Thunderbirds Commander Relieved

The commander gets relieved of his command,and the reason is ?
 
Since it’s you and your love for misleading topic titles, I though this was goin to be about the fellow visiting the head.
 
Well, the reason is due to how he was leading the demonstration itself. "Increased risks," and "style of risk management." Doubtful we'll hear specifics on that.

While the first for the team, the Blues have had flight leaders voluntarily step down because of safety issues. Trust is a huge part of what they do. Lose that and the cohesion of the whole team is affected.
 
The commander gets relieved of his command,and the reason is ?

"lost confidence in his leadership and risk management style."

Since they sacked him after the season was over, my suspicion is he was pushing the envelope a bit too much. Nothing outright egregious, but accepting too much risk and other pilots expressed concern. So they sacked him before they start prepping for the next season.

Just my hunch having seen many official firing statements.
 
Just my hunch having seen many official firing statements.

Seen a bunch of the same, too. Wonder what straw broke the camel’s back.

I think we’re both believe this probably isn’t a one offense ‘lost confidence’ event, like when it’s found out that the fired commander had been sleeping with the boss’s not quite 18 year old daughter.

Wasn’t even intentional, apparently. Dude just picked her up at a club, having never met her in the official capacity.
 
He may as well clean out his locker and apply at an airline. His career is over.

Yep. Probably will be given the option of being able to ride out whatever time he has left in rank or resign...but probably best job he can get now would be a staff job at some reserve base.
 
Those guys are living legends.
 
Henning is a living legend. The Thunderbirds are just average pilots.
 
Those guys are living legends.

They are not. They are no better or different than military pilots flying in the squadrons every day. The maneuvers they perform are maneuvers that all military pilots learn in flight training. Flying in combat, whether fighter, cargo, recon, whatever, is the ultimate test for a military pilot, and I think most would tell you that.
 
Yep. Probably will be given the option of being able to ride out whatever time he has left in rank or resign...but probably best job he can get now would be a staff job at some reserve base.

Finish his time remaining to retire and then get picked up by the airlines.
 
They are not. They are no better or different than military pilots flying in the squadrons every day. The maneuvers they perform are maneuvers that all military pilots learn in flight training. Flying in combat, whether fighter, cargo, recon, whatever, is the ultimate test for a military pilot, and I think most would tell you that.

They are to me. Any military pilot is. My PPL instructor just soloed in the T38 and I have good friends that were in engineering with me (Airforce ROTC) that are pilots in the AF. I have high respects for them all. If I didn’t have asthma I would have done my best to follow suit!

I think as a civilian pilot you can only hope to be half the pilot those guys are.
 
They are to me. Any military pilot is. My PPL instructor just soloed in the T38 and I have good friends that were in engineering with me (Airforce ROTC) that are pilots in the AF. I have high respects for them all. If I didn’t have asthma I would have done my best to follow suit!

Well you implied the Thunderbird pilots were living legends. Having respect for them is fine, but that still does not make them a living legend. What about a Navy SEAL or other Special Forces operator?
 
Well you implied the Thunderbird pilots were living legends. Having respect for them is fine, but that still does not make them a living legend. What about a Navy SEAL or other Special Forces operator?

Those guys are legends too
 
This past June, excessive airspeed, coupled with the pilot landing too far down a wet runway, contributed to a Thunderbird F-16 flipping over at the Dayton International Airport, one day before an air show. That pilot was injured following the crash.

I have to grit my teeth to read bad news stories like this one. This statement says that apparently the pilot was ok before and during the crash, but sometimes afterwards he was injured. Perhaps he tripped over some wreckage?
 
I have to grit my teeth to read bad news stories like this one. This statement says that apparently the pilot was ok before and during the crash, but sometimes afterwards he was injured. Perhaps he tripped over some wreckage?

I saw that as well and wondered if he was ran over by the ambulance....
 
