Thunderbirds Flight - Cockpit View
 

Cooooool :D

That is some really good stuff. Good sticks...

The video didn't load for me at first. That's strange.

Ughh...close trail and fingertip. He gets in very close there at the end. :eek:

I was surprised how close the slot was in the diamond with the BAs and how soon the slot moved into position after the diamond takeoff. Impressive.

A friend who flew slot for the team said that during a show he would always use more fuel than the other guys. They would put the "hottest" jet in that position to enable quicker join-ups and make it easier to hold position on the leader.

Blues vs T-Birds
 

Don't know if this makes a difference, but the BA don't wear G-Suits, while the T-Birds do. The BA F-18 has a 40lb "pull" on the stick and they rest their flying hand on their knee and move the stick from there. A G-suit would pump up/down and cause unwanted movement close in. The side-stick F16 makes that issue moot.

I had read that when the Blues flew the A-4 and F-4, they would run the trim full Nose-down, and pull the circuit breaker. In the Phantom, that was about 20-ish lbs of stick force at cruise speed, based on personal experience (runaway trim once after takeoff).

Since the Hornet is FBW, they rigged a spring set-up: there is a bracket on the center pedestal (forward of the stick), and one on the back of the stick. Before the show, they hook up a spring to get the force.

I read it was 25 lbs, not 40, but same idea.

As to resting one's arm on the leg: I think 99% of all fighter center-stick guys rest their right arm on their leg or side torso. I deal with this with new T-38 students.

Example: when you pull 5-g, your 5-lb arm suddenly "weighs" 25 lbs. THAT moves the stick unintentionally far more than the inflation of the g-suit, which always lags by half a second anyway.

It's more of the leg/torso/hip area than the knee.

The F-16 has the "ledge" on the bottom of the stick, and two fold-out arm rests. I've got some back-seat time in the F-16. I was told it was "less than manly" to use both armrests; as I recall, you only used the aft one.

That is one of the explanations I've heard given for the lack of G-suits.
I don't think the BAs have ever worn g-suits, but I'm not positive about that.

Also really liked the Harrier one that popped up in the suggestions afterward, but you can tell the guy isn't happy with his landing. Reminds me of trying to put an Astar on the dolly in a crosswind.