Post by quincannon on Jun 3, 2016 17:05:25 GMT
Big day yesterday. The President came to town, there are several hundred more snotty nosed Second Lieutenants in the United States Air Force, and one of the Thunderbirds crashed after the obligatory waste of the taxpayers money with demonstrations, that considering how they do it are far too dangerous over heavily populated areas such as ours (my opinion, you don't have to share it).
The wreckage lies about half a mile from my home in a open field, purposely left open in that is in the direct landing pattern for both Petersen AFB, and the runways that base shares with Colorado Springs Airport. I was surprised that the aircraft did not explode on impact. The wreckage is largely intact, with only the back of the airframe broken right behind the cockpit. The pilot did a very good job in getting that aircraft into that field. Had it been a quarter of a mile short of where it did land it would have been in the middle of a housing development. I was also surprise that he could eject safely at such a low altitude.
I fully understand the public relations aspects of such demonstrations on the part of the Thunderbirds, Blue Angels and other such teams world wide. Since their inception though in the immediate post war era, a lot has changed, with regard to urban sprawl. What was safe for the Blue Angels in their original mounts of Hellcats and Bearcats, ain't so much anymore.
Frankly I cannot see risking pilots who cost us millions to train, and aircraft that cost us multi millions to purchase, operate, and maintain, in what is essentially a publicity stunt. I wonder if they really do aid recruiting efforts as they claim? We have a much more sophisticated society than in 1946.
