A pilot with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels acrobatic flying team was killed Thursday after his F/A-18 fighter jet crashed near Nashville, Tenn.

The crash occurred around 3:00 p.m. CT about three kilometres from the runway at the Smyrna, Tenn., airport while the Blue Angels squadron was preparing for a weekend air show, the Navy said in a statement.

"The pilot of the jet was taking off to start the afternoon practice when the mishap occurred," the statement said. The pilot, whose name has not been released, died from "injuries sustained during the crash."

Five other Blue Angel jets were not involved in the crash and landed safely soon after.

The cause of the crash is being investigated.

It was the second fighter jet crash of the day for the military's elite fighter jet performance teams. A member of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds crashed in Colorado following a flyover for the Air Force Academy graduation where President Barack Obama spoke. That pilot ejected safely into a field.

U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter says the military will attempt to learn from the tragic loss of life in both the incident in Tennessee and one in which personnel from Fort Hood, Texas died Thursday in a flood — since both involved safety issues in training.

Speaking in Singapore, where he was conferring Friday with his Singaporean counterpart on Southeast Asian security issues, Carter expressed condolences to the families of those killed.

Carter said that because both incidents involved safety issues during training, the military will take actions designed to prevent such accidents once military investigations are completed.