The United States Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, the Thunderbirds, has posted a nifty 360-degree video from the F-16 Fighting Falcon’s cockpit during an aerial parade over the Hudson River.
“Tilt that phone around and check out the view from Thunderbird 1 as Boss led the pack of Air Force aerial demonstration teams down the Hudson River this morning,” said on its Facebook account.
Six F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jets from the Thunderbirds air demonstration squadron were flying over the Hudson River along the Manhattan skyline in sequence with a 9-ship Red Arrow formation, a 2-ship F-35A Lightning II formation and a 2-ship F-22 Raptor formation.
The formation of aircraft approached from the north side of the city, over the river, before passing Manhattan on the left. On reaching New York Harbour, the jets made a sweeping right turn near the Statue of Liberty and proceeded back up the river for a second pass.
According to the U.S. Air Force’s statement, the event was planned after both the Thunderbirds and Red Arrows had scheduled performances in the vicinity of New York on August 24-25.
The parade was made possible by a stroke of scheduling luck, since the two demonstration teams are conducting demonstrations in the New York area on Aug. 24-25.