A military-chartered jet carrying 143 people landed hard, then bounced and swerved as the pilot struggled to control it amid thunder and lightning, ultimately skidding off the runway and coming to a crashing halt in a river at Naval Air Station Jacksonville.
Former Thunderbirds commander Lt. Col. Jason Heard was fired last November after an investigation found he placed his hands on another pilot’s neck during a “physical altercation” in a Maryland bar.