Steve's Airshow World - 2007 Atlantic City Airshow

afneer · Post by **afneer** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 7:37 pm

Why is #3 on the right wing?

Post by **Lawndart** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:31 pm

afneer wrote:Why is #3 on the right wing?

One Navy pilot decided the Air Force had it right!!!

Ok, real answer: They're flying the "Fan Break". Just look at the shadows on the ground. You'll see that there's a plane (#2) ahead of the #3 pilot you're looking at.

FutureThunderbird · Post by **FutureThunderbird** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 12:14 pm

Hey LD isn't that the Echelon parade.

Post by **Lawndart** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:04 pm

Same thing!

Fan Break
Blue Angel No.1 positions his wingmen in a right echelon set, stacking his wingmen down and aft of the flight leader. As all four aircraft pass in front of the crowd at 300 mph at an altitude of 150 feet, they appear to be superimposed on one another. This formation is also known as the Blue Angel Echelon Parade.

FutureThunderbird · Post by **FutureThunderbird** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 4:30 pm

wow never heard it called that before thanks, kinda weird name, when i think of a fan break i think of something like the skytypers do when they all break apart, the blues don't even break in that maneuver. Anyone know why it is called that?

Metro · Post by **Metro** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 11:18 am

The 'Fan Break" is a very common TACAIR manuver in the Navy. During my days in the navy you would see the Tomcats doing this quite often at Oceana. Looks great coming into the break especially with their wings in the "Bomb Position" (Swept). They could keep their formation very tight and as Lawndart said, give the illusion that there was one aircraft till they broke.

As far as the "Echelon Parade", that is taught to all naval aviators from the start of Primary flight school. Came straight out of our formation flight manuver manual. The Right echelon parade, according to my Tomcat buddy is for the boat. Break pattern is always to the left therefore requiring the formation to be positioned on the right of the lead.

Metro

scking · Post by **scking** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 10:37 pm

I was acctually video taping right next to Steve (from Steves airshow world) during that practice.. and yes the practice was all over the place and missed many manuevers.. it acctually confused me when taping..