Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is sticking to encouraging low-altitude military flyovers after a fighter jet buzzed a Florida beach during a show this week, raising new scrutiny after the Pentagon has dismissed a series of safety reviews of such flights.

The elite flying team had announced a safety review after videos posted on social media showed a fighter jet passing just above beachgoers on Wednesday.

A fighter pilot who roared so low over a crowded beach that chairs and umbrellas were blown into the air On Thursday, Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said on X that a flight debrief had concluded with “No reprimands.

In the latest manuever, video spreading widely on social media shows a jet from the Navy's demonstration squadron, the Blue Angels, flying so low over a crowded beach in Pensacola on Wednesday that chairs and tents went flying and children held their hands over their ears.

EADaily, July 19th, 2026. The Blue Angels fighter jet flew too low over holidaymakers on the beach in Florida, the air stream blew away umbrellas and tents.

A US Navy Blue Angels jet sent some beach items up in the air as it flew at a low altitude over a crowd in Pensacola Beach, Florida.

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U.S. ⁠Defense ⁠Secretary Pete Hegseth backed the ⁠U.S. Navy Blue Angels on Thursday amid a review by the military ​into one of the jets flying at low altitude over a crowd in Florida. Video footage online showed a ‌jet from the famed flight demonstration ‌squadron flying close above a crowd at Pensacola Beach,