Delta spacing back then looks like the Diamond spacing now. And the Diamond spacing...!!!

Cobra wrote:Delta spacing back then looks like the Diamond spacing now. And the Diamond spacing...!!!

To be honest they weren't flying most maneuvers as tight as we tend to think they did back in the 80s and even 90s, but then there's the PIR from '97:
http://youtu.be/IqgjlCCbTr8?t=3m26s

Lt. Col. Ronald Mumm was the Leader. In '98 with Lt. Col. Brian "Bbop" Bishop they didn't fly the PIR as tight anymore, but the late 90s Thunderbirds still rocked!

Even if some parts of the show was flown looser than it is even today, other parts were much tighter... and that surgical precision is harder to come by these days. I think the experience level of the pilots counts for a lot of that (just look at the requirements to apply nowadays compared to a decade ago), but also the F-16A models ( '82-91 ) and F-16C models ( '92-08 ) that the team used just seem more responsive compared to the current jets (even if they lacked the power of the F100-PW-229 found in today's Block 52s).

It definitely looks cleaner and smoother in the hands of the 80s and 90s pilots, and I'm just guessing here - but the Block 52's FBW control system seems to be a little more temperamental and not as much a pilot's extension of his own body.

Increased power or not, the "empty weight" of the jet is up ~ 3600 pounds from the early versions. Imagine if the '83 Tbirds were carrying a pair of Mk84s through the routine!

Even JB Dryden referred to the later blocks as the bird getting "its middle age spread".

Several of the manoeuvres looked to be speeded up as well. Probably a film thing.