Highlights of the flat show flown at Keesler AFB on April 4th.



And LD our question was answered with this vid: it seems they do perform an opp. 4-pt instead of the opp. Split-S for the low/flat show.

Another video from Keesler, both of the solos have a grey temporary nose!

Gray nose was due to damage to their radomes protective strips that keeps it safe while in flight. That's all Depot level repairs and can't be done back at the Nellis hangars.

Blaze wrote:LD our question was answered with this vid: it seems they do perform an opp. 4-pt instead of the opp. Split-S for the low/flat show.

I only caught a glance before heading out the door to work all day, but yes seems that assumption was correct. Most likely they still fly the OpSS for the Low Show though, since ceilings are 3.5K or higher for a Low Show.

Also looks like the Flat sequence is unchanged from previous years, which would likely mean the Low sequence is too, with only the High Show mixing it up. I wouldn't have guessed that, but from the looks of it, the maneuvers in these videos follow the Flat Shows of 2005-2008 with only the OpInv added. Of course the video maker got some of the order mixed up anyway in editing, but easy enough to read between the lines. Staying tuned for more...

Weather damaged 5 Thunderbird Aircraft last week.

Panther wrote:Weather damaged 5 Thunderbird Aircraft last week.

Geeze!

They were talking about thunderstorm squalls on the radio @ MacDill referencing their arrival into Florida, and there was another line of storms waiting for them after leaving Florida for Mississippi too. The maintainers earned their keep on this roadtrip for sure!

This is why they have never cancelled a show due to maintenance in 56 years. (Gray radomes whenever needed).

Panther wrote:Weather damaged 5 Thunderbird Aircraft last week.

Turn out they were landing in a hail storm/tornado!!!

That's one way to "break" in the new birds. Standby gray... Gray out ready now!

Lawndart wrote: Turn out they were landing in a hail storm/tornado!!!

Did something simillar ever happen before, landing cause a dangerous thunderstorm or even a tornado forms up?

Sawamura wrote:

Lawndart wrote: Turn out they were landing in a hail storm/tornado!!!

Did something simillar ever happen before, landing cause a dangerous thunderstorm or even a tornado forms up?

I was at a show last year in Rockford, IL, and the jets scrambled to land near the middle of the show due to an approaching large supercell thunderstorm that was beginning to dump golfball/baseball size hail about 20 miles away. The core part of the storm missed the airfield by about 3 miles to the north. Was quite interesting, seeing them end it with a diamond head on pass, followed by all the jets getting in a loose trail and just making straight ins, with #8 asking everyone to leave.

Rhino wrote:Was quite interesting, seeing them end it with a diamond head on pass, followed by all the jets getting in a loose trail and just making straight ins, with #8 asking everyone to leave.

Believe it or not, but the Diamond Closer (head on) and each wingman taking spacing on downwind is a practiced procedure. Must have been funny to hear the Narrator ask everyone to seek cover though!

I don't know if anyone has seen the picture, but there is a shot over on ASB that shows the Low Bomb Burst, with all 6 aircraft breaking apart. Pretty cool change if you ask me.

Looks like a Low Bomb Burst with the Blue Out.

Keesler AFB, MS 2009

In the first video (top post), #4 actually rolls the wrong direction on the pitch, but then corrects back.

I thought they were supposed to fly an opposite downwind in case of a mis-direction pitch, but I guess the initial instinct to correct ones mistake immediately kicked in. Same happened last year in Lakeland during Sun 'n Fun, but it was #2 that went the wrong way that time. Separation between number two and three got a little tight, but both pilots communicated and made sure they had each other in sight that time at least.

March 12, 1959: Capt. "Fish" Salmon was killed in training during a pitchout that had him collide with #3. Back then they had 1-second intervals for the pitch (in recent times the interval is set to 3-seconds for greater safety). "Fish" almost managed to save the plane after striking a glancing blow to #3, who had the long pitot tube boom on the wing of the F-100 Super Sabre ripped clean off. Fish wasn't as lucky as the entire top of the vertical stabilizer sheared off. Fish climbed to a high alititude to troubleshoot, and through several attempts to save the airplane, and ending up in a spin/spin-recovery, the Leader called for Fish to eject. What no one knew was that Fish didn't have a chance to switch his parachute mechanism from zero lanyard for low altitude flight to a greater setting for greater heights, having immediately climbed to altitude after the collision. Preoccupation with saving the airplane made him miss this little detail. Fish's chute didn't open fully, and no one saw him separate from his ejection seat when he punched out. It was initially thought he had survived, but when he was found he was beyond earthly help.

I just think of this story whenever I see the Tbirds pitch in the wrong direction and then correct back nowadays... (Sort of defeats the 3-second interval reason).

Looks like they are trying something new for the Low BB once again... pretty cool.