Blue Angels flyby debrief complete - it was the sound of freedom

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It's great for recruiting.

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This is one of the most brilliant moves Hegseth has made. Here’s why:

Experienced pilots are freaking out in my DMs about these close flybys. Even some based people I follow and love, like @MCCCANM, are questioning them while my son’s class of young student aviators can’t stop talking about how cool it is but also everything that could go wrong.

The truth is, we don’t want every flyboy buzzing beaches and towers like Maverick.

What made that scene in Top Gun cool was that Maverick truly was the best of the best.

That scene would not be funny if some shaky pilot who just got his wings ripped past the tower in a T-6B.

The irony is in the contrast between the best of the best and some desk jockey who out ranks him worried about spilling his coffee.

This scene is so important to the plot the directors included it twice! It’s more important to understanding Top Gun than the combat scene with migs because it’s more relatable.

Every Blue Angel is as good as Maverick.

But what is the purpose of the Blue Angels? It’s not combat. It’s to show the American people, and our adversaries, how good we really are.

Go back and read my post from the 4th of July at how difficult it was to see the blue angels and navy ships which Mamdani requested, and the admirals foolishly agreed, to stay at a “safe distance” from Manhattan.

You can’t boost recruitment, get voters to support spending & send a message to our enemies at anchor 10 miles from the tip of Manhattan or 1,000’ above them.

Proximity matters.

I write books. Every mentor I’ve ever had says the same thing: “Show, don’t tell.”

That’s what @PeteHegseth just did with the Blue Angels.

By having BA do flybys, he did not write a long memo explaining his intent, he showed them that it’s time to stop blowing safety out of proportion and start taking risk again.

And better still he trusts they are smart enough to understand the broader implications. And our pilots are smart.

Pete is pushing the Overton window back toward the center on safetyism.

Now every Army SGT who’s told to make his guys wear stupid reflective belts on PT & every Navy Chief who’s told he can’t send a man over the side in a harness to paint the ship has a new tool:

“The flyboys can buzz the beach but I can’t paint the hull because a sailor might fall 25 feet into the water & get wet? Make it make sense Lieutenant.”

But he’s also giving the officers of flying squadrons a way out:

“Colonel, Hegseth has authorized flybys so can I buzz the Empire State Building?” asks some brand-new F-35 pilot.

Now his colonel has an answer: “Sure can sport. Right after you get your invite to the Blue Angels.”

And this Blu Angles flyby gives that CO some extra room to maneuver.

“Ok colonel, but can we at least stop flying 20 miles around that bogus safety exclusion zone near the theme park?”

“Yes, let’s try 5 miles for now.”

And this solves a real conundrum.

Those helicopters flying down the beach got monumental amounts of public support.

Why?

Did those clips really get shared because Joe Public wants helicopters roaring over his kid’s head? Not really.

They resonated because they’re cool as heck, and because absolutely everyone is sick and tired of creeping safety regulations.

Punishing them harshly would have killed morale and resulted in public outrage and would have accelerated the creep of safetyism.

Having the Blue Angels buzz the beach in response to that helicopter flyby does many things at once:

It gives the public cool AF photos.

It gives squadron commanders flexibility and a way out.

It shows our adversaries how talented our pilots really are.

It’s relatively low risk, because the Blue Angels really are that good.

It moves the Overton window on safetyism.

And it pisses off every low T troll on Bluesky and Reddit.

And it tells admirals the days of kowtowing to pinko mayors like Mamdani are over.

That’s not a win-win. That’s a long string of wins for the price of half a tank of jet fuel.

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