Just an Earth-Bound Misfit: The Rantings of an Aging, Armed, Pinko Chick

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"Thou Shalt Get Sidetracked by Bullshit, Every Goddamned Time." -- The Ghoul

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck,
"FOFF" = Felonious Old Fat Fuck,
"COFF" = Convicted Old Felonious Fool,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset,
A/K/A P01135809, A/K/A Dementia Donnie, A/K/A Felon^34,
A/K/A Dolt-45, A/K/A Don Snoreleone

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Your Sunday Morning Jet Noise

The Blue Angels:

10 comments:

Tod Germanica said...: I never quite understood the purpose of the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels. Is it to recruit new pilots? You wouldn't think you'd need an expensive team of highly trained pilots and repurposed fighters to induce young people to fly for the armed forces, they always turn away excess volunteers.
Is it to show the taxpayers what they are paying for and celebrate the military?
You could do that lots cheaper with a yearly trump-style military parade with aircraft flyover.
I don't know how the military justifies the enormous waste of money from the two US aerobatic teams. Especially when the forces claim they need continual increase in aircraft yet let the equivalent of an entire squadron galivant around the country burning fuel, wearing out the aircraft and accruing TDY pay for officers and men.
We can no longer afford this kind of waste under the present economic conditions. Sure, it's fun to see the fast movers perform. But providind our fun should not be a function of our military.
Send these hotshot high ego pilots and their fragile expensive warplanes back to operational squadrons. We can't afford these fun and games anymore.; 6/14/2020 10:30 AM
Deadstick said...: Tod, "they always turn away excess volunteers" could be interpreted to mean it's been working since 1946. And the more volunteers they get, the more selective they can be about accepting them.

I understand Top Gun unleashed a bit of a flood.; 6/14/2020 11:14 AM
CenterPuke88 said...: Tod, to a certain extent the pilots aren’t doing that much that is beyond what most military pilots do, simply to a greater extreme. The demonstration teams are publicity, outreach and recruitment. For instance, at any airshow where the Blue Angels are present, there are three demo flights at the beginning of the week, usually apportioned to one press member and two local influencers. They use the backup plane Blue Angel 7, which is the show narrators plane. During the week, the Angels also conduct an extensive calendar of outreach meetings at schools, hospitals, etc. Often before the practices or shows, members of the Angels have meetings with JROTC and ROTC cadets, or with other groups suitable for recruiting.

Even the makeup of the team is influenced by recruiting, with the one Marine member always playing off the others being Navy pilots. Since the pilots would be flying anyway and the planes used, the marginal costs of the demonstration teams is smaller than you might think, and the positive publicity and such is more than a fair trade. They also provide a visible demonstration of U.S. airpower when attending overseas airshows or demonstrations.; 6/14/2020 2:10 PM
Old NFO said...: Tod- You need to think before you rant (also, spell check is your friend)... The F-18s are actually obsolete when they are given to the Blues, as are the F-16s the T-birds fly. If they were not being used as recruiting tools, they would be in the boneyard. The community outreach both teams provide is actually a COST SAVER for the two services as far as advertising is concerned and no, it's not about recruiting 'pilots' it is about recruiting all ranks and rates. Also, they aren't 'fragile' as you call them. Anything that hits the boat is NOT fragile. The squadron does maintain their readiness, and IF in time of war, could be pressed into service as a combat team in less than 72 hours.; 6/14/2020 5:22 PM
Tod Germanica said...: Not everyone agrees with you: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/was-that-military-flyover-really-worth-the-cost-to-taxpayers/

https://reason.com/2020/05/06/stop-blue-angel-flyovers-saluting-covid-19-responders/

Sorry about the typo. I have a degree in English so I should do better. But typos don't invalidate facts, they only make you look petty when you point them out. Similar to being a grammar nazi.; 6/15/2020 12:15 AM
Eck! said...: The flyovers for for CV19 responders is a raise the moral effort.

The airshow it for those that are cool with flying things. I used
to follow them around (blue angles, Thunderbirds, and others) for
a lot of reasons. Precision is beauty, the art of flying well,
airplanes against a blue sky, maybe even a bit of wish I could
do that. Some of that is only meaningful to us that have sat
are butts in the bucket and yelled clear prior to spinning the
prop.

So yes to me and a few I know well enough it is important and
watching them do a complex without bending metal or worse
is what every pilot has to do. Each has a price for entry
for them its literally thousands of hours doing it till its
absolutely correct. and yes the ALL pilots have to do that
often to say proficient. That last item is required if you
fly mach 2 jet or 65hp bug smasher.

Eck!; 6/15/2020 6:18 PM
Old NFO said...: Oh... golf clap to you Tod- I answered YOUR complaint, and you deflected to yet another argument about the flyovers, which was NOT your original rant. You're a waste of time to try to explain things to, since it's obvious you don't want to hear the truth. As for the two articles, both of them take issue with the cost while ignoring the DOD statements that the pilots are required to maintain proficiency and the $$$ are already allocated for their flight hours on a yearly basis, which is not re-programmable under the current laws. Their normal training cycle is 120 flights at El Centro before the season, then four training flights a week in addition to performing 60 shows a year. I'm pretty sure the T-Birds are on a very similar schedule to maintain proficiency in their airplanes, so the tour is actually probably cheaper than a normal show schedule.; 6/16/2020 11:21 PM
Tod Germanica said...: Sorry your ox got gored old NFO. You might notice my 'rant' was calm and that I try to stick to facts, as I see them. Even providing sources. But you seem emotionally attached to the flight teams and I don't wish to trigger you further into attacking my weak thinking or my English grammar. So I won't waste any more of the Comrade's bandwidth on this.
However, cost is measured in more than money. With atmospheric carbon at record modern levels, flight training will devolve more and more to simulators, I think. Then jingoistic militaristic onanasm flown in 'tribute' to something or other will no longer be excused by 'they'd spend that much training anyway'.
The military, unlike retired military personnel on fixed incomes, needs to be fact based and they know climate change is real.
I think we need flyovers with brightly painted electric drones celebrating and increasing recruitment for the real heroes and wave of the future: drone operators.; 6/17/2020 11:47 AM
Tod Germanica said...: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36008/augmented-reality-could-revolutionize-dogfight-training-by-replacing-adversary-jets-with-projections; 9/22/2020 12:49 PM
Tod Germanica said...: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/35947/navy-f-a-18-squadron-commanders-take-on-ai-repeatedly-beating-real-pilot-in-dogfight; 9/24/2020 5:55 PM