Looks Like the Thunderbird's and Blue Angels are Scheduling Shows Again

Seggy said:
I appreciate your honesty with that. I think a far more valuable recruiting tool would be ...... Cheaper and more individualized towards the prospective soldier.....
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Just a tid bit to the idea that they are a waste of money....They generate a large amount of money that often goes back to the city's/military installations that host these shows.....



SAN DIEGO — The Pentagon’s decision to cancel the air show at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar just one day before it was slated to begin will cost the base between $600,000 and $700,000, though officials aren’t sure yet how big a hit the Marine and family programs that usually benefit from the show’s profits will take.

Last year’s air show netted $1.6 million in profit, which goes back into Marine Corps Community Services programs on base, including family readiness programs, the youth and teen center, and fitness programs, officials said.
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While I dont have exact numbers, I think I saw the budget for the Blues being about $30,000,000. This one show alone generated $1.6 million in profit that goes right back to the military base and its programs. Money that DOESN'T have to come from other parts of the military budget.

Seems to me looking at that one show, the cost was well worth it......

Numbers like these tend get lost when speaking about these types of events. But then again, that wouldn't fit with the thought that these shows/programs are a complete waste of money.
 
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JEP said:
Just a tid bit to the idea that they are a waste of money....They generate a large amount of money that often goes back to the city's/military installations that host these shows.....





While I dont have exact numbers, I think I saw the budget for the Blues being about $30,000,000. This one show alone would have generated $1.6 million in profit that goes right back to the military base and its programs. Money that DOESN'T have to come from other parts of the military budget.

Seems to me looking at that one show, the cost was well worth it......

Numbers like these tend get lost when speaking about these types of events. But then again, that wouldn't fit with the thought that these shows/programs are a complete waste of money.
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Or they could have just taken the 30 million from the Blue Angel budget and give it back to that group where the Air Show profits would have gone.


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Seggy said:
Or they could have just taken the 30 million from the Blue Angel budget and give it back to that group where the Air Show profits would have gone.

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As if there was any question, thanks for making my point crystal clear.

JEP said:
Numbers like these tend get lost when speaking about these types of events. But then again, that wouldn't fit with the thought that these shows/programs are a complete waste of money.
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Hacker15e said:
That being said, there is lots of other low-hanging fruit in the DoD that should be trimmed before that happens. In the USAF, our obsession with zeroing out flying hours and unit budgets annually (lest we lose them next year!) is the single biggest case of institutional fraud/waste/abuse I've seen.
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Exactly! I was told to go out on a spending spree to make sure we spent every penny by 23:59 on September 30th! I didn't like to do it, so I usually fudged pilot and aircrew NATOPS records, so I could buy them new gear. If we spent what we were allotted or submitted a request for more funding, we got the same amount or more for the next Fiscal Year. If you didn't spend it all, you received less funding. It should be the total opposite. They should be promoting fiscal savings. Budget surplus should roll over to the next Fiscal Year instead of making sure each penny that was budgeted is spent.
 
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Truthfully, and in order to have no conflict of interest, the Thunderbirds should be doing the flyover of the Army/Navy game. Or better yet, the Escuadrilla Acrobatica del Colegio del Aire demonstration team of the Mexico Air Force.
 
Bah....weak sauce from the Blues.

Here's the T-38 flyby from my squadron that got a BUNCH of folks in big trouble. The flight lead lost his wings, got an Article 15, and left the AF. The rest of the members of the flight essentially had their careers ended, although they contnued flying.

The Air Force said last month the four Talon T-38 jets were at an altitude 16 feet above the stadium’s press box and cleared the scoreboard by 58 feet during the flyover, which amazed fans and was meant to honor military veterans. Their altitude of 176 feet above ground level was far below the 1,000-foot minimum elevation required for flights above a populated area. The jets were also above the speed limit.
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Hacker15e said:
Bah....weak sauce from the Blues.

Here's the T-38 flyby from my squadron that got a BUNCH of folks in big trouble. The flight lead lost his wings, got an Article 15, and left the AF. The rest of the members of the flight essentially had their careers ended, although they contnued flying.
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I've said it before and I'll say it again: NOTHING good comes out of a flyby anymore. At BEST, you break even. Normally, and especially these days, you will lose.
 
It's all weak sauce. Only thing that's happening in these pics are a bunch of jets, flying in straight lines, in VFR conditions.


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Seggy said:
It's all weak sauce. Only thing that's happening in these pics are a bunch of jets, flying in straight lines, in VFR conditions.
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That's all multi-ship formations are -- a bunch of airplanes going in the same direction. So simple even an airline pilot could do it!
 
So...I missed the opportunity to please myself with their participation in Air Venture 2013, and they green-lighted them now? Thank you. Now I'm back home. Far away, quite in the other 54º Lat.


Thank you US Gov for saving 0,000000000001 cents out of taxes, instead of keep producing one of the best overall shows one have the chance to see in a liftime.


Just kidding.




not
 
Hacker15e said:
Bah....weak sauce from the Blues.

Here's the T-38 flyby from my squadron that got a BUNCH of folks in big trouble. The flight lead lost his wings, got an Article 15, and left the AF. The rest of the members of the flight essentially had their careers ended, although they contnued flying.



76881172719106594614235.jpg

jet.jpg
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I'm enough of a bastard that I would have turned in my wings, waived the Article 15, and dared them to court martial me.
 
Hacker15e said:
The rest of the members of the flight essentially had their careers ended, although they contnued flying.
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The flight lead I understand, but why would the rest of the flight get hammered?

From my minimal understanding of formation flying, the trail birds in that phase of flight are 100% focused on maintaining position, not watching airspeed and altitude.

Or, was it typical overreaction by the brass?
 
USMCmech said:
The flight lead I understand, but why would the rest of the flight get hammered?

From my minimal understanding of formation flying, the trail birds in that phase of flight are 100% focused on maintaining position, not watching airspeed and altitude.

Or, was it typical overreaction by the brass?
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Mostly what you said in that last line. There are lots of reasons for it, but AF culture has evolved to the point where, currently, absolute compliance with written instruction is more important than airmanship, judgment, or even common sense. In fact, it is even worse than that, because the "culture of conservative" even means that even something that is not against the rules, but is not explicitly authorized, trained to, and has explicit approval from the chain of command is treated the same way.

Knowing all of the parties involved, the flight lead got off light and the wingmen got hammered far beyond any actual culpability or deserve...all basically to "send a message".
 
Hacker15e said:
Mostly what you said in that last line. There are lots of reasons for it, but AF culture has evolved to the point where, currently, absolute compliance with written instruction is more important than airmanship, judgment, or even common sense. In fact, it is even worse than that, because the "culture of conservative" even means that even something that is not against the rules, but is not explicitly authorized, trained to, and has explicit approval from the chain of command is treated the same way.

Knowing all of the parties involved, the flight lead got off light and the wingmen got hammered far beyond any actual culpability or deserve...all basically to "send a message".
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Article 15 is getting off light?
 
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