Blue Angels Hold First-Ever Open Tryouts
87 Dead, 243 Injured in Day 1 of Weeklong Event
The enthusiasm of Erin Rappaport, a Springfield, IL eighth-grader who played flight simulators on her PlayStation and impressed Naval flight teams when she sat in the F/A-18 Hornet’s cockpit for the first time and already knew, or could guess,† the functions of many of the jet’s 188 different controls.
“That sounds just like Erin,” said Rappaport’s math teacher, Janice Billingsly. “We’ll miss her very much.”
People should really stick to what they know, which is why they don’t let naval aviators talk politics.
Wait…
Never realized the Blues (or the Navy) had so many aircraft to spare! I feel a lot better about our war preparedness, now.
It says a lot about the Navy that they didn’t write this about The Thunderbirds.
Musta spent a lot of time on those quitclaim forms for the bystanders…
And those Naval aviators and politics? Well, sometimes your best isn’t quite good enough to stand up to a withering storm of aerosol fecal matter.
Can’t belive this site is blocked from the workplace. Who do they think I am?
Well… now I know where those publicity funds the SecAF was complaining about in regards to the Thunderbirds went to….
Kind of lame…I guess you just have to be in the mood… some Midol might help me…
… on the upside I did order one of the T-Shirts advertised at the top of the linked article…the one on the far right that had ” Olws are Ass Holes” written accross it… it succinctly says what I’ve always subconsciously thought about those noisy nocturnal Pecker-Woods…my day is made. Best
Nice find Lex!
The Blew Augers (in)?
ROTFLOL! That was hilarious!
Possibly something else that wasn’t a good idea:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,457626,00.html
Official: Destroyed Pirate ‘Mother Ship’ Actually Thai Boat
The in Flight Sim is easy, how hard can an FA-18 be?
Seriously, both T-Birds and the Angels have had fatal mishaps. I did wonder about the T-Birds when the entire formation drilled a hole in the desert at Nellis playing follow the leader. I know you have to watch the lead when in close formation, but when no one looked forward when it seemed to take a little long to pull up….
The Angels did theirs in cross country back in the 70s. I guess flying over land was a bit too hard for the Navy types.
QM misunderstands the tight formation of TRUST. For example an RAAF team of Vampires all crashed in 1962 during a formation barrel roll: ‘the altitude of the leader was too low to commence the barrel roll,. with the rest of the team basically “following the leader”‘
http://www.research.adf-serials.com/redsales.pdf
As I recall, by the time the T-Birds flight lead realized that he’d started his maneuver with too little altitude there was nothing to be done. Flying in that close of a formation, there aren’t any processing cycles left for any other cockpit tasks. You trust because there isn’t any other choice.
If I recall correctly, his last communication to his flight was, “Sorry, guys” or words to that effect.
Lex,
I thought the accident report came out and said there was a problem with his slab and he couldn’t get the required movement to recover. I could be wrong though.
Now that I think on it, I believe you’re right Juvat. That was a bad day.
Sir,
IIRC the TBird accident was caused by a mechanical malfunction, not pilot error. A few years earlier I watched Thunderbird Lead go in at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland when his T-38 ate a seagull on takeoff and his seat separation charge failed.
Mike
That’s funny as Hell! I loved their prior “Take your kid to war” video! (It’s linked on that page.)
I think it’s an excellent idea as long as the first tryouts are held in San Francisco. The City Board of Supervisors should be given the first opportunity to demonstrate their superior understanding of all things military.
Guys, I well understand the trust, and the lack of processing cycles. The story was complex, like most things of that type. Still doesn’t explain the incident. I understand, however, why it happened.
The QM handle is from my enlisted days, not the flying days.
Pretty much put paid to the T-Birds for awhile. And it was a pretty bad day. Certainly that day was ruined for that group of Pilots.
re: Ssgt Jeff in #10, been waiting for that to finally go public. Time for the consequence management folks to get into action, and be thankful it wasn’t our boys doing the hasty shooting.