That's the Lead Solo, who spends most of the show inverted. This year it's a chick:
Some observations just from the first moments.
Look at the upside-down “5” on the Thunderbird. The names on the righthand side are the crew chief ‘Owners” of the aircraft, the Pilot just gets to use the a/c.
Look at the difference in the landing gears between the F-16 and the F/A-18 of the Blue Angels! Carrier landings NEED heavy duty!
Hard to believe that both aircraft came out of the 1970s USAF “Light Weight Fighter” program. The YF-16 from General Dynamics won the fly-off but Northrup’s YF-17 was ‘evolved’ through the USN’s Naval Fighter Attack Experimental (VFAX) program into the F/A-18 Hornet that has now evolved into the “Super Hornet”.
The Blue Angels are still flying the Hornet but will be transitioning to the Super Hornets in 2021. Lockheed-Martin now builds the F-16s but only for the export market. Boeing is the manufacturer for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. 46 years for both designs, good value I’d say!
That's the Lead Solo, who spends most of the show inverted. This year it's a chick:
Added observations;
That picture of the Thunderbirds stacked over the Blue Angels at 08:21 is just BEAUTIFUL!
The F-16 have side-controllers while the F/A-18s have a mid-cockpit stick.
The dual seat F-16 (#32 01:00) was probably the film & picture taker for this extravaganza and you can see it in many of the cockpit camera shots.
Consider the differences in the refueling process. The F-16 pilot is tasked to steady light while the boom-operator ‘flies’ the nozzle into the receptacle. The ‘drogue & probe’ makes the pilot of the F/A-18 responsible for the action. My ‘guess’ is that the navy carrier tankers are the reason for this system.
Quite a nifty hands-free video cameras in the cockpits of both groups.
Flying over NYC, two thoughts. I could see why landing on the Hudson looked good for ‘Scully Sullenberger” (USAFA 1973) in the 2009 “Miracle on the Hudson”. Second, the 137 year old Brooklyn Bridge still looks beautiful and not a day over 80!
For the aviation buff amongst us, a wonderful video!