Thunderbirds x2

[RidgeRunner]

I was lucky enough to see the USAF Thunderbirds this past weekend. If you never had the pleasure, make time and go see them or the Blue Angels.
Lakeland, FL became the busiest airport in the nation last week as the Sun-N-Fun Fly In brought hundreds of airplanes to our little town. A lot of experimental planes, manufacturers planes and classics were on hand. Not to forget the helicopters that put on quite a show at the conclusion of the Thunderbirds. The show consisted of:
F-18 solo, Thunderbirds, Wing-walker stunt plane, Hercules, C47, Four Acrobatic Bi-plane demonstrations with multiple aircraft in at least one team,Two Extra 300 acrobatic shows, and a acrobatic Twin Beech 18 that was crazy looking. And that is what I recognized. Great show.
I have seen a few airshows but I have never seen one where two F-16's failed to pass the pre flight checklist . They had two more planes at the ready but two of the original six Thunderbirds were deemed NOT SHOW-WORTHY and the show was delayed by about 30 minutes while the crew scrambled to switch the pilots and warm up the spares. One pilot taxied his less than perfect plane over to where the spares were and the other pilot was taken by truck to the spare planes while his aircraft remained in the original staging area. The other four F-16's taxied down the runway and waited on the other two.
It was probably just some small thing but geez, 33.3% of the planes were less than perfect. I bet maintenance got a little a$$ chewing.
Spectacular none the less.
Loved it so much I ended up there again on Sunday(ie x2)