I haven't seen the Thunderbirds before, but I've enjoyed the Blue Angels in the past. I haven't gone in recent years, the crowds are too much and I have trouble walking a lot. We live just across the freeway from the west end of the main MCAS Miramar runway, so jet fighters are a familiar sound and sight here. When the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels come to town, the usual residential avoidance patterns are suspended. These guys fly so low over my neighborhood that you can see the pilots' helmets -- if your eyes can track them fast enough. Impressive.
But these performances have always made me uneasy. And it's not just because they could crash into my neighborhood. (The Blue Angels lost a plane and pilot in a residential neighborhood in South Carolina this past spring.)
Sure, the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds are great. They fly fast, they're loud, they have a beautiful blue and yellow (or red, white and blue) paint job, they're exciting, they do some amazing maneuvers. You wish you could ride in one. They give you goosebumps, or at least they did the first couple of times I saw them.
Now imagine yourself an Iraqi civilian. You've never been a terrorist. You've never attacked or even defied an American occupation soldier. You avoid them. You just want to provide for your family, visit your friends, worship at the mosque and live your life.
One day, you look up and see an American F/A-18 at low altitude, coming at you with gear and flaps up, full throttle. Much like the Blue Angels in one of their high speed passes. Only this one is grey, and weapons are hanging on the wings.
How would you feel then?
Phil Karn, 14 Oct 2007