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Thunderbirds-America's Ambassadors in Blue

Thunderbirds-America's Ambassadors in Blue

Thunderbirds are the United States Air Force Demonstration Squadron, also known like America's Ambassadors in Blue, fly on six F-16C/D Block 52. The Thunderbirds Squadron use 12 F-16, while nine are from the C-modification (6 participated in the air and rest are reserve) and three two-seated from the D-modification. In recent times the slot plane #4 is usually F-16D. The squadron home base is Nellis AFB, near Las Vegas.

In the squadron served 120 people - 12 officers, 4 civilians and 104 sergeants. The twelve officers have numbers with callsign Thunderbird. Thunderbird #1 is a leader and commander of the squadron. Pilots from #2 to #6 are demonstration pilots. #2 is the left wing, #3 is the right wing, #4 is the slot, # 5 is the lead solo and the #6 is the opposite solo.

#7 is an operative officer and #8 is a narrator and coordinator of the show. Those are fighter pilots in the squadron but only six of them participate in the airshow. All eight pilots fly on the planes with corresponding numbers: # 9 is the flight surgeon: #10 - the chief of the headquarters: #11 - the chief of support and #12 - public relations (PR) officer.

The Show

During the show pilots perform about 30 maneuvers. The flight show lasts about 40 minutes.

To perform the show, there must be a visibility at least 9200 meters (10 061 yards or 30 183 feet) from the showcenter. If the lower limit of clouds is between 450 meters (492 yards or 1476 feet) and 1060 meters (1159 yards or 3477 feet) they perform a show with limited number of figures, mostly in a horizontal plane, i. e., without loops and barrel rolls. That kind of show is called "flat". If the lower limit is between 1060 meters (1159 yards or 3477 feet) and 2440 meters (2668 yards or 8005 feet) they perform "lower" show barrel rolls but without loops. If the lower limit is above 2450 meters (2668 yards or 8005 feet) the Thunderbirds perform their full show.

If one of the pilots gets sick for the time of the show, the rest of pilots fly without him. If the commander is not capable of flying the show is postponed. The Thunderbirds have not stand-by pilots because it is very hard for a pilot to learn to fly in every single position of the formation. During the air show the Thunderbirds pilots use G-suites. The Thunderbirds do not perform over 88 shows in one year.

The Aircraft

The F-16 aircrafts of the Thunderbirds are equipped with special power aggregate which supplies restoring of electricity and hydraulics in case of engine stop or traction lost. This helps the malfunctioned plane to land safety. The aggregate uses hydrazine for fuel. Besides the roll of the cannon is removed and on its place is put the smoke tank. The smoke is released from a switch on the throttle (the engine control lever). For fuel for smoke is used oil on paraffin base which goes to exhaust pipe when it mixes with the jet and form the smoke. Another difference is presence of a chronometer in a pilot's compartment which gives the pilots an opportunity to measure every maneuver with accuracy and precision of seconds.
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