mikew

It appears that the SSL certificate for the site expired last week.

If it is a short term, Big Safari program, likely it will be contract maintenance. This gets the system up quicker and doesn't require allocated manpower. If the program were to last long enough/get big enough, blue suit maintenance might become a player. Examples: MC-12 was contract maintenance. MQ-1/9 began as contract maintenance, and eventually blue suiters were added (not sure if there are still contract maintainers, or if it eventually went 100% blue suit).

It might be useful to note that the CAF doesn't intend to restore and fly the F-82. CAF signed an agreement to trade the aircraft to a private individual, in alleged violation of the loan/donation agreement overseen by the USAFM. The original loan agreement with the USAF stipulated that the aircraft would be returned to the USAF if the CAF did not wish to retain possession. There is a dispute as to whether a later amendment turned the whole thing into an unconditional donation or not, and apparently a court decided that it did not. Mike

I'm going to guess that the picture was taken from the fifth helo (well, first if you count front to back), so it probably was a five ship formation, even if they didn't get all of them in the shot. Mike

Just as a note. Your VA permit will not be honored by MD according to the database I've looked at (https://www.handgunlaw.us/), so you still will need a MD permit to carry there. Mike