The stunning maneuvers flown by US Air Force demo pilots showcase dogfighting skills

The Thunderbirds showcase fighter aviation at the controls of the Lockheed Martin F-16, a fourth-generation fighter capable of air-to-surface strikes for air support and air-defense suppression and air-to-air combat with enemy aircraft.

As the world’s most popular fighter jet, the F-16 is used around the world, Ukraine being the jet’s newest user. Although the jet has been flying for 50 years, it has been consistently upgraded, allowing it to continue to serve in important roles, including homeland defense missions and combat in the global war on terrorism.

During Thunderbird demo flights, eight pilots — six formation pilots and two solo pilots — put the multirole fighter’s capabilities on display through a series of tight formations and shocking maneuvers.

Air Force Maj. Jeffrey “Simmer” Downie, a solo pilot on the Thunderbirds, logged more than 1,600 flight hours, including nearly 400 combat hours serving in Afghanistan during Operations Freedom Sentinel and Resolute Support.

Downie said that the display team exhibits dogfighting skills — close-range air-to-air combat skills — “to people that wouldn’t normally get to see the military and experience that.”

“We get to demonstrate a little piece of what we do with these jets,” Downie said. “So supersonic speeds, as we approach those during our sneak passes that scare everybody, they get a sense of what it’s like to chase down the enemy, but there’s also slow speed-handling for when you’re fighting another aircraft.”

“We get to demonstrate that to people to see the different regimes of flight and really just what these aircraft are capable of,” he said.

Air Force Capt. Nicholas “Laz” Le Tourneau, a safety observer on the F-22 demo team, explained that while there are some differences between combat and performance flying, “nothing that we are doing here is outside of the purview of an F-22 pilot who is straight out of the combat Air Forces.”

“A lot of these maneuvers are actually being performed on a day-to-day basis up in the airspace when we’re executing our missions,” Le Tourneau told Business Insider, adding that “it’s really a blessing that Raz gets to take that down to the show and allow the crowd to experience that firsthand.”

Though the tenure of fighter pilots on demo teams only lasts a handful of years, Clark, the first Air National Guard pilot to join the Thunderbirds, said the pilots, maintainers, and operations crew foster a family-like dynamic.

“There were a lot of parallels and similarities that I also saw in the Air National Guard,” Clark said. “You get to know each other really well, and sometimes, with those dynamics, you can really build some tight camaraderie and build that trust and go on to do and achieve really amazing things.”

“That’s what attracted me to the Guard, and that’s also really what attracted me to the Thunderbirds,” he said.

And the similarities between combat and demonstration flying come even before pilots get into the cockpit.

“A lot of the stuff that you’ve seen in combat is kind of the same for the airshow in terms of your preparation for that moment and repeating and knowing your steps, your processes, and how everything’s going to work,” Downie said, “so when things do go crazy in front of a crowd of 700,000 people, you know how to stay calm, cool, and collected as you do on a mission.”