Thunderbird going down!

[N505AF]

All of the f-16's the thunderbirds fly are stock AC the only thing they have on them are a smoke system.  Any f-16 in the airforce could replace one of the thunderbirds AC if need be.  The pilot of #6 didnt fly in the show after the crash because he was part of the crash investigation an there for was not aloud to leave the MtHome AFB.

[Hagar]

Air Force blames pilot error for Thunderbirds crash in Idaho  Jan 22, 2004
A pilot's error caused a Thunderbirds F-16 to crash during a September air show in Idaho, the Air Force said Wednesday ... "He made an honest mistake," McSpadden told a news conference at Nellis Air Force Base, the Thunderbirds' training home near Las Vegas ... Stricklin, 31, remains a pilot, McSpadden said, but because of the error he was reassigned last month to the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., without completing his two-year stint with the Thunderbirds. (SFGate.com -- Accidents Breaking News)

http://military.surfwax.com/files/Thunderbirds_Planes.html

[Silver1SWA]

[quote]
the Thunderbirds don't have any spare pilots. the reason for this is quite simple. during winter (when they don't fly displays) each pilot must at least fly 120 hours to be able to complete a safe public demonstration...training spare pilots would cost alot of money and wouldn't be prudent.

they do have spare jets...at this moment, i believe they have 12 jets assigned to the squad.

[Jaffa]

Here is a quote:

" The Thunderbirds commander, Lt. Col. Richard McSpadden, said Stricklin had one year remaining on his assignment with the team but was transferred about a month ago to a Pentagon assignment near Washington, D.C., and eventually will be returned to flying status with another unit.

"He came in here and made an honest mistake," McSpadden said, adding that Stricklin is a "very disciplined pilot and a very talented pilot." "


" The six-member Air Force accident investigation board attributed the pilot's error in part to Stricklin's "habit pattern when he flies the maneuver at Nellis." "

[Mr. Bones]

yes, the difference between a T-Bird falcon and a normal F-16 isn't that big. like the Blues, it takes 72 hours to make them combat ready. i think it would be strange if you see a T-Bird doing a dogfight with a MiG.

here's what i found about it:

Including the Thunderbird Red, Thunderbird White and Thunderbird Blue paint scheme, there are actually very few modifications to a Thunderbird aircraft. Thunderbird F-16s have the 20mm cannon and ammunition drum removed to accommodate the smoke oil drum. Also, a smoke oil plumbing line that runs from the smoke oil drum to the exhaust has been installed. The dogfight switch on the throttle has been rewired to accommodate a smoke oil on/off switch and a stopwatch has been added to each cockpit for timing. Otherwise, the aircraft that the squadron flies are the same as those in the Air Force. Each Thunderbird aircraft is able to return to combat status within 72 hours.

[chomp_rock]

I'd that he/she was using a long telephoto (At least 300mm) because even on a bright day like that one it still has pretty shallow depth of field. He/she must have been using a fast continuous film advance of at least 8 fps to take a picture like that because no-one has good enough reflexes to do it without that kind of speed.

[Scottler]

Sometimes the best shots are taken accidentally.

[N505AF]

The pitcher was taken accidentally, my friend knows the guy here on base that took it.  He said he was just trying to get a pitcher of the jet before it went down.  The pitcher was taken from the control tower.  

[N505AF]

Well I believe if he can't be disciplined enough to not set his altimeter wrong out of "Habit" he shouldn't be in a good display team. The Reds pilots would never do such a thing.

Oh yeah an pilots are human to, they F*#k up more than you will ever want to know.  It takes a college degree to fly a jet an a high school diploma to fix one...  An working on them is a lot harder than flying them.

[Hagar]

Well I believe if he can't be disciplined enough to not set his altimeter wrong out of "Habit" he shouldn't be in a good display team. The Reds pilots would never do such a thing.

As N505AF points out, pilots are human beings & not supermen. No matter how professional they might be, all humans make mistakes. Usually they get away with it without anybody noticing. In this case it happened at a public display with the loss of an expensive piece of machinery. Fortunately it appears that nobody was hurt. It seems reasonable to expect that the pilot would be disciplined & no longer be allowed to fly with the display team.

I still think that is an amazing shot. A chance in a lifetime for the photographer.

[Mr. Bones]

yes they are humans but they are also the best pilots in the USAF...it's an honour if you can fly in the Thunderbirds. now it happened and we can't change that. thank god no people were killed...ok, a plane distroyed but i don't think the USAF doesn't really care about "just" 20 million USD...

[exp_extremist]

i just cant believe how fast he ejected.  :o he seemed to be just fine in the film clip... although all info shows otherwise.. .but damn that was FAST!!!! i suppose that the training just takes over... i doubt if anyone would have had time to comprehend what the heck was happening.