Blue Angels and Thunderbirds Crashed in Separate Accidents

It is rare to see an aircraft crash from military flying demonstration squadrons as they feature the most skillful pilots from their respective services. As a matter of fact, the last accident for the US Navy's Blue Angles happened during an air show at a Marine Corps air station in Beaufort, South Carolina in April 2007, when Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis was killed; the US Air Force's Thunderbirds saw its last crash in September 2003 with Capt. Chris Stricklin parachuting to safety. Therefore, it's such a bizarre coincidence as a Blue Angels F-18 and a Thunderbirds F-16 crashed separately in the same day.

One F-16 fighter jet of the Thunderbirds crashed near Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado around 1 p.m. MDT (12 p.m. PDT), following a flyover for the Air Force Academy’s graduation ceremony with President Obama in attendance as the keynote speaker. The pilot of the No. 6 Thunderbirds jet Maj. Alex Turner ejected safely.

A mere hour later at approximately 3 p.m. CDT (1 p.m. PDT), a U.S. Navy Blue Angels  F/A-18 fighter jet crashed while in formation during an air show practice in Smyrna, Tennessee on June 2, 2016. The pilot did not eject and was killed in crash.

Postcard US-3935005 to Germany shows a paratrooper in descent against the Moon during the Aviation Nation on November 13, 2010.

Thunderbird No.6 was seen at the Aviation Nation on Nov. 14, 2010

Vintage Circus Poster

The U.S. Postal Service just issued Vintage Circus Posters Commemorative stamps on May 5, 2014,
featuring eight designs of early 20th-century circus poster art that showcased eye-catching imagery of stunts, performers, and animals. However, the unveiling ceremony of stamps had drawn protests from PETA and other animal welfare organizations, marking the change of times.

Unfortunately a day before on Sunday, May 4, 2014, an accident occurred during the aerial performance at the 11 a.m. Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus show in Providence, Rhode Island, resulting serious injures to 11 performers. The initial assessment indicated that failure from a single piece of equipment - failed clamp - caused the incident. It is troubling to learn no redundancy of safety measure was built in. While we accept the inherited risks from those circus acts and appreciate the dedications from the circus performers, there are lessons to be learned so that the similar failures would not happen again, with the highlight of other recent circus accidents.

Outgoing postcard US-2776555 to Germany shows a vintage circus poster for the Greatest Shows on Earth by Barnum and Bailey Circus, featuring a trapees act. Credit to Library of Congress. The postcard was purchased from Zazzle.com.