rwdfresno wrote:
I agree with this. I really have absolutely no interest in watching "death defying" stunts. I can appreciate seeing an aircraft put through its paces, doing rolls, loops, demonstrating its agility and performance, but I just don't think that it requires perilous stunts.
Let me just say, as someone moderately involved in competition aerobatics and somewhat fluent in airshow acro, nothing any of these guys do is ever "death-defying."
Let me clarify: At no time are they doing maneuvers where they're not 100% sure going into it that they'll make it out on the other side. "Iffy" or somewhat uncontrollable maneuvers like lomchevaks or tumbles are done at altitude, allowing them time to abort, and plus, they have practiced these hundreds of times at thousands of feet so that they know what the plane is going to do, arguable rendering them "completely safe."
It's been said that up-and-coming performers will practice a maneuver (roll, for example) 100x at altitude, requiring it be executed with ZERO altitude loss/gain before stepping it down 500ft and doing it again. Mess up once and you have to start the counter again. Basically, all I'm saying is that this is not a bunch of irresponsible idiots doing this to prove their manhood, so to speak. It's a science, and in my opinion, a beautiful one at that. That said, mistakes happen and stuff breaks. That's the way aviation is.
It may not be your cup of tea, but let's treat them fairly.