I wonder how you can make the decision to eject in such a short timespan.
So fast they shit their pants as the chutes were deployed.
Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
131–140 of 278 posts
Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is the real purpose of airshows anyway? It always seems like very elevated risk for very little reward but I might just be missing what the reward is.
Too many comments are trying to overanalyze, or just show off their insightful cynicism. We do airshows because they are cool . Lots of us love airplanes. Humans do all kinds of activities for entertainment that are not strictly justifiable returns on investment. I hope we never get that boring, though every year we do seem to go that direction.
I would say it's part of the US culture. It's not a thing in Europe (one reason might be practical reasons. We have less space to do it safely).
Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#133I cant wait to pay for that with my tax dollars.
Tax dollars really don't pay for things in the US Federal Government. Deficit spending leading to an ever rising debt is the source of continued spending. When Debt/GDP grows, we're spending ever more money that we don't have. Total Debt: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEBTN Total Debt/GDP https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S
Then why have tax at all?
Answer to that is indeed this is tax expenditure.
Although rounding error compared to the war.
Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US has over 10,000 military aircraft in service and thousands of spares sitting in storage. The US is quite arguably the only military that can casually absorb losses like these. This specific aircraft is being phased out over the next several years. Assuming these still had some miles left on the airframe, they likely would have been put in cold storage a few years from now.
Do you have a source for the Growler being phased out? I was under the impression that they still have a long operating life ahead.
The 5th generation platforms can do the same mission with a lower risk profile using their built-in systems. The US Navy doesn't have enough of those so the F-18 Growlers are sticking around to fill the capability gap until the 6th generation platforms drop in the early 2030s to replace the remaining 4th generation gear.
That has been reported in a number of places and makes a lot of sense. The current order backlog for F-35s runs to almost 2030 despite production capacity upgrades. It is the same reason there are still many normal F-18s flying in the Navy even though the F-35 has existed for years.
The 6th generation platforms appear to be an upgrade super-cycle, replacing all of the remaining 4th generation platforms. The 5th generation platforms were in some respects prototypes of what they really wanted to build. The US Air Force has been making many moves in a similar direction. For example, the procurement numbers for the B-21 (a 6th generation platform) is larger than the number of airframes for any existing bomber and there are serious discussions to scale the production beyond the number of all existing bombers.
There is a lot of signal suggesting that the US military is moving to a pure 6th generation spine for its air capability over the next 5-10 years.
Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#135What are Growlers doing performing aerobatic maneuvers at air shows? They have tens of millions in specialized extra equipment on board. Seems like a poor use of taxpayer money. Send regular F-18s, not the rare expensive ones that look the same.
US military airshows make a point to use combat ready aircraft. F-22s flew over SF during fleet week.
Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#136What are Growlers doing performing aerobatic maneuvers at air shows? They have tens of millions in specialized extra equipment on board. Seems like a poor use of taxpayer money. Send regular F-18s, not the rare expensive ones that look the same.
the pilots need to fly hours to keep their pilot rating anyways.
So aside from the slightly elevated risk to the civilian observers, and the occasional risk due to maneuvers (I think they doing something particularly showy in this case?), the extra cost to the taxpayer do this is ~nil.
Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
Too many comments are trying to overanalyze, or just show off their insightful cynicism. We do airshows because they are cool . Lots of us love airplanes. Humans do all kinds of activities for entertainment that are not strictly justifiable returns on investment. I hope we never get that boring, though every year we do seem to go that direction.
I would say it's part of the US culture. It's not a thing in Europe (one reason might be practical reasons. We have less space to do it safely).
It has absolutely been a thing in Europe and there have been numerous accidents involving Russian and European aircraft at events like the Paris Airshow.
Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#138What are Growlers doing performing aerobatic maneuvers at air shows? They have tens of millions in specialized extra equipment on board. Seems like a poor use of taxpayer money. Send regular F-18s, not the rare expensive ones that look the same.
Yeah it's lame but it's a rounding error compared to the amount wasted on foreign military adventures.
Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
Too many comments are trying to overanalyze, or just show off their insightful cynicism. We do airshows because they are cool . Lots of us love airplanes. Humans do all kinds of activities for entertainment that are not strictly justifiable returns on investment. I hope we never get that boring, though every year we do seem to go that direction.
I would say it's part of the US culture. It's not a thing in Europe (one reason might be practical reasons. We have less space to do it safely).
Of course we have airshows and dedicated teams for that.
There are the patrouille Suisse, patrouille de France, Frecce Tricolori...
After the Ramstein Air Base disaster security was tightened a lot though.
Re: Two EA-18 fighter jets collide at Mountain Home airshow, pilots ejected safely
#140What are Growlers doing performing aerobatic maneuvers at air shows? They have tens of millions in specialized extra equipment on board. Seems like a poor use of taxpayer money. Send regular F-18s, not the rare expensive ones that look the same.
the pilots need to fly hours to keep their pilot rating anyways. So aside from the slightly elevated risk to the civilian observers, and the occasional risk due to maneuvers (I think they doing something particularly showy in this case?), the extra cost to the taxpayer do this is ~nil.
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