shiv wrote:Seeing that you did not respond to a video based question I asked you let me describe the video to you. It shows a Canberra, a MiG 25, MiG 21, MiG 23, MiG 27, Hunter, Gnat and Mirage 2000 in formation. Another video shows two Mirage 2000s in formation with a HPT 32. What makes you imagine that formation flying is the sole prerogative of the Surya Kirans? Now that is what i call a dubious notion. Everyone does it. A dedicated team just does bigger formations in more complex manoeuvres for public displays.
My point exactly. What those videos definitely
disprove is that a squadron for aerobatics is essential to retain competency with regard to formation flying. Those capabilities will
continue to be taught well and practiced well, even in the absence of the Surya Kiran team.
Your personal experiences, awesome and impressive as they sound, are restricted and anecdotal nevertheless. It still does not mean that live demonstrations are not better than screens. Neither does it mean that such shows can be replaced by YouTube. You will not even be able to make a list of the occasions on which minor airshows with a formation flypast with aerobatics are held in military academies, passing out parades, air force day events and air base events in various parts of the country where children of air force base personnel and their friends are able to see them.
With all due respect, the air force's current recruiting pool belongs to my generation not yours.
Of my childhood growing up in cantonments, three years was spent on an air force base. Walking/riding to and back from school on a road parallel to the runway (50m open separation) meant watching jets (usually MiG-21s) take off and land at close quarters practically
every single day. Flypast were a routine affair but not a patch on the spectacle of night flying. (And in retrospect, yes it
was all pretty awesome).
But neither I nor any of the
classful schoolful of AF children that I spent my days with, ever saw a Surya Kiran display team. And no, it didn't diminish the experience in the least.
Also, flypasts at military academies and passing out parades have little to do with fostering fresh recruitment. They serve an entirely different purpose.
These events are common, occurring several times a year, and practice sessions are viewed by the public outside the air bases just as people view the practice sessions outside Yelahanka or over Delhi. You claim to know what others know from TV and the net but you have yourself missed it both live and on the internet.
The public viewing SKAT events is a tiny proportion of the country's population, even those living in proximity of an IAF base.