Blue Angels buzz job

At least the Show pony didn't take out a Cessna. What an idiot.
 
It's all fun and games till someone gets hurt.
 
I'd don't know if that's for real? If it wasn't part of somewhat normal maneuvers and practice I think it may lead to problems, for the pilot.

I wouldn't expect a run of the mill 'flat-hatting' buzz job from the average Blue Angle pilot. Just saying, seems on the unbelievable side. Did he miss one of many briefs, that this stuff isn't allowed anymore?
 
I like how they used the slow flight plane to distract the crowd, lol.
 
Long long ago in a galaxy far far away the angels flew Phantoms. We were at an airbase on the shore of Lake Huron. The announcer had the crowd staring out at the lake for the imminent arrival of the Angels "any second now when you see them raise your hand"
And they bounced the crowd from the land side
Being of a suspicious mind I had turned around just in time to see them come silently over the treeline, supersonic, and flash overhead seemingly able to reach up and touch the belly
I closed my eyes just as the shock wave blew dirt and paper and lawn chairs and everything you can think of into the air
It was like a solid punch in the chest
 
Negative Ghost Rider, the pattern is full....
 
FlySince9 said:
I thought airshows were not allowed to overfly the spectators...:dunno:
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They can overfly the crowd. They can't direct energy towards the crowd while performing an aerobatic maneuver. Thats why both the Blues and Tbirds removed the solo cross over break back in the late 90s.

Generally the sneak up parallels the crowd line and isn't don't in conjunction with the high alpha pass. They changed some things up for this show.
 
Is it possible to computer generated imagery movies and it's all fake.
 
brien23 said:
Is it possible to computer generated imagery movies and it's all fake.
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I was actually thinking that myself when I first saw it. I've been to 3 Pcola beach shows and never seen the sneak up done from west to east and never that close to spectators.

Seems like those umbrellas look real to me though. This guy would have to be pretty darn good with CGI to pull that off.
 
Pfft. A good time was had by all.

Price of living in a free society.

Well, semi-free.
 
docmirror said:
Pfft. A good time was had by all.

Price of living in a free society.

Well, semi-free.
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I agree but some of those party tents could do harm if it whacks you in the face. As a lover of air shows and military aviation, I'd consider the scar a badge of courage. Plenty of others in this country would say "how much can we sue the Navy for."
 
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FlyingTiger said:
I like how they used the slow flight plane to distract the crowd, lol.
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Yep. The Blue's performed at our Amigo Airsho a few years back. They used the same "distraction" method. Everyone is looking at the slow flight guy (while the announcer is talking ONLY about the slow flight guy) and one of the solos does the low just sub-mach pass. Lots of dropped beers and pants pee'd.

Very cool...especially if YOU know it's coming and others don't. :D
 
The aircraft in this pass was never over the beach. It just hurled a vortex down them though. You know...wake turbulance, you learned about it in ground school.
 
Back in the 80's I was flying over the Florida panhandle talking with ATC when the controller told me I was going to have some company off my left wing. Few minutes later, up roll the Blue Angels. They slowed, dropped flaps and gear, flew next to me for about a minute, then lit the afterburners and were gone. Didn't impress me -- I'm a USAF Thunderbirds fan.
 
MikeELP said:
Yep. The Blue's performed at our Amigo Airsho a few years back. They used the same "distraction" method. Everyone is looking at the slow flight guy (while the announcer is talking ONLY about the slow flight guy) and one of the solos does the low just sub-mach pass. Lots of dropped beers and pants pee'd.

Very cool...especially if YOU know it's coming and others don't. :D
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They've done the distraction/sub-mach sneak at every Angels show I've seen. That is by far my favorite part of the show. In the ones I've seen, there is a decoy or the diamond flying by and the announcer has the crowd focused on it/them when BAM! the soft boom of the near-sonic plane, in my experience traveling perpendicular to the crowd, scares the hell out of everyone. Love it!

The plane in the video was lower than the ones I've seen.
 
Um, haven't you guys ever been to a Blue Angels show? This is SOP, they do it every year over San Francisco during Fleet Week.
 
I didn't read all the above so it might have been mentioned already but I was at the show, on a boat in the gulf, and that jet left for 15-20 mins, which I assume was a mechanical issue. When he flew back to the beach from NAS, he did that low fly by to catch up with the other solo plane. Definitely not part of the show. They do a high speed low pass but it's over the water and in the opposite direction.
 
MikeELP said:
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Selfridge or Wurtsmith? The T-Birds and the Angels were AWESOME when they flew the Phantoms!! :D
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Since is was next to Huron, it must have been Wurtsmith. Selfridge is next to Lake St. Clair.
 
That's a much better view of it. Looks like the jet's wake turbulence.
 
Back in the '70s there wasn't a beach between Eglin and Pensacola that didn't get buzzed at least weekly during mock dogfights between the Air Force and the Navy. I was living on Buckley Dr, just east of the Navarre Causeway. Back then there was NOTHING between Hurlburt Field and the Causeway except a few fishheads and military families in a couple of trailer parks. We would blast down the the Santa Rosa sound, hopping up over the causeways, to get the attention of the families. They would come out to the end of the private air strip on Lower Pritchard Long Point and then we would take turns doing quasi-aerobatics to amuse the natives and our families.
I know that many of you will take exception to this, but the F-4E totally sucked at aerobatics. The T-birds and the Angels flew F-4s that were highly modified for show use, and even then they were just barely adequate to the task.
 
Shepherd said:
Back in the '70s there wasn't a beach between Eglin and Pensacola that didn't get buzzed at least weekly during mock dogfights between the Air Force and the Navy. I was living on Buckley Dr, just east of the Navarre Causeway. Back then there was NOTHING between Hurlburt Field and the Causeway except a few fishheads and military families in a couple of trailer parks. We would blast down the the Santa Rosa sound, hopping up over the causeways, to get the attention of the families. They would come out to the end of the private air strip on Lower Pritchard Long Point and then we would take turns doing quasi-aerobatics to amuse the natives and our families.
I know that many of you will take exception to this, but the F-4E totally sucked at aerobatics. The T-birds and the Angels flew F-4s that were highly modified for show use, and even then they were just barely adequate to the task.
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The closest thing you'll see to that down here now is a C-130 at 500' a mile and a half off shore and all the fast movers go along the beach at least a 1000' now. Occasional V-22 or Blackhawk that will fly fast and low off the beach.
 
I can't believe the sprawl in that area (Ft. Walton Beach to Pensacola). I got out in '73. I'm kind of glad I've never been back.
 
Was at NAS Pensacola 77-81, watched them practice Wednesday at lunch time. I would bring a sandwich sit on the ramp and watch the show. Memories...They flew Skyhawk's back then.
 
frcabot said:
Seemed popular with the crowd.
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Maybe, though I doubt if those who had their stuff blown around or were possibly hit by flying objects were as thrilled about it as the people in the foreground who were laughing but probably not impacted negatively by the stunt.
 
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