Some more rants on aviation

One thing that gets me all hyped up about aircraft and stuff are none other than military aerobatic display teams. I have always been a fan of them since I was little. The awesome tight formations coupled with death-defying maneuvers and colored smoke never ceases to make me go "hot-diggety-dang!"

I am fortunate enough to have witnessed not one, not two, but THREE different aerobatic team displays so far... and all on home soil! First of, needless to say, would be the RSAF Black Knights. When I asked around, people normally respond, "meh...", but personally, I think they're pretty awesome. I have been watching their displays live since I was six and I definitely think they have became better and better over time. Their most impressive show was during the National Day Parade last year where they had an extended performance versus your usual 5-second flyby during previous NDP's. A bonus to that was that they flew over the backdrop of the city skyline which was a thrill to behold from my aunt's high-rise apartment.

I think the team I witnessed before that was in 2000 where I caught the RAF Red Arrows at the Asian Aerospace airshow. This was really mind blasting. Till today, in my opinion, they're the greatest. True enough, they fly 6-9ft apart from each other versus the much more tighter 3-ft ship-to-ship distance done by the USN Blue Angels and the USAF Thunderbirds. Granted, they use MUCH less advanced aircraft (BAE Hawk trainers) than the two mentioned squadrons' more powerful F-16 and F/A-18, but that's not what gets me. What gets me is their nine-ship formation - three more than most other aerobatics groups that create a sense of density in the sky which to me is more impressive. Also, the fact that their formations are constantly changing as they go along, and the colored smoke in the three colors of the Union Jack - Red, Blue and White. On top of that they do (in my opinion) the most mind-blowing, gut-numbing, ball-dropping maneuver: The Gypo-Break



Oh yeah, do check this out while you're at it too!



Next would be the USAF Thunderbirds. I still can remember that it was on the 9th or 10th of April 1995 on a sunny morning along Changi Coast that I was treated to the raw power of six F-16 Fighting Falcons for the very first time (The Black Knights didn't adopt this aircraft until 2000).

Speaking about the Thunderbirds, I was doing some reading up lately. This team is the first ever military aerobatic team with women. The first being Maj. (Capt. at the time she joined) Nicole Malachowski who was an F-15 trainer pilot before she became a Thunderbird. To be honest, before I watched her interview, I expected someone really cocky with loads of feminism bullcrap (No, I don't see women as inferior, I just hate endless feminist rants) and the possibility of possessing male organs (you know how "feminine" most women in the military are...), but after watching several of her interviews, I realized that she was nothing like that. She possessed the grace of a woman, came off as incredibly humble and patriotic and served as an inspiration to many Americans, both young and old, male or female.



In the words of Ali G, "Respek!".

Oh yeah, one last thing. If you couldn't become a pilot or even afford Microsoft Flight Sim (or Tom Clacy's HAWX for that matter) there's this pretty cool freeware flight simulator called Ys Flight (click to download) which I've been hooked on lately. Despite the primitive graphics, this makes it possible for even the lamest PC systems to be able to run, and YES! It's network capable! Oh yeah, do take note that it works best with a joystick. Aight, I guess this would do for my rant... Heh.