When is your trip to Florida, TC? I would think we'd want to get this thing off the ground before the end of November, with AKAK's passing on Oct 1st we don't want to wait too long.
- I'm thinking a weekend evening might be best, a Saturday or Sunday - maybe even Sunday evening of Thanksgiving weekend? Or the weekend prior? Still gives plenty of time for notifications but we want to make sure you are back from your trip.
- We'd need somebody onboard who can set up an arena for us, and hopefully can stick around for the event,
giving God-mode blue text instructions on the command channel to everyone who shows up (e.g. what country to change to, what field to go to, what A/C to spawn, etc). Jaeger set up the AvA for Betty's flight, and I think Brooke has done a great job with it in all the scenarios he's run. Maybe we could contact them for assistance. I'm sure there are other staffers too, who have the knowledge, ability and desire to help out.
- I'm thinking at the beginning of the event, pilots could spawn onto a N-S oriented small airfield, taxi and disperse themselves along the length of both sides of the runway and shut engines down. People with memories of AK-AK could share, and then maybe 10 minutes in, the Event Host asks for silence and the Honor Flight of P-38Js comes in over the field at 1,000 ft in finger-four formation, out of the south heading north. #3 man is the only one with smoke on, and just past midfield, he pulls up and away and flies toward the western sunset, while the remaining formation continues north out of sight. As this occurs, somebody plays a recording of "Taps" over channel 200 vox. I think transmissions are limited to 4 seconds, so the music person would have to transmit each line of the tune separately. That might require some coordination between the music guy, the Honor Flight, the event host, and the crowd but if it works it could be very moving. Back in happier days, during some scenarios both Pipz and I used to play 1940s jazz or swing music clips over squad vox during long flights, and I think it worked OK.
- It should only take a few minutes for this display, and afterward we could all take off and have our massive memorial flight...
Anyway, that's what I envision. How have your Missing Man flights been organized in the past? Have they gone off well? I'm willing to help out however I can. Between you, me, Shuffler, Drano, Twinboom, Guppy and any other SAPPers we ought to be able to find 4 pilots plus a couple of alternates for the Honor Flight. I'm sure there are others I'm not thinking of, and I apologize for that.
Everybody, speak up, commit to help, and let's get this thing rolling. AKAK was another one of our own and deserves the best AH send-off we can put together.
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