Interview: the Blue Angels AND the Thunderbirds

Mike joins forces with The Afterburn Podcast’s John “Rain” Waters to co-host an epic interview with the Commander of the Air Force Thunderbirds AND the Executive Officer of the Navy Blue Angels to hear about leadership, flying, and teamwork in a way you’ve never heard before. ---- Links Sign up for our amazing newsletter https://www.themerge.co Support us on Patreon   / the_merge   The Afterburn Podcast https://www.theafterburnpodcast.com/ ---- Follow us on... Instagram   / merge_newsletter   Facebook   / themergenews   Twitter   / mergenewsletter   LinkedIn   / themerge   Website https://www.themerge.co ---- Show Notes (01:20) intro (2:45) icebreaker (10:06) sitting in the same room (12:53) learning from each other (13:55) T-birds rough period (14:47) sometimes you can see culture (15:40) cultural waves in the two teams (16:36) The T-birds T-38 cultural problem (19:02) President Carter’s Crisis of Confidence (26:02) Blue’s “glad to be here” culture (27:59) how tough is the flying? (29:44) there is no off-season (33:37) team dynamics of an exemplar squadron (35:08) The T-birds’ hangar (36:27) contagious culture of excellence (36:42) Agile Combat Employment (37:27) Blue Angels' hangar (39:57) how they travel (43:28) authority and trust are key (45:19) Fat Albert (46:12) Van Halen M&Ms (47:15) they’ve never canceled due to maintenance (48:47) Blue Angels on arrival (50:01) debrief culture (50:52) Fat Albert JATO (52:18) Top Gun Maverick (54:10) new Super Hornets (57:30) T-Birds’ tricks to flying that good (1:03:00) Blue Angels’ tricks to flying that good (1:04:43) counting feathers (1:06:17) aiming to crash (1:07:57) most memorable experience on the teams (1:08:59) Chris Darnell (1:14:12) outro