DCS and The Thunderbirds!

[DukeAngus]

this past weekend I was lucky enough to go to thunder and lightning 2023 which the big ticket items were  EA-18's, A10, demo teams and csar exhibition, last but not least the Thunderbirds. I had the privilege to meet the Thunderbird team and i was quite the surprise by their reactions.  I told them that I fly and f-16c block 50, you should have seen the look on their faces,  they didn't know what to say they were completely quiet for 15-20 seconds.I had a dead serious look on my face and then to break the silence I said I fly the Viper in DCs, you know what that SOB said next oh is that like Microsoft flight simulator. I just walked away. they do look pretty fancy in their little uniforms that they wear. they have stepped up their game trying to scare people by having the crowd look one way while one of the solo Acts last passed you from the other they didn't four or five times. I only had a heart attack twice. that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Edited March 30, 2023 by DukeAngus

[NahkaSukka]

Few years ago i was in an airshow of a single Finnish Air Force F/A-18C, i was waiting by a lake (airbase was on the opposite side, 15km away) so i assumed It would just come across, but then i heard something behind me, looked back and that son of a bitch was coming straight behind me with idle throttle, VERY low and when it went past me, it went full afterburner. Scared the <profanity> out of me! Car alarms were going off and you could actually feel the warmth of the afterburner.

[SkateZilla]

The Sneak pass is used by both USAF Thunderbirds and the USN Blue Angels,

Further, they also use the Sneak Pass w/ the F-35 Twice in Naval Airshows.
F-35C Team Travels w/ Legacy Flight Team now.

2x F-35Cs Take off, 1 Does Legacy Flight w/ Super Hornet and another (usually F4U), the other flies around out of view.

As Legacy Flight does it's last Break in front of crowd, The 2nd F-35C Does a Low Level Sneak Pass from the Left.

F-4U and Super Hornet both land, and F-35C Demo Continues w/ F-35C #1 doing the Demo passes,

As F-35C #1 Does it's Final Photo Pass or Tactical Pitch (Depending on Weather / time), F-35C Does a reverse High Speed Pass from the Opposite Direction.
3 hr 28 Minute Mark of Video Below.

Both F-35s Execute the Carrier Break Pass together and land.

The Blue Angels Execute at least 3 Sneak passes in the new routine.

The USN Fleet Demonstration used to have 4 Sneak Passes, but since the Legacy Hornets have been removed, the Super Usually does all the roles and usually there's either an E-2x or MH60 Participating, but they removed most of the sneak passes.

Seeing as the USAF Pilots I know (about 35+ of them), all know what BMS, DCS, and FS2020 Are.

they were prolly dumbfounded that a civilian walked up to them and told them he flies a block 50, to them it's borderline stolen valor, as they likely thought you were trying to impersonate a pilot.

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by SkateZilla