Dad was just a reservist 1LT (retired AD O6) back in ‘85 when I saw my first air show. His reserve base was Niagara Falls so naturally that’s where we went and off to see the Blue Angels…which saw lead and opposing solo crash. It’s the only memory I have before about 10yo:
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/16/nyregion/report-cites-pilot-error-in-blue-angels-crash.html
Once he went AD we had a few air shows to go to where the T-birds went at it…and I instinctively clench up a bit during that maneuver. Dangerous job.
There was a discovery show about the Angels years ago that was awesome, but what cracked me up was a segment where the new angels had to fly into LAX…naturally it was a foreign world and they really struggled with all the tightly controlled traffic and constant ATC vectors. Even taxiing was a challenge.
Y’all that fly professionally and often go into places like JFK, ORD, LAX, etc that have multiple ground freqs and lengthy taxi instructions have my respect. Do you still use pen/paper/iPad to write it down as they issue or do you mostly have it figured out already by knowing the airport/gate, what runway you’re given, etc?