AirshowStuff Forums

Hopefully this does not cause another 2013 episode!

Melbourne's moved back one week to keep the Thunderbirds.

Thanks Adam, I updated the schedule with the new dates earlier today and just published a post to our blog regarding it also.

https://airshowstuff.com/v4/2018/florid ... headliner/

I am curious why they didn't just cancel Melbourne and go to Dobbins as planned. I'd sure feel bad if it was the team's decision to leave Dobbins hanging by giving their weekend to Melbourne, leading to the cancelation.

I guess the team is quite confident that they only need a couple extra weeks of training. It would be sort of funny if after all of this they aren't ready and end up canceling on Melbourne anyway, but I think they'll be fine.

For those not keeping full track of the airshow community, Thunderbird #4 was killed in a crash yesterday during practice.

https://airshowstuff.com/v4/2018/thunde ... reech-afb/

This will almost certainly entail at least 2 months of show cancellations, if not more. They may announce the safety stand down as "indefinite" instead of specifying a return date, so many shows could be left in limbo.

Right now the team is only confirming that they will not fly at March ARB this weekend. We will post updates as they are announced.

Let them take as much time as possible! Stay safe when returning. Hopefully they'll be back by August (my only time seeing them this year) but like I said take as much time as they need after this awful accident. RIP Maj. Del Banno

UPDATE: The Thunderbirds have cancelled their scheduled performance at the Columbus AFB Open House and Airshow, April 21 and 22nd 2018.
I will keep you updated if more shows are cancelled.

I was just coming here to post that they have canceled Columbus. It was announced in this video update by Thunderbird #1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ulwts6zYHm0

A quick update from the Thunderbirds, returning today to training flights:

https://www.facebook.com/AFThunderbirds ... 324309246/

Sounds like they are preparing to fly with 5 jets, maybe all year. I suppose they might add a #4 and train them up while performing with 5 in the mdan time, but that seems like an odd way to handle it.

I wonder if the loss of the aircraft led them to forego a replacement slot pilot. They were already a couple airframes short due to the other incidents. Anyone know how many they have now?

Even though they made clear that more cancelations are possible, the way they have handled this suggests they plan to be back much more quickly than the Blues were in 2016.

RyanS wrote: ↑Wed Apr 18, 2018 7:38 pm Sounds like they are preparing to fly with 5 jets, maybe all year. I suppose they might add a #4 and train them up while performing with 5 in the mdan time, but that seems like an odd way to handle it.

I honestly expected them to bring Krajicek back as he's only been off the team since January 26th, this obviously varries substantially to when Jeff's accident occurred, and the previous solo(IROC) had been off the team nearly 7 months, requiring them to look elsewhere. Notably, the TBs do not shift the formations for a missing pilot in usual flights (for sickness or Maintenance issues) - by this I mean if 3 drops 4 would continue to fly slot, not move to 3's spot like they would in the Blues - since the 4 position being vacant leaves a symmetrical formation it wouldn't affect it too much, but I do wonder if they will modify some maneuvers to avoid having a gap.

I also don't expect them to try to train a new pilot, and instead bring someone else back like tends to happen in these situations.

RyanS wrote: ↑Wed Apr 18, 2018 7:38 pm I wonder if the loss of the aircraft led them to forego a replacement slot pilot. They were already a couple airframes short due to the other incidents. Anyone know how many they have now?

Per a Military.com article they have usually have 11 jets, so if we assume they haven't replaced the D jet, and Cajun's jet they would be down to 9(I see no reason why they wouldn't have replaced the 6 jet wrecked in CO by now), they usually bring 8 jets to shows, so while 9 isn't a surplus, they should have enough to fly in shows. However if Cajun was in a D they may be running short on 2 seaters, but that's more speculation than anything at this point, addiontally as the previously linked article states, they have been sending jets for SLEP upgrades at Hill, so again if 1 is there they would actually be down to 8 or 9(if they've replaced Speedy's)

So shortly, I don't know, but I suspect they should definitely have enough to warrant bringing back a pilot to fly slot.

RyanS wrote: ↑Wed Apr 18, 2018 7:38 pm Even though they made clear that more cancelations are possible, the way they have handled this suggests they plan to be back much more quickly than the Blues were in 2016.

It certainly seems that way, but they did wait exactly the same amount of time as the Blues to get back to practice(14 days), but I believe they would be back to flying shows a week or 2 earlier if they go on with Charleston's show.