I have to grit my teeth to read bad news stories like this one. This statement says that apparently the pilot was ok before and during the crash, but sometimes afterwards he was injured. Perhaps he tripped over some wreckage?

Didn't the jet flip over? May have been injured when egressing from the jet.
 
Henning is a living legend. The Thunderbirds are just average pilots.

Henning is a bit like Chuck Norris. Except Henning taught Kung Fu to Chuck Norris.
Henning would've been a part of the Thunderbirds, but he flew too fast for anyone else to keep up.
 
They are to me. Any military pilot is. My PPL instructor just soloed in the T38 and I have good friends that were in engineering with me (Airforce ROTC) that are pilots in the AF. I have high respects for them all. If I didn’t have asthma I would have done my best to follow suit!

I think as a civilian pilot you can only hope to be half the pilot those guys are.

I know folks that fly in the bush that do things daily that you should never attempt in an airplane. None of them were former military pilots. But I could teach you to be an average bush flyer in just a few weeks.

I was not able to pass the military flight physical due to a bayonet that damaged my right hip. Later on I had a chance to become a civilian pilot in the military flying the UC-12B/F/M Huron* but the allure of flying bush Alaska sounded better to me at the time.

I don't think military flyers are the best of the best, they are just the best of those that volunteered. Many a good pilot did not did not volunteer for the military.

*UC-12B/F/M Huron AKA King Air 200
 
I know folks that fly in the bush that do things daily that you should never attempt in an airplane. None of them were former military pilots. But I could teach you to be an average bush flyer in just a few weeks.

I was not able to pass the military flight physical due to a bayonet that damaged my right hip. Later on I had a chance to become a civilian pilot in the military flying the UC-12B/F/M Huron* but the allure of flying bush Alaska sounded better to me at the time.

I don't think military flyers are the best of the best, they are just the best of those that volunteered. Many a good pilot did not did not volunteer for the military.

*UC-12B/F/M Huron AKA King Air 200

Hey my fiancee is from Soldotna so maybe I can come up and you can teach me to fly back country! :p

It just seems like the training and flying those guys do isn't really paralleled by the civilian route, which is pretty tame in comparison. I want to be the best pilot I can be, but I just don't know that you could really compare. Pressing an autopilot button (I know that is an oversimplification) seems way easier than hand flying low level canyons and landing on carriers and cool stuff like that.
 
Look up what Chuck Yeager said about flying the F16 and F15 vs a P51.
 
Hey my fiancee is from Soldotna so maybe I can come up and you can teach me to fly back country! :p

It just seems like the training and flying those guys do isn't really paralleled by the civilian route, which is pretty tame in comparison. I want to be the best pilot I can be, but I just don't know that you could really compare. Pressing an autopilot button (I know that is an oversimplification) seems way easier than hand flying low level canyons and landing on carriers and cool stuff like that.

Soldotna is a really cool area..!!! Have you been there? Great fishing opportunities. And there is a Taco Bell there, at least last time I was there.

Autopilot, in a C-206. I can only dream...

I know flying at altitude in a jet is a lot different than flying through mountain passes, by hand, VFR with 2 miles of vis and hoping the clouds and ground doesn't meet, and landing on short, unimproved strips or off airport. But at least that short strip isn't moving up and down. How many folks here would consider 500 ft ceiling and 2 miles vis good VFR weather and actually fly in that weather through a mountain pass? Or fly along the coastline during white out conditions, because the line between the water and land is the only thing that can be seen? I loved bush flying, I lived for it. Same as some folks live for flying high in the sky in big jets. 2 totally different styles of flying along with different training. It does not mean one is better than the other, or that I could not learn to fly a T38, or a that a blue angel pilot could not learn to fly a C-206 through a mountain pass in 2 mile visibility.

When I get a medical again I would gladly teach you the specifics of bush flying. Or come to New Mexico in the spring and try your hand landing in wind gusting up to 55-60 with a 40-50 degree cross wind. Or my terror, night time thunderstorm....

