I don't disagree that the pilot showed poor judgment, but I wonder about the "show" in which he was getting ready to perform.
Air shows and demonstrations are hardly a necessity. The services have them to entertain big brass, impress civilian leaders, and to build enthusiam that benefits recruiters. They are frequently the sites of major disasters and crashes. I gave up attending them after that big one in Germany back in the 80s where the stunt planes crashed and pieces of them were hurled into the crowd.
It seems a stupid thing to have pilots "perform" in a war zone to impress the Generals. Although I find the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds as amazing as anyone else, I can't see the sense in these guys risking their lives to put on a show.
GW
A stupid thing?
Okay, I'm going to try to be patient with you.
Do you have any idea how difficult it is to motivate a college graduate with their whole life ahead of them to consider a career in the military? If we relied on the academies alone, we would never have enough people talented enough to fly the various military aircraft in our inventory.
I was never a Blue Angel but I did fly for the F-14 Demo team, and I cant tell you how many kids came up to me after a show and told me that they wanted to do what I was doing, just because of the 'cool-factor'. After that, you have to give them the straight skinny on what the life is really like, how you are gone all the time, how it kills marriages, how you can really just DIE in an instant from a stupid mistake, how you wont really make enough money for a long, long time, and finally, how you might not even be good enough to get into a Tomcat(or today a Hornet) anyway, and be saddled with a slower, much less cool aircraft until your time is up.
That knocks off 80% of those who wanted to do it, because its 'cool'. Out of the remaining 20%, maybe one in 200 will have the skill, grades, fitness and discipline to get through.
Without those 'stupid' shows, your chances of finding that one dude would be nil.