Rituals (long post)

Quzol1

For Fleet week in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Blue Angels flights are a big attraction. I got a chance to get into the United Airlines maintenance facility were the Blue Angels were keeping their jets wile in the area. I was amazed at the highly ritualized actions the crews take getting the pilots in and out of their aircraft.


Getting "Fat Albert" ready for take off.


Crew waiting for the pilots



Every one has their place


Pilots loaded up! The pilots have a set of complected hand signals they use back and forth at this point.


Back on the ground after a flight. Just getting out of the airplain is a choreographed ballet.



After getting out of the airplane


Calling it a Day

ian408

That ritual is one of the things that remains the same everywhere they go. It's amazing the precision with which it is carried out.

Nice work.

BradfordBenn

It is an amazing thing. I had a chance to talk with some of the Thunderbird team and they explained that part of the ritual is also to make sure that they do everything the same every time. Safety first, looking good second. I really like the pic of Fat Albert as it conveys the size and scale well.