It would have been an F-16. The Navy removed the 360 deg minimum
radius turn from its single ship performance demos years ago. They
replaced it with a figure 8 bow tie maneuver which keeps the flight
path vector from passing thru the crowd. WRR
Greg Arnold wrote:
Jack wrote:
Greg Arnold wrote:

Edwards about 3 years ago, and Pt. Mugu this past fall. Don't
remember what type of jet at Edwards. At Mugu it was either an F-16
or F-18, doing a high G turn towards the crowd.

Interesting. I think the Blues and the Thunderbirds have that as a well
standardized no-no.

I have never seen either of those demonstration teams turn toward the
crowd. It was only a lone jet doing high-G turns right in front of the
crowd.

I'm surprised that the FAA and various responsible
organizations have not enforced such restrictions as thoroughly as I
expected.

I presume that the FAA can't take away a military pilot's license, so
there may not be much that can be done, short of shutting down an airshow.

Every venue must have its own challenges WRT airspace and topography,
but still, we should know better by now.

Sooner or later, there will be a disaster.



Jack