To Finish Off...

 ... this wonderful Monday before Thanksgiving, and believe me, I still view Blue Angels as one of the top... two formation flying teams in the world, but Russian Knights came up with formation... Kolokol (Bell) routine and there is not a single plane which could do this, let alone in formation. As much as F-18 Super-hornet is a great plane, Su-35 flies in a different universe. Here is Zhuhai's Russian Knights just ... showing off, alright. 

Aerobatic Teams.

An interesting point. There is no doubt that Russian Knights and Swifts aerobatic teams are ONE OF the best in the world. Certainly top 5-6. In terms of solos they ARE the best in the world due to maneuvering characteristics of MiG-29s (Swifts) and SU-30 SMs (Russian Knights). Now Russian Knights transitioned to a combat aircraft which generally defies aerodynamics--SU-35C. 

It is a massive upgrade and one can only imagine what those planes will be doing at the air shows. They will be stealing it. Go to around 6:20 (if you want to skip other mind-boggling maneuvers) in this video and prepare to pick your jaw from the floor. 

But having said all that, I, in full consciousness, can not say that Russian Knights are ultimately the best. One of the best? Absolutely! Probably even top-2. But I have to admit that as a team  (formation) flying Blue Angels deliver. Their, namely team, flying is so amazing, that it is impossible to deny. It is insanely clean and tight. 

 Here are Knights in Lima, Peru. 

Basically, top 5-7 teams in terms of formation flying are very closely matched: Thunderbirds, Swifts, Patroille de France, Frecce Tricolore etc. Plus, I hate all those fanboys' ratings of "top-10 best whatever", but in terms of formation flying the Blue Angels are probably the top team in the world. For now. And even this position is hotly contested by the number of superb aerobatic teams all around the globe and that is why I prefer a more neutral definition--one of the best in the world, because there is more than one. Let them all just give us all joy doing what they do best--beautiful flying.    

A Fighter-Writer.

I remember when Jeff Ethell died. My heart wasn't in the right place all day long. He was this real American--curious, sharp, charming and...well, what Americans must be. He was first to break through to Russian Air Force in its worst decade of rot and under-funding and he did a famous PBS show Top Gun Over Moscow. It was 20 years ago. It was then that Jeff stated this seemingly obvious thing (at 2:54), things changed dramatically since then:

I still love Blue Angels, I saw them doing flybys about 100 feet from my 32nd floor office in Columbia Tower in 1993. It was magnificent (and loud, even through thick glass). Today, they will be sued for doing this since... you know, too many people will feel uncomfortable, especially those metrosexuals. But, it is always a magnificent Eddie Van Halen's solo which gets you because...it is flying. Here are some Russian Knights on their brand new SU-30SMs in Malaysia several days ago:

  

But, of course, nothing beats the original;-) And yes, this damn guitar solo!!!