Blue Angles Crash | Forums

[WarWolfe_1]

[LEXX_Luthor]

heywooood::

One of these crashes could end flight demonstration teams performing altogether..that would be a bad thing.

It might be a good thing if they eased the show envelope, making things safer at airshows and in practice. I never saw the point of the fancy and rather silly tricks they try to perform. Best airshow performance I saw was one of the last, possibly the last, public F-106 flying displays at an airshow in Mississippi. No silly little tricks, just flying around alone demonstrating stunning zoom climb and afterburner bang. The advertised "highlight" of the airshow was to be the ThunderBirds flying later, fancy tricks and all. I left the show after the -106's lone performance and talking to pilot and chief mech (two bodies -- one mind). There was no reason to stay for anything else.

[leitmotiv]

I find it incomprehensible a maneuver was performed over a residential area---this was absolutely Verboten I thought---if it wasn't, it ought to be. If nobody on the ground died, it was an absolute miracle.

[berg417448]

Looking at the Google Earth image of the roads mentioned as the crash location...the area is largely woodland.

[Sergio_101]

Originally posted by LEXX_Luthor:
heywooood:: <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">One of these crashes could end flight demonstration teams performing altogether..that would be a bad thing.

It might be a good thing if they eased the show envelope, making things safer at airshows and in practice. I never saw the point of the fancy and rather silly tricks they try to perform. Best airshow performance I saw was one of the last, possibly the last, public F-106 flying displays at an airshow in Mississippi. No silly little tricks, just flying around alone demonstrating stunning zoom climb and afterburner bang. The advertised "highlight" of the airshow was to be the ThunderBirds flying later, fancy tricks and all. I left the show after the -106's lone performance and talking to pilot and chief mech (two bodies -- one mind). There was no reason to stay for anything else. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I had the privilege to see a F-106 fly, only once.
An awesome flying machine.
Louder than a F-4 at full burner.

The pilot did not survive the crash today.
He rode it in.

Sergio

[Bremspropeller]

Sad.

[Dagnabit]

sad loss.

[StellarRat]

This is very sad for me. I've seen the Blue Angels perform many times. These men are the top pilots in the Navy (actually in the world for that matter) and are dedicated and super skilled at what they do. Anyone that has seen "A YEAR IN THE LIFE" would know that they are great people all around.

leitmotiv: THEY DO NOT DO TRICKS over residential areas! However, they do maintain their close formation around the airfield where they are performing. I'm waiting for more details about what happened.



As a side note: There is now a female Thunderbird. I'm sure there will be a female Angel in the not too distant future.

[tigertalon]

[Bearcat99]

People have been dieing in airshows since the barnstorming days... I doubt if this crash will stop them. I hope it doesnt.
Why Bessie Coleman died at an airshow in Florida in 1921.


The folks who do this sort of thing know the risks..... and they chose to do it because they love what they do... otherwise they would be doing something far more lucrative... He died doing what he loved...
I have seen the Blue Angels.. in fact I am wearing the Blue Angels Hellcats to Hornets T-shirt ironically, that I picked up when I saw them last year at Andrews... The things they do are not "silly tricks" they are examples of superb flying skills and precision teamwork.