Those Blue Planes Are Scaring My Cats, Again

[Lawreston]

..... and there are road-closings on the main road past the Base, during the practice flights; pain-in-the-butt detours;
..... and at work -- directly across the street from the Base -- we feel like hitting the floor when the awesome thunder screams overhead;
..... and the grassy areas across from the Base are fenced-off to prevent cars parking in the runway safety zone areas. But, who cares? I'll be inside one of the hangars for two days.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/coast/050909airshow.shtml

HR

 

[terzap]

Have a blast! Er...maybe that was a bad word. At least have FUN!

terry

 

[mikea]

link

Kinda like - scary like this? Jim

We can't read your Yahoo email Jim.

 

[Jim Chumley]

Sorry guys. I don't have the expertise to deliver what I thought was an exciting photo of a 747 making a very low approach.


Jim

 

[mikea]

Sorry guys. I don't have the expertise to deliver what I thought was an exciting photo of a 747 making a very low approach.


Jim

Point to the picture, right drag Save Image as....to your disk, then upload the picture.

 

[Lawreston]

Sorry guys. I don't have the expertise to deliver what I thought was an exciting photo of a 747 making a very low approach.

Is it the one of the approach "barely" over the beach-front somewhere in the Carribean?

HR

 

[ladyaviator]

One lady wrote, she thought the money could be better spent, and that may be true, but when we are down, we need something to make us SMILE.
Those blue planes sure make me smile. They were in Indiana a couple weeks ago and WOW they are the best.

Linda

 

[Toby]

I LOVE the Blue Angels! Have fun!

 

[Jim Chumley]

Is it the one of the approach "barely" over the beach-front somewhere in the Carribean?

HR

Yes! You have seen it. Amazing, almost unreal.

Jim

 

[Frank Browne]

I LOVE the Blue Angels! Have fun!

How can you not?!? I've lived in only two cities in my whole life, here in Jacksonville where the Blue Angels were born and where they performed their very first public demo at CRG, (see attached photo) and in Pensacola where they have been home based since 1955. I've seen them perform in the F-11F Tiger, the F-4 Phantom, the A-4 Skyhawk and the F/A-18 Hornet. And there's a better than even chance I was taken to a performance while they were still flying the F-9F Cougar, but I was too young to remember it. Yes...I too am a fan!

 

[mikea]

Yes! You have seen it. Amazing, almost unreal.

Jim

Somewhere in here?:
http://www.airliners.net/search/similarity_search.php?photo_id=589777

 

[mikea]

I was working on the 36th floor of our 38 story office on the Chicago riverfront, west of da loop when the Blue Angels were practicing for the weekend Chicago Air and Water show. I guess they were practicing the "low show" because one kept coming down over our building. I ran into one boss's office nearby in time to see the jet come right down between the building's two wings. It was close enough that I could see the lighting bolts on the pilot's helmet. I would guess the jet passed within 100 feet of me. It was only about 30 degrees up from my position.

Yeah, they're noisy. Isn't it GREAT?

 

[silver-eagle]

One lady wrote, she thought the money could be better spent... SNIP ...

Must be a NIMBY. Full of grump and vinegar!
I even love watching videos of the Blues and TBirds. It makes me proud to think that's OUR people up there. Not quite the same feeling I get with the Star Spangled Banner, but close!

 

[Dave Krall CFII]

One lady wrote, she thought the money could be better spent, and that may be true, but when we are down, we need something to make us SMILE.
Those blue planes sure make me smile. They were in Indiana a couple weeks ago and WOW they are the best.

Linda

Naw, the money can't be better spent.

 

[fgcason]

I guess they were practicing the "low show" because one kept coming down over our building. I ran into one boss's office nearby in time to see the jet come right down between the building's two wings. It was close enough that I could see the lighting bolts on the pilot's helmet. I would guess the jet passed within 100 feet of me. It was only about 30 degrees up from my position.

If you see enough of their shows from off to the side of the airports and high enough up, you'll notice they use buildings and such for ground reference maneuvers. From work we would watch the tbird graduation show at the USAFA 2 miles away and every year they followed the same exact path at the same altitude around our building and several others in the area. You could leave your camera set in the same place and same angle and get the same picture year after year. You wouldn't even have to change the focus.


