Thunder City offered the possibility to fly in supersonic jets – Next to the Russian Zhukovsky Airbase until June 2006 and Sokol Airbase from 2006 the only place in the world to offer tourist flights in supersonic aircraft. In places like Europe or the US it is not possible to experience a supersonic flight, it is allowed only for special purposes like documentary filming, for research etc.
Also, Thunder City had probably the most impressive fleet of jet fighters, with Zhukovsky airbase where the MAKS airshow takes place. The fleet is even more impressive when you consider the cost of maintaining these jets. But this was also a reason why Thunder City flights where hard to finance.
English Electric Lightning, Buccaneer, Hawker Hunter
Thunder City currently owns 3 English Electric Lightning supersonic Jet Fighters which have been in service with the Royal Air Force before. The Lightnings have been used for Edge of Space Flights and reached altitudes more than 15km with tourists. Until November 14th Thunder City had 4 English Elctric Lightnings, that day one of the two T5 two-seaters was lost in a deadly Airshow accident at Overberg Airshow. Thunder City was the only operator of the English Electric Lightning, one of the first supersonic aircraft, reaching Top Speeds of Mach 2 and Mach 1.6 with tourist flights.
Also, Thunder City owns three Blackburn Buccaneers, also the only airworthy examples worldwide. The Buccaneer is a giant, a low-level strike fighter with nuclear weapon capability. The South African Air Force operated 16 Buccaneers. The Apartheid-Regime had nuclear weapons, even did a nuclear test.
The third large military fighter aircraft owned by Thunder City is the Hawker Hunter, of which it operated seven. The Hawker Hunter Flight was the cheapest among the Thunder City aircraft. It is still available for flights today in the Swiss Alps.
Why did Jet Fighter Operations at Thunder City stop?
One of the main reasons the flight operations stopped was the Airshow crash that left only one two-seater Lightning left. Of course that Lightning crash hit the reputation very badly, and the death of Dave Stock was a shock not only to Thunder City. But Thunder City continued to offer passenger flights until September 2010. The bad economy led Thunder City customer numbers sink by around 50%, which made it even harder to finance the very costly maintenance and flight operations. Also, the South African Civil Aviation Authority suspended the operation certificate.
Thunder City now wants to sell all its aircraft, in August 2011 they have been available for sale. A potential buyer of such aircraft must not only have huge financial power, but also the knowledge to operate this high-performance aircraft. It can be assumed that they will end as displays.
This is really sad, it leaves the MiG-29 Flight on Sokol airbase in Russia as the last and only possibility to fly in a supersonic aircraft.
English Electric Lightning Video
English Electric Lightning Edge of Space passenger flight at Thunder City
Join the Blue Angels for a flight in the F/A-18 Hornet
The Famous Blue Angels
Unfortunately not anybody can join the famous Blue Angels for a F/A-18 flight, but the possibility exists – unfortunately not for everybody.
The Blue Angels are some kind of marketing tool to enhance US Navy and Marine corps aviation recruiting. Also, the Blue Angels are ambassadors for the US Armed Forces and the United States in general. Generally, no supersonic flights are allowed by Civilians above the US and Europe. We sometimes have requests if we can offer F-16 Flights, F-18 Flights or even F-22 Flights. Unfortunately, that is not possible. And I guess the costs for an F-22 ride would be a bit too high for most.
Who can fly in the F/A-18 Hornet Jet with the Blue Angels?
There are fixed rules, however it is not possible to buy a backseat flight with the Blue Angels without “being selected”. In other countries it is possible to fly a supersonic fighter, such as the supersonic MiG-29 Flight in Russia. With the Blue Angels, it is different. Remember, they are a marketing tool. So the aim is to spread the image that it is really cool to be a Navy Pilot. Which is, of course, true. The Blue Angels have 3 backseats each show to give away, with pilot #7.
Now, which lucky guy gets one of these seats? Two of the jet rides with the Blue Angels go to people selected by the Key Influencer program (KI). Key Influencers are those with substancial influence among young people, the targeting group for Navy and Marines recruiting (sorry older guys, this is the truth).
“The KI program selects individuals who shape attitudes and opinions of youth in their communities”
So it is expected these influencers go to the influenced crowd and tell them how cool the Blue Angels ride are (and hopefully also how cool the Blue Angels/Navy/Marines are).
“They are not always the person at the top of an organization, but rather individuals that have a strong impact on recruiting youth and/or a specific target audience.”
And here is our favorite among these influencers, Kaci Aitchison (is there also a pretty girls program we haven’t heard of?!?)
