Very Tight

[bcadoo]

From the Wings Over Houston Airshow last weekend.

Blue Angels are always excellent, but they were exceptional this day.


Take note of the wingtips of #2 and #3.....

[MachFly]

 

where you there?

[ebfd11]

Take note when the Blue Angels start training the standard distancr from wing tip to wing tip is aprox 48 inches. As they progress and trust each other they get closer. I have personally seen them on a later show where the were aprox 18" from wingtip to wingtip. Now that's what you call trust in your fellow flier.   

[skidoo33]

That's just amazing.

[Bosco123]

There not close enough! 

[batch]

what if they lose calibration midflight like in AH?

[boomerlu]

what if they lose calibration midflight like in AH?

Better hope the USN doesn't purchase their joysticks from Saitek or Logitech.

[Kermit de frog]

what if they lose calibration midflight like in AH?

I hear their sticks have extra springs for added tension with less abrupt movements.  Also they do their performance without anti-G suits to avoid being distrubed by it causing them to have involuntary movements in their controls, which would be bad.  

[eagl]

When I read the thread title, I thought this was going to be another babe of the week sort of thread

As for the blue angels looking that close in the photo, they cheated of course.  The guy on the high wing has actually dropped down a couple of ft to make it look like the wingtips are almost touching.  The guy in the slot also isn't directly behind lead either, because if he was then the formation would look assymetrical.  They do that on a bunch of their photo passes, altering their positions just a tiny bit to make the formation look closer or more symmetrical.  It's pretty cool how they do that IMHO, but they still have "reasonable" wingtip clearance.

Reasonable for them is of course not terribly reasonable for most other pilots

[bcadoo]

When I read the thread title, I thought this was going to be another babe of the week sort of thread

As for the blue angels looking that close in the photo, they cheated of course.  The guy on the high wing has actually dropped down a couple of ft to make it look like the wingtips are almost touching.  The guy in the slot also isn't directly behind lead either, because if he was then the formation would look assymetrical.  They do that on a bunch of their photo passes, altering their positions just a tiny bit to make the formation look closer or more symmetrical.  It's pretty cool how they do that IMHO, but they still have "reasonable" wingtip clearance.

Reasonable for them is of course not terribly reasonable for most other pilots

Possibly....here is a closer view


I did not attend this year, but got the photo from a buddy who did.

[eagl]

From the audience perspective, it's almost impossible to tell that the high wing guy has dropped down.  I've seen the same formation photo pass, but from a completely different location, and from head-on you can tell very clearly that the high wing guy isn't symmetrical.  It makes it look a lot better for the airshow audience and if they were in the usual perfectly symmetrical positions, it would really look like someone was out of position.

Take a micrometer and measure the lengths of the wingtip rails...  In the photo it looks like they're almost touching so they should be pretty much the exact same length.  If you measure them however and the high wing guy's rail is shorter than the low wing one, then that means the high wing guy is actually farther away.  The only way to get the rails lined up but still be farther away, is to have the high wing guy drop "down" and "out" from his normal position.

I've seen this effect from inside the cockpit flying in all 4 of those positions, as flight lead and wingman in 4-ship formations.  It's all a matter of perspective, and some of the airshow formations rely on simple visual illusions to change the appearance of the formation.

[Masherbrum]

Saw them at Thunder Over Michigan this July.   They did the same.   Bottom line, you know if they're involved, you're getting a Top Notch Demonstration.   

[Strip]

You ever listen to the flight lead talk....talk about verbal communication skill.

[Jayhawk]

but they still have "reasonable" wingtip clearance.

Reasonable clearance for the blue angels is still too close for me standing in line at the bank.

[Buzzard7]

I have heard from a good source that 18 inches is good unless the day has some stiff wind. Eagl is also correct about adjusting for pretty pictures. The stick is heavy and so is the throttle.  Thunderbirds don't have the g-suit bumping the stick problem. They also use throttle friction to make it easier. I am not sure you can limit the side-stick in the Falcon seeing as it doesn't move much anyway.