Other than flying in formation the rest of their act is flying in a straight line over chosen landmarks. There is very little to the rest of the show. The fact that they practice from their base of operations is no different than any other flight group. They have to log hours SOMEWHERE.
You really don’t seem to understand the difficulty in the various maneuvers flown or how they’re applied or the training involved.
Maybe.
I wasn’t aware that a pilot had to do EVERY maneuver possible in an airplane during each and every training flight. Wow, learn something new every day. :rolleyes:
How the hell would I know if you have a pilot’s license or not? It’s not like I keep a running list of flying Dopers. I do know Magiver has one. Funny that at least two licensed pilots are disagreeing with you, isn’t it? Well, maybe we’re all idiots except you, who are god’s gift to aviation.
Then why do you seem to have trouble understanding the purpose of the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds?
Sorry - I’ve been drafted into the “essential personnel” category and can’t get away.
Pissing away DoD/government money. How soone we forget the “National Emergency” that required building a wall where there already was a wall by diverting billions from the military construction budget. That same emergency that the tangerine menace admitted wasn’t an emergency then proceded to veto the bi-partisam bill canceling the fake emergency.
How about the hundreds of millions spent on endless golf vacations, boarding son-of-mother at a Trump resort, boarding military personnel at same resort at exhorbitant rates, and so on.
Flying is 95% just getting somewhere and 5% actual action. You’ve got to fly to stay proficient. As pointed out, many air shows were canceled. Not everything gets worked in a simulator.
Look, nitwit, you keep putting words in my mouth. Military pilots get about 20 flying hours a month. They will likely use more than that to do these fly-bys. If your argument is that the fly-bys are good for training, I’m saying that they are burning a lot of their flight time for limited benefit.
If you were to learn a lesson from this, it would be to not make assumptions that can blow up in your face. (I also mentioned it in this thread, but I’ve seen that you aren’t actually reading what I have written, so I understand your error.)
I didn’t know Magiver had a pilots license. I thought he was basically a gas station attendant for some kind of aircraft charter business.
Nice backpedaling. Again, you’re embarrassed that you raised the issue of military ranges, I show that I do know what I’m talking about, so you back away from that point faster than a 737 trying to get out of O’Hare before a storm causes a ground stop.
Doing an important job doesn’t require you to embarrass yourself in this thread any further.
You started your comments in this thread with an emotional rant about things you clearly don’t understand. You claimed to have flown in formation yet in the same post you show that you haven’t.
Now you’re flinging insults. You seem incapable of discussing it rationally. I’ve cited the Blue Angels regarding which maneuvers are the most difficult. These were used in the flyovers. These flyovers replace cancelled air shows and they serve the same purpose. They are every bit a part of their training yet for some reason you seem to think doing them at their base station has any relevance to the discussion. All they’ve done is fly over buildings instead of runways and you went completely nuts. My plane was stationed at a guard base for F-16’s before they relocated so I had a fair amount of interaction with what they did.
Unlike you my entire adult life has revolved around aviation. I built my own plane. I’ve flown it in formation. I’ve loaded aircraft. I’ve been a loadmaster in charge of loading aircraft. I’ve routed aircraft in an operations capacity. I’ve been a route analyst for a major freight company. My Friends are airline pilots, loadmasters, and charter reps who also fly.
Your comments to Broomstick and myself are childish to the extreme. You don’t seem to be able to keep control of your emotions and revert to insults when you can’t contradict cites directly from a Blue Angels pilot.
You started your comments in this thread with an emotional rant about things you clearly don’t understand. You claimed to have flown in formation yet in the same post you show that you haven’t.
Now you’re flinging insults. You seem incapable of discussing it rationally. I’ve cited the Blue Angels regarding which maneuvers are the most difficult. These were used in the flyovers. These flyovers replace cancelled air shows and they serve the same purpose. They are every bit a part of their training yet for some reason you seem to think doing them at their base station has any relevance to the discussion. All they’ve done is fly over buildings instead of runways and you went completely nuts. My plane was stationed at a guard base for F-16’s before they relocated so I had a fair amount of interaction with what they did.
Unlike you my entire adult life has revolved around aviation. I built my own plane. I’ve flown it in formation. I’ve loaded aircraft. I’ve been a loadmaster in charge of loading aircraft. I’ve routed aircraft in an operations capacity. I’ve been a route analyst for a major freight company. My Friends are airline pilots, loadmasters, and charter reps who also fly.
