WSET.com - ABC13A Very Precise Profession by Scott Wilson

In the past few weeks, we have done a number of stories on the Blue Angels coming to Lynchburg, and the aftermath of that performance. The whole controversy surrounding their performance at the Lynchburg Airshow is one of the more interesting stories to me that have come in the recent past. I was fortunate enough to go to the airshow last month – it was quite a spectacle. I have a lot of respect for what the Blue Angels do – for them to be so precise in a profession that is definitely very high risk is quite an achievement. I can't imagine even what their practices are like to get to the point where they are so in synch with each other.

Of course, the big story that came out of the performance was the fact that Sunday's flight was not quite as safe as their very high standards. This ended up grounding their flights for several weeks and cost the commander his job. Think about this for a second – how many jobs are there where one mistake that ended up not impacting anyone leads to someone being fired? I know that I have made plenty of mistakes – most that go unnoticed by anyone outside the newsroom. And you just move on to the next day.

Now, I am not trying to make light of the issue. Thousands of people were at the airshow, and any mistake can put the safety of any of those people at risk. It just struck me that this commander has probably worked his whole life to get to this point where he is now the head of the Blue Angels – one of the most reputable flying groups – and a powerful military recruiting tool. And because of one mistake, he no longer has that job. I just hope that the Blue Angels can go on flying without any further incidents, and can maybe come back to Lynchburg in the future. Because they sure put on a great show!