Thunderbirds

Marsha and I went to the Chicago Air and Water Show with purpurachicago, who graciously played hostess and chauffeur.

At the end, the Air Force Thunderbird team of F16Cs started zooming around doing precision drills. They were awesome - they can go faster than 1300 mph. I want one! But they weren't able to do their whole routine because a small piece of one aircraft fell off into the lake. Someone on the radio thought it was a thing on the wing that allows you to attach air-to-air missiles to the plane.

That didn't sound like a very important part. The 6 planes were all still flying fine, as judged by the naked eye from the ground. So why couldn't they just finish the show? Don't they know - the show must go on?

Then again, would you want to do precision drills - flying way too close to other supersonic planes - when you've been shaking parts off your wing? Perhaps not.

You've got a good excuse
When parts start shaking loose.