Thunderbird Pilot Reacts to Thunderbirds Close Call | Caught on Tape!

About this video

Max, a former F-16 Thunderbirds demonstration pilot, analyzes video footage of a Thunderbirds near-collision during a flyby. He explains that the lead pilot appeared to start a turn toward what Max believes was a mistaken lead-in feature, then abruptly rolled back out, causing jets on the right side of the formation to react violently to avoid a mid-air collision. Max recounts three close calls from his own time with the Thunderbirds, including a training incident where he pushed down to 75 feet above ground, a wingman’s zero oil pressure emergency over the North Atlantic, and a fuel emergency over the Gulf of Mexico when a tanker’s refueling probe malfunctioned.

Key takeaways

• Max explains that pilots are fatigued before flyovers because they hold approximately 30 pounds of pressure with full-forward trim for 10+ minutes to achieve precise 6-inch positioning in formation
• Max observes that the lead pilot likely mistook a terrain feature and rolled out abruptly, causing number three to use rudder to slide away while the outrigger pilot used aileron to escape more aggressively
• Max recounts a training incident where a student got too high in a turn, forcing him to push down and rudder away in a high-alpha maneuver that bottomed out at 75 feet above ground

Episode details: published February 16, 2022 · 43.4K views · 14:52 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. The analysis and commentary described are Max Afterburner’s, attributed to him — his channel includes hypothetical-scenario and news-react content, which is presented as his analysis, not established fact.

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