Has the VTB and VBA ever considered flying together simultaneously? That would be one heck of an aerial display!

well.. there are a couple of issues with that idea.... some obvious and some not so obvious.(historical issues)

But yeah that had crossed my mind quite a few times when i wanted to do a big VIRTUAL COALITION AIR SHOW... Having the Blues.. the TBirds and the VFTC or another group fly together for a live internet show...

Would have been cool as hell im sure... but the future will hold that answer.

Having a coalition air show would be massive. It would comprise an international cast of the best aerobatic teams in the world. Imagine the Red Arrows or the Russian Knights going head to head with the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels.

AAaahh... all the logistical issues are hurting my brain! When we all have our 100Mbit lines give us a call back! Until then, standby!

LD

Just rent an OC 48 connection from an ISP for a few hours, that will only set you back a few thousand. The best thing of all is NO LAG!!!

the VFTC did a live online show with about 50 people in comms, and I dont know how many were in the actual server ghost viewing but there were quite a few.. I dont know what kind of connection they have at their facility.

I know they had a huge airshow overseas in August with some of the Major Teams performing together.

I dont know if the Blues were there. I do know they went over seas and before to do a european tour or some sort.

Teams from Italy and France, Russia and others.

It's been a while since either the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels toured Europe, but it has been done in the past! Most recently I believe was back in 2000 by the Thunderbirds on their European tour. I remember seeing the Blue Angels in Europe back in '92, but they may have returned since, I'm not sure.

I'm not entirely sure what the VFTC used for their connection when they hosted a live show over the internet. I was in contact with them afterwards and they offered to let us try their server to tryout the possibility of using it for live shows, but we never took them up on it since it would mean each and every one of us would be connecting to a host in Russia (i.e. half way around the globe). The ping would be outrageous, regardless of how fast the server and bandwidth was. It was a nice gesture of them though. If I remember, they did have at least (!) a 10Mbit dedicated server and another major difference is that they were able to fly from the same city, time zone and same room when connected to this host.

Hopefully some time in the future we'll be able to give you a live internet show, but presently that's not a very likely scenario. Besides, as cool as ya'll think it would be to have multiple virtual teams perform a live airshow, that's not really in our interest at this time. We'd rather put together a complete Thunderbird experience from start to finish. I know this has been mentioned before, but the VTB's are all about re-creating the Thunderbird show, appearance and etiquette. I personally think that for a live airshow environment to be hosted online with some truly skilled teams and not just something (teams) thrown together "overnight" it would take a sponsored event of some sort (similar to the live presentations the VFTC have done in the past over in Russia). We're not closing any doors; however, if we do anything further on, it will be done the right way!

LD

Saitek and Thrustmaster seem to be two likely candidates to sponsor such an event if it were to actually take place. Another possibility would be a flight sim company.

yeah.. I understand where you are coming from LD.

And yeah a sponsored event by say EAGLE DYNAMICS and Thrustmaster and Saitek during Fleet Week or Aviaton Nation or Armed Forces Day would be toooo much fun...

Getting the teams together in Real Life.. Proven teams, not the fly by night ones.

Dont count it out just yet.....

We're not counting anything out by any means! However, it's something that will need to be planned and coordinated and not thrown together in a hurry if an opportunity presents itself. There are even bigger fish than TM and Saitek for sponsors too!

LD

P.S. I don't think I could fly with a Saitek stick... I'd have to reinvent the wheel first... I'm just one with my Cougar!

yeah and i see you have used your Jedi mind trick to get Red and Rock to purchase Cougars and move to the Dark Side of the force

But of course!!! ...and BTW, it's called: "They have turned to the dork side!"

LD

LawnDart wrote:But of course!!! ...and BTW, it's called: "They have turned to the dork side!"

LD

I call it moving up to standard equipment

Not just Cougars but rudder pedals too... with the possibility of purchasing a FSSB mod! Geez.... I have made the complete transition to the dork side. You're powers are great Master... Lol

Fly or fly not, there is no try!