"Icebound" wrote in message
...

"Michael" wrote in message
ups.com...
Icebound wrote:
... snip...

The Snowbirds safety record is certainly comparable to the Blue
Angels. The
Blue Angels have had one training/show death for every 14 million
spectators, while the Snowbirds record is 1 for 20 million
spectators.

That's certainly an interesting way to asess safety. The implicit
assumption here is that it's OK to have more fatalities if you draw
sufficiently bigger crowds, as this will make your death/spectator
ratio lower. ...snip...

That was not the purpose of the comparison.

The purpose of the comparison was to indicate that their safety record
is similar if not better than other aerobatic teams. This made me
wonder about the safety record of "private" aerobatic teams, for which
little data is available. And it also made me wonder whether it was
fair to compare the record of aerobatic teams with complex shows...
whether private or not.... against GA statistics.

As for government funding.... as I said before, governments fund many
other way-less-useful projects (and not just a piddling 10 million).
Here is one that not only entertains both the participants and the
spectators, but generates endless good-will and visibility for the
Country and the Military.

Your comments on the teams are consistent with my experience.
Although I realize you are discussing the Snows, let me just speak just
a bit on the Thunderbirds, as I've been actively involved in their
history and their mission for many years. The situation for the Snows
will be unique to them of course, but the basic gut comments would be
similar I'm sure.
First of all......In my opinion at least, absolutely NO meaningful
comparison can be made between the scenario involved in jet team
formation aerobatics and any general aviation accident data base. It's
like comparing apples and oranges. I wouldn't even argue this point with
anyone.
As for discussing the team's value to a nation;
I worked closely with the Thunderbirds back in the mid seventies during
the fuel crisis when the team was under close scrutiny by the military
budget hounds. During that period, we looked at all the aspects of the
TB involvement in the American scene. We went over hundreds of documents
and reports trying to nail down a specific value for the team's worth to
the nation in toto. The recruitment issue was the easiest. We had
figures. It was impressive!
The public relations issue was much more complicated to nail down. The
Thunderbirds maintain a concept of people to people contact that they
have used successfully both at home and internationally since their
conception on May 29th 1953. We added up the overseas tours, the hours
flown, the millions of people exposed, and finally, after discussing the
issue with the powers that be in Washington, representatives of several
foreign nations, and the Thunderbirds themselves, we finally discovered
that the actual public relations value of the Thunderbird mission as a
means of internationally reaching the hand of American friendship to the
average man and woman in the street throughout the world was
incalculable!
I sincerely hope, and I have every reason to believe at this point
anyway, that the Canadian government is smart enough to come up with the
same conclusion that we did concerning the team's values, and will
continue to fund the Snowbird mission.
There is one factor in the Snowbird issue that we don't have here in the
U.S however. The Snows, notwithstanding the incorrect assumption of one
poster in this thread, do operate on a fairly tight budget as compared
to our teams in the United States. The Canadian forces just don't get
the funding we do down here. Since Col Philip began the Snowbird
mission, the funding issue has been hard coming. The Tutors have been
meticulously maintained. I know, I flew #10 myself. But they are getting
old, and the team should really get the upgrade they have been seeking.
I remember when our own Thunderbird team went in back in 82. The whole
team at once; out at Indian Springs. The talk was that it was all over.
The team would never fly again. I personally talked to Gen Creech at TAC
about the team's future. There was never any doubt. The government got
totally behind the mission and the team got F16's to replace the T38's.
The Thunderbirds were given a LOUD vote of confidence by almost every
member of the House and Senate.
I sincerely hope the Canadian government does the same for the Snows.

Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/CFI Retired
for email; take out the trash