Ok well i was browsing through the book and noticed that the first picture under engineering had the thunderbird solos and under the caption it said " TIGHTEST CALYPSO PASS..... On November 13, 2005 the solos performed the pass with only 18 in ( 45.7 cm ) apart at the Aviation Nation 2005 Air Show at Nellis AFB at close to the speed of sound (760 mph; 1,223 km/h )" and here my friends is the photo from that pass

WOW!

Eighteen inches? Come on, they can get closer!

Kidding. I get paranoid taxiing along a line with like 6 feet of room.

Guinness may need to check their facts...

The speed of sound at sea level with a standard atmosphere of 15 °C (59 °F) is (drumroll)... 760 mph; 1,225 km/h! The figures quoted must have been references for the speed of sound, not the speed of the pass, (which was said to be close to the speed of sound). In mph the Calypso Pass would normally be flown at approx 500 mph. Anything faster would make it very touchy and with speeds slower No. 5 would have a tougher time getting enough AoA to maintain a straight and level inverted pass. Guinness also chose to show a photo of the Reflection Pass and not the Calypso judging by the picture above. Guess this goes to show, you cannot always believe what is in the books?!

The closeness of these passes are sometimes hard to determine from the crowd, since No. 6 is in fact hiding behind No. 5 with wingtip and tail overlapping. That is typically where the aircraft are closest together. Not necessarily in the vertical separation or profile view from the crowd.

None the less, it's cool that they made the Guinness Book of World Records!

Thats the reflection pass, this is a calypso...



EDIT: DARN LD, getting in there just as i was posting!

yea but this was the picture in the book, im surprised to see they made it, had 2 pages to them self so Good Job Scottie Zamzow and Brian Farrar

Wow, 18 inches, at mach 1, impressive and beautiful

6558796 wrote:Wow, 18 inches, at mach 1, impressive and beautiful

"You were doing Mach 1 in a Calypso?!?!?!... - Eh... I was shaving with a Mach 1 and when you shave with a Mach 1, there's no time to think... You think n' you're dead!"

They were not going at the speed of sound or even close to it. Guinness got their facts wrong OR whomever quoted Guinness did. I can guarantee you the Solos were not flying near Mach 1 in the Calypso Pass, regardless of how close the spacing.

ok i think i need to clarify that the line read. " They performed the stunt at close to the speed of sound (760 mph; 1,223 km/h ), although the fighter planes have the ability to reach speeds up to 1,319 mph.

that little input up there i think is syaing how fast the speed of sound is not the speed they were flying

Glad we finally straightened that out again. The Calypso Pass is flown at airspeeds of 420-450 knots (~500 mph).

Really nice picture