Military Might In Action

Shepherd

Shepherd

Final Approach
Joined
Nov 24, 2012
Messages
5,569
Location
Hopewell Jct, NY
Display Name
Shepherd
Home Airfield
KPOU
I live across the river from Stewart Airport, and the military is in town for a show this weekend.
Except for an hour or two of rain this afternoon, the Blue Angels, the Thunderbirds and the Red Arrows have been putting on a show all day, as they practice.
 
The three teams were supposed to fly the hudson today. As it turns out, the Blues didn't participate. Anyone know why?

Still super cool to see the Tbirds, and especially rare for us ungrateful colonists, the RAF Red Arrows.
 
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There are billions of dollars of our money being pumped into all sorts of F-this or F-that toys ... so yeah, they better damn provide some entertainment but then again, every time they do a show , we are out of another , what ...20-30 million dollars ?

I am feeling conflicted ...
 
I’m going Sunday. Looking forward to the show (especially the red arrows). It’s the first airshow I’m taking my wife to.
 
There's a 2 hour documentary on either Hulu or Prime right now about the Blue Angels. It's got some great footage and behind the scenes stuff.

I don't know if they get paid also by the gov't (Navy?) but as far as money, I think our city paid them bookoo amount to come perform at our airshow.
Still tax dollars, but they were local.
 
When an airshow gets either team to show up they pay for the smoke oil used and typically rental cars and hotels (although not always). I believe they burn around $20k worth of smoke oil in a 2 days show with a practice session.

It's about $25k/flight hour for an Eagle so a Hornet is likely a little less - maybe $18k/hour. No airshow on earth has that kind of budget; that's covered by the flying hours that each unit has to plan each year. Most of that number is sunk cost of jet purchases, spare parts, etc but also includes paying the pilots, mx folks, tires, paint, etc.
 
The documentary shows how much they practice (a LOT), and then tour with the mx and other crews. Flying a C-130.

So that's a beastly budget... no doubt.
 
cgrab said:
It's all built into the recruiting budget.
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George Mohr said:
The three teams were supposed to fly the hudson today. As it turns out, the Blues didn't participate. Anyone know why?

Still super cool to see the Tbirds, and especially rare for us ungrateful colonists, the RAF Red Arrows.
Click to expand...

Probably afraid they'd bump wings again . . . :p
 
There has been something happening around Pt Mugu this week... hearing a lot of jet noise...
 
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