Thunderbirds grounded by sequester

The Air Force announced Friday it planned to ground the Thunderbirds if a federal budget deal wasn’t reached. The team will cease air support to public events April 1 unless something happens to get the budget back on track.

“The implementation of across-the-board cuts in federal spending has caused the curtailment of the Thunderbirds 2013 show schedule,” a notice on the team’s site reads. “Effective April 1, all of the team’s performances have been cancelled.”

The notice said the Thunderbirds will still perform at the Titusville, Fla., air show on March 23 and 24.

Democratic President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans were unable to reach a deal on the sequester laying out specific cuts on Friday.

It is unclear how the cancellation of the Thunderbirds touring calendar will affect the Mountain Madness 2013 air show, scheduled for July 20 and 21 in Kalispell. Kalispell Chamber of Commerce President Joe Unterreiner did not return a message left by The Daily Inter Lake by press time Saturday evening.

The Air Force said flying hours normally set aside for its demonstration acts, including the Thunderbirds and the F-22 Raptor, are being reserved for national readiness activities. The service projects automatic budget cuts will mean the reduction of 203,000 flying hours, a fifth of the total.

The order involving public events also applies to Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard aircraft. That means no flyovers at funerals, military graduations, heritage flights, sporting and other events, the service said. Stationary displays of aircraft could continue.

The Daily Inter Lake contributed to this report.