Comments on: The Shuttle and Nasa’s PR Approach https://habitablezone.com/2020/05/18/the-shuttle-and-nasas-pr-approach/ Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:46:53 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: hank https://habitablezone.com/2020/05/18/the-shuttle-and-nasas-pr-approach/#comment-44612 hank Mon, 18 May 2020 21:03:18 +0000 https://habitablezone.com/?p=81912#comment-44612 its not surprising some of that nonsense leaks over from the private sector to government programs. Just one example, why do the Navy Blue Angels and the Air Force Thunderbirds spend millions every year on their traveling aerobatic roadshows, not to mention the massive ground crew support infrastructure needed to keep these PR extravaganzas flying. The official reason is "it helps recruiting". Bullshit, people who go see the pilots most likely become Navy and Air Force enlisted recruits that do not fly fighter jets, only commissioned officers (volunteers) do. Highly trained and skilled pilots occasionally get needlessly killed while performing or training for performances, and expensive aircraft are lost. These elite flyers would be better employed training boot pilots the elements of combat aviation. They are being wasted on barnstorming for the rubes in the flyover. Every gallon of jet fuel wasted in a flying circus would be better employed teaching a student pilot how to fight a real enemy, and the enlisted technicians and officer-administrators that support these activities are not available to the armed services that are supposedly so hard-pressed to find recruits. Its just management bullshit, and if its in the armed forces, can we be surprised its in NASA as well? its not surprising some of that nonsense leaks over from the private sector to government programs.

Just one example, why do the Navy Blue Angels and the Air Force Thunderbirds spend millions every year on their traveling aerobatic roadshows, not to mention the massive ground crew support infrastructure needed to keep these PR extravaganzas flying. The official reason is “it helps recruiting”. Bullshit, people who go see the pilots most likely become Navy and Air Force enlisted recruits that do not fly fighter jets, only commissioned officers (volunteers) do.

Highly trained and skilled pilots occasionally get needlessly killed while performing or training for performances, and expensive aircraft are lost. These elite flyers would be better employed training boot pilots the elements of combat aviation. They are being wasted on barnstorming for the rubes in the flyover.

Every gallon of jet fuel wasted in a flying circus would be better employed teaching a student pilot how to fight a real enemy, and the enlisted technicians and officer-administrators that support these activities are not available to the armed services that are supposedly so hard-pressed to find recruits.

Its just management bullshit, and if its in the armed forces, can
we be surprised its in NASA as well?

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