Anyone can learn any type of flying, it just takes a little practice.
 
Soldotna is a really cool area..!!! Have you been there? Great fishing opportunities. And there is a Taco Bell there, at least last time I was there.

Autopilot, in a C-206. I can only dream...

I know flying at altitude in a jet is a lot different than flying through mountain passes, by hand, VFR with 2 miles of vis and hoping the clouds and ground doesn't meet, and landing on short, unimproved strips or off airport. But at least that short strip isn't moving up and down. How many folks here would consider 500 ft ceiling and 2 miles vis good VFR weather and actually fly in that weather through a mountain pass? Or fly along the coastline during white out conditions, because the line between the water and land is the only thing that can be seen? I loved bush flying, I lived for it. Same as some folks live for flying high in the sky in big jets. 2 totally different styles of flying along with different training. It does not mean one is better than the other, or that I could not learn to fly a T38, or a that a blue angel pilot could not learn to fly a C-206 through a mountain pass in 2 mile visibility.

When I get a medical again I would gladly teach you the specifics of bush flying. Or come to New Mexico in the spring and try your hand landing in wind gusting up to 55-60 with a 40-50 degree cross wind. Or my terror, night time thunderstorm....

Anyone can learn any type of flying, it just takes a little practice.

Nope I haven't been to Alaska yet haha.

Yea I understand what your saying. Just hard to come to terms with it I guess. I am a pretty competitive person and I like to be great at everything I do. So when someone tells me "hey you can't do this, you have asthma" it really takes the wind out of your sails.
 
It's sad. I don't read any of what transpired as a reflection on his ability as a jet driver. He is obviously in the top 1% just by being a Thunderbird.
But when someone questions your abilities as a leader, that's a mark he will carry with him forever.
 
Anyone can learn any type of flying, it just takes a little practice.
I don’t agree with this part. The military doesn’t hold a monopoly on all the best pilots, but they do receive some of the best training. Certainly not everyone can do it. And, not everyone who can do it is equal.

Washouts happen all the way through the military training process, even after you’re fully qualified in the aircraft. I’ve known students who completed all the training but couldn’t land on the carrier, so washed out and had to go fly helicopters. Or, completed training with too low of the military equivalent of a GPA and were done. I’ve also known pilots with 1500 hours in fighters lose their wings and get sent packing because the could not longer perform at the required level. Sometimes it’s not even skill, it’s just confidence that causes them fail. It’s a combination of factors that’s required to be a successful military pilot (on the fighter side at least), and they have to stay aligned.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t other types of flying that can be equally challenging or pilots who will always be less because they didn’t get their training in the military. But not everyone can be a military pilot.
 
I don’t agree with this part. The military doesn’t hold a monopoly on all the best pilots, but they do receive some of the best training. Certainly not everyone can do it. And, not everyone who can do it is equal.

Washouts happen all the way through the military training process, even after you’re fully qualified in the aircraft. I’ve known students who completed all the training but couldn’t land on the carrier, so washed out and had to go fly helicopters. Or, completed training with too low of the military equivalent of a GPA and were done. I’ve also known pilots with 1500 hours in fighters lose their wings and get sent packing because the could not longer perform at the required level. Sometimes it’s not even skill, it’s just confidence that causes them fail. It’s a combination of factors that’s required to be a successful military pilot (on the fighter side at least), and they have to stay aligned.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t other types of flying that can be equally challenging or pilots who will always be less because they didn’t get their training in the military. But not everyone can be a military pilot.
I agree with cooter. It’s not just military flying either. There are plenty of jobs in this business that not everyone can do.
 
Nope, one of my favorite movies and have watched it numerous times. Weren't they (the test pilots) talking and laughing about the monkey about to go up?

This was the scene where Chuck and Ridley were watching Gus get pulled out of the water. Ridley says something like "He screwed the pooch plain and simple. Pull that in flight test and it's over pard."
 
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