If anybody here gets Tech magazine, hopefully you should have gotten the Fall 2006 copy, cause there is a whole section on the USAF Thunderbirds and their engineers. I was reading and it sounds like the life of being a Thunderbird is actually really hard even when not flying!!!
Read the whole magazine at:
http://www.snapon.com/techmagazine/pdf/ ... fall06.pdf
USAF Thunderbirds in "Tech" magazine
Good find Viper! Thanks! 
You're absolutely right. There is much more to being a Thunderbird than meets the eye. These are some of the hardest working people on earth (not just the pilots either). Basically it's 7-days a week, incl. almost every weekend of the year on the road and in between hard work too. On average, for every flight hour, the team spends 4-5 hours in briefings and critique, eval and video review. That's not even including what goes on behind the scenes with all the support personnel in setting up for the next event and making sure the airframes, logistics and PR is handled.
I know most of the Virtual Thunderbirds can relate to the briefing/de-briefing part incl. critique, review and evaluation. That pales in comparison to the real men in blue spend an astonishing amount of time working for every single minute flown at an air show. But hey, it's their job... but also the chance of a life time!
Thanks for sharing the article Viper!
LD
You're absolutely right. There is much more to being a Thunderbird than meets the eye. These are some of the hardest working people on earth (not just the pilots either). Basically it's 7-days a week, incl. almost every weekend of the year on the road and in between hard work too. On average, for every flight hour, the team spends 4-5 hours in briefings and critique, eval and video review. That's not even including what goes on behind the scenes with all the support personnel in setting up for the next event and making sure the airframes, logistics and PR is handled.
I know most of the Virtual Thunderbirds can relate to the briefing/de-briefing part incl. critique, review and evaluation. That pales in comparison to the real men in blue spend an astonishing amount of time working for every single minute flown at an air show. But hey, it's their job... but also the chance of a life time!
Thanks for sharing the article Viper!
LD
