56 years of visits are out the window

[The Inspector]

Seattle's SEAFAIR organization has just announced that for the second time in 56 years, there will be no Blue Angels show @ this Summers SEAFAIR hydro races. The only other time they missed was in 1994 when the FAA just about stained their panties and banned the teams presentation over the race course. That raised such a smell from Seattle that they threw in the towel but made other really dumb restrictive changes about the crowd on the lake.
No word yet on who might cover the date-

[bombadier29]

It has already been announced that the Patriots jet team will perform in their place.

[wendovertom]

Sigh - Firs the Thunderbirds, now the Blues and now I assume you saw that the Air Force is also grounding 17 combat squadrons? Raptors, Vipers and Eagles are all being "grounded" or essentially cut back to the point that they proficient to fly but not combat ready.

http://www.airforcetimes.com/article/20130408/NEWS/304080035

Tom P.

[muddyboots]

We don't need them any more. We have drones to do all the work now.

[The Inspector]

Now, the Navy, in an area that has a Homeport, a major Navy Shipyard, and a Submarine base says they can't provide any ships for the annual Fleet Week that coincides with SEAFAIR.
HOWEVER, Our friends to the North will provide some Forces Canada ships to cover for our Navys inability to do good P.R.
Thank You Canada for being so open and helpful to a bunch of dumb Yanks.

[muddyboots]

if you think about it, maybe this is a bit of grandstanding by the military to show how badly the sequestration hurts everyone. It certainly makes good PR not to do it again, doesn't it?

"If you want our flyovers, don't cut our funding..."

[The Inspector]

if you think about it, maybe this is a bit of grandstanding by the military to show how badly the sequestration hurts everyone. It certainly makes good PR not to do it again, doesn't it?

"If you want our flyovers, don't cut our funding..."

It's amazing just how far a fabricated pseudo 'emergency' made of knitted dryer lint can go-

[CAPFlyer]

They're just following the directions coming from the White House. It has been reported in quite a few locations that not only the DoD, but all departements were told to make the cuts "for maximum public impact" so that "we" could see how much harm this sequestration was doing, despite the fact that for all but the DoD, the "reduction" was a change from a 3% increase in this year's budget to a 2% increase. Only the DoD saw a real cut in funding. Notice how the FAA has now suddenly found the money to keep almost all the towers open that they said they "had to close" due to funding? Once they were called on the "it won't compromise safety" B.S. by various groups, they suddenly found the money or were able to get State and Local governments to cover some of the costs (which in some cases should've been the case from the start anyway as the towers were requested by those entities and not added due to traffic).

It's all politics sadly. All but the DoD cuts could have been made and no one known the difference because it could've been made by simply reducing the new acquisitions for this year, but that would prove "the opposition's" point...

[The Inspector]

The Air National Guard has dropped it's series sponsorship of the H1 Unlimited Hydroplane Racing series and beyond basic race course patrol duties, the USCG will not participate in any SEAFAIR activities.

[p51]

Yet, didn't the Anapolis kids get their BA fly-over anyway at their graduation?
Yep, can't possibly yank any academy perks (I was ROTC, so yeah, there's a bit of resentment there)...