Posted on 09/10/2002 6:38:53 AM PDT by PJeffQ
Well, it happens. Of course, you don't have to fly to die in a transportation accident - highway deaths are a daily occurance around here. I passed a multi-car pileup on the way to work this morning. Don't know about fatalities, but it looked nasty.
We're inured to that, though. Unless they're monster chain reaction headline grabbers, highway fatalities are local "ho-hum" news. They still add up to 40-50 thousand deaths a year, one or two at a time.
I recall asking you what YOUR PLAN was to save the world that day.
I don't recall getting an answer.
Me? If I were the OTC at Andrews, I'd've strapped on an F-16 and launched without weapons, and I wouldn't have considered ramming Flight 77, I simply would have done so.
People who question what they did hate everything anyway.
Why? Parades and airshows have no effect on military readiness, but seeing them does engender a certain pride on behalf of the taxpaying public. Watching our pilots in action always gives me a patriotic rush, just as it did in my active service days.
As a kid, seeing the Blue Angels fly F-4s during the Vietnam years was at least part of the motivator that led to my own Navy service and later aviation career.
Yeah - like we were really ready for Sept. 11th.
Absolutely, that F-16 pilot could have cut that airliner in half. The real problem is that training in the U.S. military has apparently deteriorated to the point that she didn't know that she could.
Yeah - like we were really ready for Sept. 11th.
Do you believe that parades and airshows are a detriment to readiness?
[sigh] I only hope that now that we have a REAL Commander in Chief backed by a REAL Sec of Def, that things just might change.
If over done, yes!
Becasue of the malfeasance of Sept. 11th, I believe we should eliminate all air shows until we win the war on terrorism.
Also we should sharply curtail military parades, until we have a real victory.
Becasue of the malfeasance of Sept. 11th, I believe we should eliminate all air shows until we win the war on terrorism.
What would you consider overdone?
For demo teams such as the Blue Angels, Thunderbirds, or Golden Knights, airshows are their job. The costs are justified by the goodwill and recruiting aspects generated by the shows. That's no insignificant thing - catching young, impressionable minds and turning them on to military aviation is a good thing, even if they never wear a uniform. Training military aviators and their support teams is an expensive, complex business, and we can use all the support we can get. Both in and outside the services.
The aircraft detailed to smaller regional airshows are often there courtesy of Guardsmen or Reservists on active duty weekends. Had they not been flying there, it would have been somewhere else. Again, it seems to me that it's a good idea to show the taxpayer what his money is buying and to say thanks.
The aircraft you see at airshows along with their crews and support people are a tiny fraction of the entire inventory. If you believe that we're diverting a significant part of our forces away from vital duties to "make show", I'd suggest that you're mistaken. Ditto parades.
We have a lot of things to worry about concerning our war on terrorism, but airshows and parades aren't among them.
Hollywood special effects are a wonderful thing.
In real life, I'd hate to think about an attempt at an orderly evacuation by a bunch of folks with no jump experience from an aircraft never designed to be parachuted from. It wouldn't be a pretty thing.
Air defense should be their job.
Stay Safe !
Anyone remember the lyrics to "Blood on the Risers?"
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