We flew down to Beeville TX around 1990/91 to watch the Blue Angels. A friend of ours was an instructor there so we got to go to the hangar where he worked which was way off show center.
At show time (low show) we go out on the ramp with the A4's and have a 40-50ft high hangar behind us.
1234 and 5. Eh...routine showy departure. No big deal.
Then #6 takes off, sucks the gear up, lifts up a bit, rolls 90 and makes a 90 degree turn and rolls level. At this point I'm looking straight at the nose of the plane, up the intakes and yes the pilot did have is visor down that day. My first instinct was "RUN!", my second was "WHERE?" There was no time to escape. He was either going to miss or go through the hangar and there wasn't a thing you could do about it. He passed one of the trucks on the ramp low enough that he would have hit it if it was in his way and it wasn't an overly big truck either. Then when he was way too close, he pulls up and goes vertical over the hangar. I can see rivets, access panels, exhaust tailcode pieces changing shape, feel heat from the engine, etc and the tailplane vibrating as he pulls vertical. All the parts were life size. That 3ish second interval justified the entire trip.

Yeah, they're noisy. Isn't it GREAT?

No. The old F4's from the 1970's shows going right over your head were noisy, stinky, fast and very intimidating. I liked those better than the stuff now.

 

[Jim Chumley]

Somewhere in here?:
http://www.airliners.net/search/similarity_search.php?photo_id=589777

Mike,

Probably. A friend sent me an email with 8-10 l-o-w flying jetliners. They have copyright notices on the bottom edges of the pictures. So, although I did not look them up, I did peek at the source you provided and it is likely that's where my photos came from. There must be a thousand photos in the site you mentioned.

Jim

 

[mikea]

Mike,

Probably. A friend sent me an email with 8-10 l-o-w flying jetliners. They have copyright notices on the bottom edges of the pictures. So, although I did not look them up, I did peek at the source you provided and it is likely that's where my photos came from. There must be a thousand photos in the site you mentioned.

Jim

There was an airport in Hong Kong(?) where the runway was just over the fence from the beach. They have lots of pictures of landing jets flying over the beach goers at 50 feet or less.

 

[T Bone]

There must be a thousand photos in the site you mentioned

Actually Jim, Airliners.net is probably the largest database and best source for aircraft pics (all sorts) on the net. IIRC, they are now well over a half million (!!) aircraft and related pictures (though there may well have been a thousand in the link).

I've seen some of the pics of that famous beach approach, very intriguing. A great place for people watching and airplane watching!

 

[Lawreston]

I LOVE the Blue Angels! Have fun!

As I wrote, earlier, my employer is right across the street from NAS Brunswick. During my afternoon break I went outside to watch(and hear) the Blue Angels as they were practicing. To see a jet way to the left of the shopping center, and another jet way to the right of the center, each approaching at hundreds of miles per hour and at about 200agl(or less); then meeting the others from other directions ---------- and to see them meet and go into a straight-up formation climb is an astonishing sight. And they had to be low because the trees which line our side of the street hid them from view when they hit the end-of-runway position until they were suddenly in the rapid climb maneuver. Spectacular!!.

I have to meet the EAA Chapter pres. at 0615 Saturday in order that we have our display area set up by 0800. It should be a great day.

Ironically, a new art gallery http://www.mainestreetart.com opened its 2nd exhibit tonight. Entitled, WINGS, it consists of paintings of airplanes and various art pieces in any way connected with whatever may have wings. I have a portfolio of 30 images -- mostly aerial shots -- and ten larger, mounted aerial photos in the show. One of the oil paintings there is of a baseball cap ------------- on which the logo is a Blue Angels graphic. I should, in the middle of the week, be able to post some pictures I took at the
artists' reception earlier this evening. (Or Kat, gallery owner, may put some of them in her website(above) when she gets the time).

HR

 

[SkyHog]

There was an airport in Hong Kong(?) where the runway was just over the fence from the beach. They have lots of pictures of landing jets flying over the beach goers at 50 feet or less.

I assume you mean St. Maarten:

 

[Lawreston]

Well, off to the Navy Base for my 2nd long day at the EAA Booth in Hangar 4. Check the http://www.mainetoday.com/ (Parachutists photo and story). Our booth is right next to the Paratroopers where they come back to repack their 'chutes after each performance. And there are at least two ladies in the crew. Some of the guys look(ages) like they've been at it for a long time. Photos sometime later in this week. Gotta go; have a Pass to get in early, before the general public. Great weather, again.

HR (also gave out quite a few http/www.pilotsofamerica.com addresses while at the booth.)