United States Air Force Academy

Postcard US-4036245 from Colorado shows the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. According to Wikipedia, it is the youngest of the five United States service academies, with its first class graduated in 1959. Graduates of the Academy's four-year program receive a Bachelor of Science degree, and are commissioned as second lieutenants in the United States Air Force. The Academy is also one of the largest tourist attractions in Colorado, receiving close to one million visitors every year.

President Obama attended the Academy's 2016 graduation ceremony yesterday on June 2, 2016 as the keynote speaker. In his final commencement address of his presidency, Obama shared some of the lessons he learned in the White House as president and commander-in-chief, and warned the graduating cadets about isolationism.

The United States Air Force Thunderbirds performed during the graduation ceremony. However, one of its fighter jets crashed on its way back to the Peterson Air Force Base after the fly-over demonstration.

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

Lost in MH17 Crash

As shown in the exhibition "Fire & Ice: Hindenburg and Titanic" at the National Postal Museum in Washington D.C. during the period from March 22, 2012 to January 6, 2014, a large number of mails were lost when Hindenburg and Titanic ended in disasters, both of which not only served as the mass travel tools for people but also operated as the world's largest mail carriers at the time.

When the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine on July 17, 2014, all 298 passengers on board were killed. Seen from a photo on the crash site, were some burnt airmails and postcards. One postcard had its PostCrossing ID NL-2576182 visible. Alerted by a post by purplestarfish on the forum, a PostCrossing moderator replied "Postcrossing has contacted the sender of this postcard, to let him know that his card probably won't arrive. We're keeping an eye on other postcards, sent from Netherlands to Taiwan around the same date, which might have been on the same bag of mail."

This tragedy highlights the human costs to innocent travelers inflicted by military conflicts. The incident of lost mails also shows, in a small but vivid way, that such "regional conflicts" do have global impact on people who do not have direct relationship with the flight or the region where the conflicts occur. Time for peace.