UNDATED (WTAQ) – Two plane crashes involving a Blue Angels jet and Thunderbirds plane is drawing attention to the world of formation flying.
On Thursday, June 2nd, a pilot for a Blue Angels jet was killed in Tennessee and a Thunderbirds pilot safely ejected before that plane went down in Colorado.
EAA AirVenture spokesman Dick Knapinski says he didn’t know the pilots but knows that a tremendous amount of training goes into each show they perform in.
“Any air show pilot, often will fly at least daily, sometimes 2 of 3 times a day working on their performance routine making sure everything’s right.”
But despite extensive hours of practice there’s always risk.
“Because you’re taking a machine, similar to people who take motorcycles, boats, cars and race them and things like that. So, there certainly is a risk profile,” says Knapinski.
When a tragic incident happens there’s a specific protocol that follows.
“They will often pull back, do the investigation on the accident because those teams are not ones that you can simply put in a new pilot…put in a new airplane, because of the amount of practice and team building that goes into that,” says Knapinski.
The Thunderbirds visited AirVenture in 2014.
This year the Canadian Snowbirds will be flying at the popular Oshkosh air show that runs from July 25-31 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh.