Your comments to Broomstick and myself are childish to the extreme. You don’t seem to be able to keep control of your emotions and revert to insults when you can’t contradict cites directly from a Blue Angels pilot.
Awww, did I make you cry?
Y’all should stop feeding the troll.
No you made me laugh. the part about flying 50 feet from a plane and calling that a formation flight was not only funny but it explained why you didn’t know how difficult it is to do. You literally outed yourself to other pilots.
You haven’t been able to demonstrate any logic to your position. The flyovers don’t cost any additional money. They serve the same function as the cancelled air show flyovers and engage the pilots in the skills they need to maintain proficiency.
What’s the FAA definition of a formation?
^The relevant question here would be what’s the military definition of a formation.
Something that doesn’t require binoculars? There is no skill involved flying 50 feet from another plane. That’s called staying awake.
But nice try trying to parse words. I already cited someone from the Blue Angels who said their formation flights are one of the hardest of their maneuvers Which was the whole point of the cite.
Again, the flyovers are part of what these groups do on a regular basis and with the cancellation of major shows they are a natural transition of their intended purpose. With no extra costs involved.
Um… if they do fly-bys they get more than 20 hours a month and that’s somehow bad? If the folks in charge of the military thing sending the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds on over-city fly-bys is how to use those folks this month then doing so isn’t a “limited benefit”, it’s what they’re assigned to do.
Here, from their own website, is the mission of the Blue Angels:
The Thunderbirds are a bit more wordy:
Basically, “demonstration flights” and PR is what these two teams do. You seem to be complaining that they’re “burning” their flight time doing their primary mission - to represent the armed forces, demonstrate flying, enhance PR, and hopefully recruit a few folks.
What do you think they should be doing other that those things?
I find it absolutely hilarious that you berate me for assumptions then turn around and do the exact same thing to Magiver. Thanks for the belly-laugh, I need one these days. Perhaps YOU could learn something from this - don’t project your mistakes onto other people.
Bizarre - whatever lead you to think I’m “embarrassed”? Where did I back down from it?
I don’t think I’m the one who should be embarrassed here…
Are you having the same conversation as the rest of us?
You side of this rant is not going as well as you think it is.
Actually, you’re so ridiculous you make me laugh.
Frankly, your statements are so at odds with what I’ve been told about the demonstration teams and my own knowledge of aviation I’m starting to doubt your statements about your own flight experience, knowledge, and skills.
But I’ll let Magiver chew on you for that. I’ll sit back and watch. Because, frankly, I’ve better things to do than engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.
I wouldn’t know offhand. Perhaps mrAru’s father would have some sort of idea what goes on behind the scenes circa mid 50s, he was the Blue Angels duty photographer. I wouldn’t imagine much has changed since then overall policy-wise.
I think if someone knew one of the transport pilot ladies from WW2 they would know, or someone who flies transport currently. I do know I see stuff in the air in CT as for decades there was a repair facility for helicopters down at the Sikorsky plant so Navy, COastie and AF helos would fly down from points northwards over the farm.
I have to say, I sort of miss living under the flightline for NOB Norfolk … other than the occasional 0500 huge cargo plane going out, it was a decent place to observe. I got to where i could identify pretty much all the local Navy bird types by sound. And the all black low flying helicopters were always fun =)
As I recall, New York’s essential workers and health workers were promised a huge ticker tape parade. I’ll suggest that the flyover (assuming the pilots were going to be flying anyway) was a cheaper and more practical alternative to dumping tons of paper on the streets of NYC.
I don’t understand this. A display of military equipment by a federal government that is literally stealing PPE shipments from state governments is – words fail me. But a whole lot of images come to mind; police helicopters circling my neighborhood, Soviet-era military parades, North Korea lobbing missiles into the ocean.
It’s not a " display of military equipment. "
It’s necessary training.
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Anecdotal, but most of the flyovers with which I was involved, the aircraft were not going from point A to point B. The entire point of the sorties WAS the flyover.
I’ve been to airshows that had flyovers of aircraft en-route to another air show. They don’t do their full act but they’ll make a series of passes that don’t require pre-planning. I have no idea to what extent this is done but it makes sense to squeeze in what you can for any given trip.
And as an aside, if there is an act like the Blue Angels that stays overnight then there is another layer of personnel that most people don’t see. They are provided with a mobile group that oversees security. So if you’re at such an airshow then you and the surround area are being monitored.