Blue Angels Flight with Kaci Aitchison
But that’s not the whole truth, Kaci Aitchison is not that relaxed and smiling for the whole flight. Watch the second video from 0:45. Hello Kaci!? Can’t see you.
In fact, Kaci Aitchison is not only a singer and comedian, but also a Reporter for Q13 FOX News. So she somehow belongs to both categories. And I guess the pilot wouldn’t mind to fly twice with her…
The G-Force Blackout
Now, there is a second category allowed to fly, as indicated above. The third backseat each show is given away to a “credentialed media representative”. And here comes our Chewing-Gum-Steve (others call hem Pass-Out-Steve or Are-you-with-me-Steve). They have up to 7Gs during their flight.
“Steve, Are you with me?”
Steve is a reporter for the Atlanta Journal Constititution. The question I asked myself when watching this video: What comes first: Unconsciousness or stop chewing that beloved gum? I’m really not sure…
Alternatives to Flights with the Blue Angels
As written before, unfortunately we can’t offer flights with the Blue Angels. But you can get a supersonic flight, one of our MiG-29 customers had up to 9Gs during his MiG flight. For that you have to travel to Nizhniy Novgorod in Russia. Alternatives are the comparably priceworthy Fighter Jet Rides in the L-39 Albatros.
What is the fastest plane? A question we often hear. Here’s the Answer
The topic “Which is the Fastest Aircraft in the World” is not that simple. Some count the fastest vehicle, the Apollo moduleas record holder. The command module had Top Speeds around Mach 30, that is around 36,750 km/h or over 22,830 mph. But the Apollo can’t be counted as Aircraft. Also, the Space Shuttle reached around 17,500 mph or 28,000 km/h during atmospheric reentry. But we do not count those spacecraft as planes. If the Spaceplanes would be included in the competition, they would unsurprisingly win with high margin.
The Lockhheed SR-71 Blackbird - the fastest plane in the world
Another distinction is between air-breathing planes and Rocket planes. Rocket planes are incapable of breathing air, so they are in another category. The fastest air-breathing plane is the fascinating Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. The SR-71 is a Mach 3.3 strategic US reconnaissance aircraft, in service from 1966 to 1998. Only 32 SR-71 have been built. The SR-71 reached the Top Speed of over 3530 km/h (>2200 mph and >1900 kts). It was developed by the legendary Skunk Works.
The Russian interceptor MiG-25 Foxbat reached Mach 3.2, but at that speed the engine has been damaged. So actually it could fly “only” at Mach 2.83. The MiG-25 was constructed to intercept supersonic bombers like the Convair B-58 (Top Speed 2300 km/h) and the Lockheed A-12, the precursor of the famous record-holding SR-71.
Fastest Fighter Jet – MiG-25 Foxbat
Fastest Jet Fighter - here a MiG-25 two-seater on Zhukovsky
The Sovjet Mikoyan MiG-25 Foxbat is the fastest Fighter Jet ever built. 1190 MiG-25 have been built and it is still active with the Russian Air Force. The MiG-25 holds a series of records, for example the altitude record with 37,650km or 23.4 miles altitude. Also, it reached 25km in 2 minutes and 34 seconds. These values have been achieved with Parabola flights which are also used for Zero Gravity, not with parallel flights. That means the MiG-25 is rather shooting up like a bullet and comes down again, it is not able to stay at this record altitude.
The Two-Seater on that picture was available for Tourist Edge of Space Flight experiences on Zhukovsky Airbase near Moscow until 2006. During tourist flights, the MiG-25 reached up to 25 km. Today the fastest jet available for tourist flights is the MiG-29 Fulcrum. At the same time, it is the last possibility for Civilians for a supersonic flight.
North American X-15 - the fastest manned rocket plane
The fastest manned plane flight was by Pete Knight in 1967. He achieved a Maximum Speed of 7,274 km/h or 4,510 mph in the experimental aircraft X-15. The North American X-15 also reached the Kármán line, also known as Edge of outer Space. The Kármán line lies at 100 km or 62 mi. Unmanned rocket planes are even faster: The hypersonic NASA X-43 achieved 12,144 km/h or 7,546 mph in 2004, using a “scramjet”, which means supersonic-combustion ramjet. Both rocket planes, the X-15 and the unmanned X-43 need a carrier plane to start. The X-43 has now been replaced by the Boeing X-51, also an unmanned Scramjet, a joint “Waverider” program by US Air Force, NASA, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), Boeing and Pratt & Whitney.
Fastest Plane SR-71 – Video
Here you can see a short video of the fastest plane, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.
