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The USAF Air Demonstration Squadron 'Thunderbirds' fly the (Block 52) Lockheed Martin F-16C 'Fighting Falcon' jet fighter.
The Thunderbirds canceled their performance planned for Saturday afternoon, June 18, at Grand Forks Air Force Base due to high winds and flight safety. "Mother nature just wouldn't cooperate today with the high crosswinds, the Thunderbirds were forced to cancel due to flight safety," Grand Forks Air Force Base said in a social media post just before 3 p.m. Lt. Col. Justin Elliott, pilot of the No. 5 Thunderbird, addressed the crowd after the announcement. Elliott said the Thunderbirds could fly the demonstration "looser, higher and easier," but that it wouldn't live up to the excellence the group hopes to achieve while representing the Air Force
"The demonstration that the Air Force has asked us to provide to everybody is the absolute pinnacle of human achievement, as far as difficulty goes," Elliott said. "We fly very, very low (and) very, very close together, and little things like wind, visibility and turbulence can make a very big difference in safety."
The high winds also caused visibility issues in rural areas of northeast North Dakota on Saturday. The National Weather Service said the blowing dust caused visibility to fall as low as half a mile at points during the day Saturday. The conditions were expected to continue throughout the early evening. -grandforksherald.com
Northern Thunder, 2022 Grand Forks AFB Airshow on Saturday afternoon June 18th.