Will the Air Force Thunderbirds be doing things any differently when they take off this weekend from Loveland’s Northern Colorado Regional Airport, elevation 5,020 feet, than they would for one of their performances closer to sea level?

Absolutely, said Maj. Josh Burress, who had just climbed down from Thunderbird 2, after the precision team roared into Loveland Thursday.

“It’s a big impact on the performance of the jet,” Burress told The Denver Gazette. “The ground speed is higher, there’s a little bit of a delay, the controls aren’t as effective.”

The speed difference from the pilot’s view is substantial, adding on another 50 miles per hour to a pass that might be at 300 miles per hour in Miami or San Diego.

“Whereas at sea level, the jet does anything you want,” Burress said.

The six pilots and their Lockheed Martin F-16s will be the main attraction at the Great Colorado Air Show, running Saturday and Sunday in Loveland. Air Show officials assured that there are on-line tickets remaining for the event (GreatColoradoAirShow.com) and would have them this weekend, as well.

“We have a new and really tight show for you,” Burress said. “It’s actually updated in last five years.

Burress, who flew combat missions in other Air Force jets including the A-10 Thunderbolt before moving to the Thunderbirds a year ago, said that the team took advantage of the COVID break to work with Walt Disney Co. to restructure the performance.

“They’re the experts and they know exactly how to capture attention and for how long,” Burress said.

Included are new strategies for acts that build to a crescendo, he noted.

Will this Thunderbirds performance really differ much from previous shows over recent decades? The Air Force team began using early models of the F-16 back in 1983.

In spite of the different performance characteristics of putting on a show for a mile-high audience, Burress said that the visual effects will be virtually indistinguishable from shows in other settings.

“You’re going to see a Thunderbird team that’s flying the closest we’ve ever flown and quicker than we’ve ever done it,” Burress said.  That includes in formations where all six jets fly in tight formation, at times overlapping each other’s wingtips by as much as four feet

“It speaks to our blind trust in each other,” Burress said.

In addition to the Thunderbird headliners, show goers will see to other performance teams, parachutists, a minijet, and individual high-performance aircraft demonstrations.  

The best viewing will be from ticketed areas at the airport — but even a viewer planning on going into a holding pattern miles from the runway would get an eye and ear full.

“Even at a parking lot, I highly recommend coming out,” he said.

Next weekend, Sept. 27 and 28, the Thunderbirds head for Pueblo.