Stratosphere Flights marketed as Edge of Space-flights have been available in Russia after the Russian Financial crisis. Also, Thunder City offered Edge of Space Flights in Cape Town, South Africa. In Russia MiG-25 flights reached up to 25km or 82,000ft. This was the highest altitude tourists could achieve, apart from the Space Adventures trips to the international Space Staion (ISS). Thunder City used English Electric Lightning supersonic aircraft to reach an altitude of 50,000ft.
Definition Edge of Space
The boundary between the Athmosphere and outer Space is known as the Kármán line. The Kármán line lies at 62 miles or 100km, which is much higher than the 25km or so the most powerful Edge of Space-jet fighters achieve during their stratosphere flight. The expression “Edge of Space” commonly used for balloon and aircraft includes a much lower altitude. Some use it for flights at altitudes reaching the Stratosphere (10km – 50km), but flying substantially higher than commercial airliners who usually fly at 10-12km to optimize their fuel burn. Thunder City used the Expression Edge of Space already for 50,000ft (15.25km) flights, that is not substantially higher than the altitudes reached by airliners. The Russian MiG supersonic fighters reached at least double the altitude.
Fastest Aircraft reached 25km with tourists
Fastest Jet Fighter in the World
The MiG-25 Foxbat, the fastest fighter aircraft has a top speed of Mach 2,82 or 3200 km/h or 1,920 mph respectively. At high altitude the Mikoyan MiG-25 Foxbat reaches Mach 3.2 or 3600 km/h, but this top speed damages the engine. The strangely looking MiG-25 two seater was used for passenger Edge of Space flights on Zhukovsky airbase or Ramenskoye airbase (also Ramenskoe and Ramensky) until June 2006. Zhukovsky Airbase hosts the famous MAKS airshow, apart from the MiG-25 Edge of Space Flights it offered MiG-23 Flogger Flights, MiG-29 Flights and Su-27 Flanker Flights. The MiG-25 Foxbat reached an altitude of up to 25km, the view from there is comparable to what is known from satellite prictures: The curvature of the earth can be seen very clearly, the atmosphere is like a blue fog far far below and the sky above is black with millions of stars.
MiG-29 Edge of Space Flights on Sokol Airbase today
MiG-25 Foxbat - Zhukovsky Airbase
After Edge of Space Flights in the fastest jet fighter MiG-25 stopped when tourist flights operation stopped, MiGFlug and it’s US subidiary FlyFighterJet hat to watch for another opportunity to offer supersonic and Edge of Space flights. In the same year, in 2006, MiGFlug sent the first customer to fly MiG-29 to Sokol Airbase in Nizhniy Novgorod, about an hour from Moscow. The first 3 years of MiG operations at Sokol, the MiG-29 flights focused on acrobatics and the MiG-31 Foxhound, the successor of the MiG-25, flew to the Edge of Space with customers. After 2008 the MiG-31 was used for tests with the Russian Air Force. The MiG-29 was from now on used for both, MiG-29 Aerobatics program and the new MiG-29 Edge of Space program. The MiG-29 reaches about 22-23km, so substantially more than the English Electric Lightning in Thunder City. After Thunder City stopped operations in 2010, the MiG-29 Flight is not only the last Edge of Space Flight worldwide, but also the last possibility for a supersonic flight.
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Thunder City currently owns 3 English Electric Lightning supersonic Jet Fighters which have been in service with the Royal Air Force before. The Lightnings have been used for Edge of Space Flights and reached altitudes more than 15km with tourists. Until November 14th Thunder City had 4 English Elctric Lightnings, that day one of the two T5 two-seaters was lost in a deadly Airshow accident at Overberg Airshow. Thunder City was the only operator of the English Electric Lightning, one of the first supersonic aircraft, reaching Top Speeds of Mach 2 and Mach 1.6 with tourist flights.
The boundary between the Athmosphere and outer Space is known as the Kármán line. The Kármán line lies at 62 miles or 100km, which is much higher than the 25km or so the most powerful Edge of Space-jet fighters achieve during their stratosphere flight. The expression “Edge of Space” commonly used for balloon and aircraft includes a much lower altitude. Some use it for flights at altitudes reaching the Stratosphere (10km – 50km), but flying substantially higher than commercial airliners who usually fly at 10-12km to optimize their fuel burn. Thunder City used the Expression Edge of Space already for 50,000ft (15.25km) flights, that is not substantially higher than the altitudes reached by airliners. The Russian MiG supersonic fighters reached at least double the altitude.
