United States Air Force Thunderbirds

I know just learning, studying case after case of these crashes, how that changes me.

And, you know, I'd probably say One of the biggest moments that changed me as a pilot, well, a couple of different similar crashes, I have a mentor who I would call for advice and everything, and he died in a plane crash, and he was former number one with the Thunderbirds.

I

think that crash affected me more than any other aviation crash that I've ever...

We had a blast.

It was up in Jacksonville at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station where the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds both, both performed.

Um, it was a very special weekend.

Uh, we had over 170 people there.

So I'd say we stop these things.

Stop the, you know, if it's not the Blue Angels, the Thunderbirds, the Leapfrogs, and the Golden Knights.

Blue Angels and Thunderbirds are Air Force and Navy.

The Leapfrogs and the Golden Knights are Navy and Army.

They were literally developed as demonstration teams, you know? So, oh, one of my friends here asked me, Jen, asked me about if democracy is at a threat here.

Well, and something you say in your book too, with the little kid who's looking up over the coffin, right? And seeing that, you know, they don't really know what's going on, but they're trying to get a glimpse at their dad.

So yeah, families, it was something we did on the Thunderbirds too, was we do honor flights.

So we'd put the name of a fallen warrior on the gear well of the F-16 on the number one jet, and then bring the families out halfway through the air show and let them just kind of share that moment with, you know, the name of their son or daughter on the plane.

Yeah.

And then we'd fly the demonstration that day would be, you know, in dedication to that family.

There'd be a certain pass, like the bottom up pass or something like that, that'd be dedicated to that fallen warrior.

And so I got to, little did I know, like when I was handing that flag to Alex's family, I was kind of preparing my mind and my body to do it for, you know, dozens of other families on the Thunderbirds.

And for some reason, I'd be the guy that would go out and kind of meet them, greet them, walk them around.

Altitude.

You're flying with Thunderbirds, man.

Yeah.

'Cause what you do looks, it looks frankly impossible.

[jet engine roaring] What's happening, guys? You're gonna love today's guest.

He's like a Garand thumb, but instead of small arms, it's fixed wing aircraft and deep war analysis happening all over the world.

He's Max Afterburner, a former F15 and F16 pilot who served in the elite Thunderbirds team, which if you know anything about aircraft, which I don't know much, that's a really, really impressive thing.

And so we've got him in studio today.

I am, um, you know, I'm a former fighter pilot.

I'm also just a fan of shit that flies fast, and I love going to see the Blue Angels fly, and the Thunderbirds, THUNDERBIRDS.

Uh, they turned 80, and actually, remember that last year the government was shut down and they didn't fly, uh, in Fleet Week, Miramar, whatever.

All those, those shows that happened during the shutdown, that actually happened to, this year.

So the schedule was different.

Like normally it would close with the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels, who's ever there this year.

But this year was a Thunderbirds.

And this year the Thunderbirds were kind of like the big show, right? So we decided to go around 2.30.

I had asked Brett to print the tickets like a long time ago.

So I got the tickets out and he printed the email that I sent him of me saying, hey, can you print these tickets? And I was like, bro, we don't have tickets.

So I need to print the parking pass that we need.

So we were like in a mad dash to get out to Mather before the Blue Angels started.

But it's one of the best events in southeast Texas.

The air show coming back again this year with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, who got canceled last year because the government shut down.

Shame on you, Democrats.

But anyway, they will be there, and there will be a myriad of flying demonstrations.