i.e trim system problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueby0YzKUk0