Well that will give you chills!

TheWife

TheWife

New Member
We braved the heat and crowds for an air show today at Hill Air Force Base. Oh my! The acrobatic stuff was cool, but of course the Thunderbirds were the best part. Me being the back seat driver I am, I was just CRINGING every time they would fly directly at each other and then break at the last possible second. My head was screaming "no no no you are going to crash!!" I am such a big chicken. Obviously I was not cut out for that job.
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Pretty cool any way though. There isn't any one that posts here that flys those things is there? How do you get that job?
 
My Dear Ms. M,

Although this site will not give the exact requirements for the team, you may get some indication of what is desired for consideration.

The site dosen't say anything about it but, since the Thunderbirds are in fact "poster boys" for the Air Force you can accept that in addition to being a good stick, there are many other personnel traits that must be present.
 
Yep, contrary to popular belief watching Top Gun 20 times does not qualify you to be a Thunderbird Pilot.
 
Haha. Do you get really good in the air force and then have to audition, or is there only a few guys that want to do it any way, so pretty much if you are good and want to, you can?

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Wow what a pic wife! Motherhood really making you age that quickly?

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Mav--I'd like to think Motherhod suits me quite well. It's certain posters mentioning how much they enjoy the female members avatars that doesn't suit me so much
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The questions is:

Who is better, blue angels or thunderbirds?

Although I am more of an Air Force guy I would go with the blue angels.
 
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The questions is:

Who is better, blue angels or thunderbirds?

Although I am more of an Air Force guy I would go with the blue angels.

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Toss up probably. I will say the blue angels from the 70's were damn good. They were flying big ass phantoms, and they looked really unstable in formation to top it off.
 
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The questions is:

Who is better, blue angels or thunderbirds?

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Well, HELLO - The T-Birds don't have a Marine flying!!! How could they be the best??
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The questions is:

Who is better, blue angels or thunderbirds?

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Well, HELLO - The T-Birds don't have a Marine flying!!! How could they be the best??
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You've said it yourself. By not having a marine flying.
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Having seen both teams umpteen times...though my loyalties are to the T-birds, the Blues generally put on a better show.
 
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I hear A-10 pilots are wannabes
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LOL......I think.
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Team composition for the T-Birds is normally F-16 guys, with an A-10 and F-15 guy thrown in so the fighter community of the USAF can be represented. So one doesn't have to have come from F-16s to apply. As it is, most of your "ops unit" combat flying guys (read: Weapons School) guys don't really like the Thunderbirds.....referring to all they do as "loops to music". I'm pretty indifferent one way or the other. I think they put on a good show. Application-wise, there really is a "poster boy" quality they try to fill. In addition to reviewing your file, they interview your spouse (I've never seen a single, as in not married, Thunderbird). They want the prototypical wife, 2.5 kids, etc. It'd be interesting to see the first female T-Bird when that happens, since that'll just be another first.

IMO, the Blues put on a better show. Seems ever since the T-Birds put the four T-38s into the ground during the loop in Jan 1982, they've been more tame in their shows, not really pushing the envelope.
 
I kinda like the T-birds better. I haven't really had a fair comparision, though. The only time I've seen the Blues was without their opposing solo. He had a mechanical problem on takeoff. In my opinion the Blues take a little too long setting up for passes. I guess I'll have to go see both teams again.
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The Red Arrows are the best - there are 9 of them in that team. They are just awesome.

MikeD - won't you be doing a lot of airshows in the F117? Will you be flying, or just flying to the base, letting people guard your airplane, while you are in shorts and sandles drinking beer, waiting for the show to be over so you can go home.
 
I wanted to be the first female Thunderbird... however, my parents smoking and exersize induced athsma kindof shot that plan to heck...

However, I pretty happy as a plain ole plane pilot
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MikeD - won't you be doing a lot of airshows in the F117? Will you be flying, or just flying to the base, letting people guard your airplane, while you are in shorts and sandles drinking beer, waiting for the show to be over so you can go home.

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You're right. 117 is one of the most requested aircraft for airshows. Flyby or static display (or both) depends on what the particular airshow requests and what the Air Force can fulfill.
 
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