Something interesting happened at today's Blue Angel show

[Robert-Fierce]

Well I know Beaker, Joker and Grab already saw this, but I was in Jacksonville today. To make a long story short after the Fleur Des Lis #5 and #6 broke off to show right as usual. Well, over to show left while the Diamond was looping, it looked like #6 overshot #5 and #5 came back across show center really low and very, very fast. #6 had apparently cleared from the maneuver and went behind crowd. Well, #1 was rolling the formation out for the Loop Break Cross and #5 joined up right before smoke on. #4 had moved out to hold #6's spot.

Well in short, #6 rejoined for the Breakout and a regular break to land...

Here's the interesting part... #5 comes into land and I'm noting that his left vertical stab is... Different. You look at this and tell me what you think...



Note that you can also see #6's tail in the background. Seems to be scratched up too...

Thoughts from the experts?

[Beaker]

(Copied from VBA forums.) As I believe we all decided... if it was a real incident, they would have both landed.

After the Fleur De Lis, both 5 and 6 make immediate break turns behind the crowd to rejoin. They pass the show line from left to right and execute a formation roll to rejoin with the diamond in front of the crowd, crowd right.

A few things might have happened based on your description. Baxter (6) may have experienced an issue with his aircraft. The most common problem is an FCS error reported to the pilot. He takes a second to radio it down and get consultation, and often he can still continue on with the show.

He also may have simply missed the rejoin after the FDL, and chose not to make an irregular rejoin in front of the crowd for the Loop Break Cross.


The numbers on the tails are pretty much decals... they can chip and tear pretty easily.

[STRIKER]

LMAO, like Beaker said it's decals...and they fall off very easy sometimes. If it was a bump or metal to metal hit there would be nothing left of the vertical stab, trust me as I've lost both stabs in real life...it would have been devastating.