Nellis related


Message posted by Rocketfox on August 21, 2005 at 17:02:49 PST:

CHICAGO -- The Air Force Thunderbirds canceled an aerial performance Sunday, a day after two of the group's F-16s touched each other in midair, sending an object from one of the planes plummeting into Lake Michigan.

The aerial acrobatic team cut short their performance Saturday when two of the jets made contact while flying in a diamond formation. A 4-foot-long missile rail came loose from one of the wings and fell into the water 2,500 feet from spectators.

On Sunday, the team said it would not perform again until an investigation could be completed.

"We just want to make sure that everything is perfect before we go back up in the air," said Capt. Angela Johnson, a spokeswoman for the group.

The last time two Thunderbird jets were reported to have made contact in the air was in 1999, Johnson said.

The group, headquartered at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., performs at approximately 70 air shows a year. About 2 million people were expected to attend the two-day air and water show on the city's lakefront.

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