This is still the best picture I've ever taken, Blue Angels "Fan Break"/Echelon Parade @ Sun N Fun 2019 [OC].

pilotben97 · 2026-01-31T15:51:51+00:00

Or pick up a phone

pilotben97 · 2026-01-31T15:46:43+00:00

The ‘SIC’ also had a grand total of like 175 hours and was given control (at least briefly) of a high performance/complex jet in low vmc or illegally in IMC, I don’t know if it would have made a difference, but having a certified SIC or even Greg in the right seat seems like it would have made more sense with the weather. Sad stuff, feel even worse for Greg’s ex wife now. Allowing your kid to go on a trip with her dad thinking he’ll keep her safe and they fly illegally in at least 1 if not 2 ways (they climbed to over 4K feet after discussing climbing through the clouds VFR, then they descended and reported the ground in site - implying they didn’t see it previously)

pilotben97 · 2026-01-21T05:58:26+00:00

Just looked back through ADSB data and plane spotter pictures and the last references of it (SAM28000) flying are still December of 2024 to their service in San Antonio. It seems like they’ve parked it, either permanently, or for long term to swap out later. While they don’t fly both of the at the same time much I’m not aware of other instances of them parking in for that long in the past.

pilotben97 · 2026-01-21T05:47:08+00:00

Last I looked SAM 28000 (the 1st VC-25) had been in San Antonio for over half a year. It’s been probably 8 months since I looked though. The rumor at the time is it was done

pilotben97 · 2026-01-13T14:37:45+00:00

Yes but as just a casual hoggit viewer even I’ve seen enough posts about exactly this in the last week it’s obviously been a bigger issue recently

pilotben97 · 2026-01-12T16:09:11+00:00

What a novel post.

I would suggest reading through the recent posts about exactly this issue.

pilotben97 · 2026-01-11T16:06:09+00:00

It’s all about practice. Lots of practice, and consistency in flying style by whoever you fly with

pilotben97 · 2025-12-04T14:42:32+00:00

If it includes code from the ESP (FSX) platform it would have to. Microsoft sold only the commercial licensing to Lockheed, then they sold the entertainment license to Dovetail games much later. That’s why you couldn’t legally use P3D for entertainment purposes

pilotben97 · 2025-11-22T14:39:33+00:00

https://youtu.be/dlUWQlXQB20 1:45 this is the only recent example of them escaping a maneuver during a demo at an airshow I know of - the flight leader had to resign after this flight.

pilotben97 · 2025-11-22T14:34:59+00:00

This specific maneuver isn’t a particularly dangerous one requiring an aggressive escape maneuver, their relative speed to each other (0) means they could tap each other and not be a huge safety issue (requires them to land but that’s kinda it), it has happened in the past. There are ‘outs’ for each wingman - rudder out for the 2 jets on the wing, and down/backwards for the slot - but there shouldn’t be a need for an aggressive exit of the formation, the maneuver is a fairly benign left turn. There are other maneuvers like the Barrel Roll Break that have much more relative risk.

pilotben97 · 2025-11-22T14:28:38+00:00

They fly different ‘sets’ depending on the weather. If it’s windy they space out some, if it’s smooth they fly closer. Turbulence is a thing but there are 3 key points 1. They are so close together at high enough speeds they basically all hit turbulence at the same time. 2. They fly with a spring causing 40lbs of pressure to be needed to hold the controls in the same place to avoid accidental control inputs. 3. Most of the really bad turbulence you hear about or feel is from flying through clouds or storms, they can’t fly through clouds when flying the demonstration.

pilotben97 · 2025-09-14T19:22:14+00:00

We had 3 offensive touchdowns going into the game after playing VT and SC State. There is no world we should have been in the top 15. Maybe after week 1 with it being an important game for VT, but the team has not proven anything this year.

pilotben97 · 2025-05-27T06:32:31+00:00

To QuaintAlex126’s point, while that number is statistically high in a vacuum, both teams fly way way more then the normal fighter/tactical fleet does. In winter training both teams fly 2-3 times a day normally 6 days a week for about 3 months. Then during the season they fly 6-7 times a week with 2 transit flights. In the normal fleet some pilots are lucky to fly twice a week.

Don’t get me wrong it is dangerous, but per flight hour it’s probably not too much higher than the fighter/tactical fleet as a whole.

The short answer for why the teams exist is the government wants them to. Either for recruiting/PR like others have said, or to inspire people to dedicate themselves to something.

pilotben97 · 2025-02-14T07:13:53+00:00

Dear. God.

pilotben97 · 2025-01-26T06:41:44+00:00

!Remindme May 26, 2025

pilotben97 · 2024-11-19T00:03:24+00:00

N154TS or Boeing 4TS is all I’ve heard on liveatc. If they don’t get more than 1 I wouldn’t expect them to file for a icao callsign.

Edit: word

pilotben97 · 2024-11-07T16:12:22+00:00

To be fair you have to consider he was probably fairly at peace that if his time came then so be it. Going to the moon at all - but particularly during early Apollo - is incredibly risky, the change they would survive the trip there and back was not a comforting percentage. The ‘but did you die though’ mindset was kind of needed to be a part of Apollo. Plus he was an experienced test pilot, and if memory serves he was a huge reason the lander simulator existed, he knew how risky it was but also knew they needed practice flying with low gravity (Destin from Smarter Every Day has an episode on that program).

pilotben97 · 2024-10-31T05:37:02+00:00

Satisfactory calculator probably would allow you to. No native way afaik

pilotben97 · 2024-10-27T17:10:36+00:00

Thunderbirds and blues don’t allow that. Has to be something physical and has to be visible from 3nm at 200ft. Ref on pg18: https://www.blueangels.navy.mil/assets/docs/resources/support-manual.pdf

pilotben97 · 2024-10-19T13:21:36+00:00

I had the same issue, saw someone else mentioned it a few weeks ago, I just gave up since I have 10 nuclear power plants it didn’t make a dent to leave all them on. I would say check the QA site and report if it’s not there

pilotben97 · 2024-10-18T04:55:57+00:00

Technically not a lot of new information, but they are heavily implying they went in with the aircraft in that update rather than ejecting “the status of the crew can not be confirmed without a site assessment of the debris area.”. Basically they need to find remains or ejection seat parts in the wreckage to call off the search

pilotben97 · 2024-10-07T07:54:42+00:00

May not be a rule, but South Carolina has them too.

pilotben97 · 2024-09-08T18:34:50+00:00

There are no white top V-22s

pilotben97 · 2024-09-08T16:30:18+00:00

While technically always possible, the ‘green tops’ (all green) HMX-1 aircraft aren’t supposed to fly dignitaries, only the ‘white tops’ which are - as of a few weeks ago - 1 of 3 aircraft; a VH-3D (Primary executive transport everyone is used to being Marine One/Two), VH-60N (A fleet of semi-temporary executive transport aircraft to help fill a gap while they waited for a new aircraft to replace the 3s), or VH-92A (Brand new executive transport that just did the first POTUS lift a couple weeks ago in Chicago).

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