Interesting pics of SF Fleet Week and Blue Angels
- Thread starter SeaSpray
- Start date
Al & Pat Parker
New member
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the link to those fantastic pix. I didn't (yet) go to BZ's other linked stuff, I presume that if he's not a pro photographer he's a very accomplished amateur. Telephoto lens makes things appear very close together, but none the less, there were a lot of boats out there in the Bay. And they were flying down at mast height or below.
We lived out there 10+ yrs ago for 4 yrs, saw the bay a lot, but we weren't doing any boating while there. Much different boating atmosphere than back here at the Carolina coast.
It's obvious he REALLY likes the Blue Angels. About 7 yrs ago we were sailing, on a Thurs., out on the Neuse River, They were practicing for a Sat. - Sun. show at Cherry Point MCAS. We got an up-close preview, they'd come horizontal above us and then go vertical. Not way down on the deck like in the SF show, but neat enough. And I didn't have the camera, of course. Went on for a good half hour.
thanks again,
Thanks for the link to those fantastic pix. I didn't (yet) go to BZ's other linked stuff, I presume that if he's not a pro photographer he's a very accomplished amateur. Telephoto lens makes things appear very close together, but none the less, there were a lot of boats out there in the Bay. And they were flying down at mast height or below.
We lived out there 10+ yrs ago for 4 yrs, saw the bay a lot, but we weren't doing any boating while there. Much different boating atmosphere than back here at the Carolina coast.
It's obvious he REALLY likes the Blue Angels. About 7 yrs ago we were sailing, on a Thurs., out on the Neuse River, They were practicing for a Sat. - Sun. show at Cherry Point MCAS. We got an up-close preview, they'd come horizontal above us and then go vertical. Not way down on the deck like in the SF show, but neat enough. And I didn't have the camera, of course. Went on for a good half hour.
thanks again,
patrick and linda
New member
HEY STEVE,
THAT WAS AWESOME!
THANKS FOR SHARING THE PICTURES.
PAT
THAT WAS AWESOME!
THANKS FOR SHARING THE PICTURES.
PAT
RJD Wannabe
New member
Thank you, thank you, thank, you, AMAZING
marvin4239
New member
Great pictures. The Blue Angels preformed here a few weeks ago and blew windows out of about a dozen houses along Atlantic Beach. One guy claimed his house was moved on the foundation. They are trying to get restitution from the Navy.
Thanks, great pictures!
We had the Blue Angels here in Anchorage Summer before last along with one of the first F22 demonstrations-WOW what an amazing plane!
We now have F22s based here at Elmendorf AFB, I can see them practice from my windows at work.
Often wonder what will replace the F18s the Blue Angels fly now?
We had the Blue Angels here in Anchorage Summer before last along with one of the first F22 demonstrations-WOW what an amazing plane!
We now have F22s based here at Elmendorf AFB, I can see them practice from my windows at work.
Often wonder what will replace the F18s the Blue Angels fly now?
Thanks for the link to the photos. As some of you know, we are under the flight path of the Blues almost every Tuesday--it is the sound of freedom!
When we first moved to Penscola, one Tuesday AM (regular practice day). I had stopped at a blvd stop and all of a sudden, I thought a large gravel truck had slammed on its brakes just behind us--and we were going to be rear ended--since the cross street was clear, I hit the accellorator. No truck, just the Blues, right overhead.
A flight this low to the water is not what we usually see. Certainly the telephoto lense gives a different prospective. There is a "box" in which all boat traffic is prohibited where the blues fly close to the water during their over the water shows. For several years we owned a good sized trawler, (all white on top) and were one end of a "artificial flight line"--which the pilots use for visual orientation when flying the formations during the airshows. The other end of the artificial flight line was a 87 foot Coast Guard cutter. I had to keep the bearing to the CG cutter within 2 degrees and the distance within 100 feet during the shows. The planes were always at least 50 feet off the water in this circumstance. Normally we have one beach air show and one Naval air station air show each year.
When we first moved to Penscola, one Tuesday AM (regular practice day). I had stopped at a blvd stop and all of a sudden, I thought a large gravel truck had slammed on its brakes just behind us--and we were going to be rear ended--since the cross street was clear, I hit the accellorator. No truck, just the Blues, right overhead.
A flight this low to the water is not what we usually see. Certainly the telephoto lense gives a different prospective. There is a "box" in which all boat traffic is prohibited where the blues fly close to the water during their over the water shows. For several years we owned a good sized trawler, (all white on top) and were one end of a "artificial flight line"--which the pilots use for visual orientation when flying the formations during the airshows. The other end of the artificial flight line was a 87 foot Coast Guard cutter. I had to keep the bearing to the CG cutter within 2 degrees and the distance within 100 feet during the shows. The planes were always at least 50 feet off the water in this circumstance. Normally we have one beach air show and one Naval air station air show each year.
Thanks much Steve
Brought back wonderful memories. Took our three young boys to an air show in Grand Junction, Colorado in l987 where the Blue Angels were the main attraction. The boys where in total awe of the planes and pilots especially my eldest who was about 15. The pilots autographed photos and spent time talking to us and especially the boys.
Thanks again
Jay
Brought back wonderful memories. Took our three young boys to an air show in Grand Junction, Colorado in l987 where the Blue Angels were the main attraction. The boys where in total awe of the planes and pilots especially my eldest who was about 15. The pilots autographed photos and spent time talking to us and especially the boys.
Thanks again
Jay
I am glad everyone enjoyed the link! It was posted on my kayak club list.
When I had a sailboat I was on the bay for one Fleet Week but I did not get in the traffic of the main group. We watched from a distance but since it was a warm, no-wind day we fell asleep on the boat. That is until the Blue Angels flew right over us. I have also been inside a building in SF when they flew over. The sound is incredible!
These pilots do take some risk to put on these shows. When I was in high school I worked with a woman who's son was a Blue Angel and was killed during practice. They really have very little room for error.
Steve
When I had a sailboat I was on the bay for one Fleet Week but I did not get in the traffic of the main group. We watched from a distance but since it was a warm, no-wind day we fell asleep on the boat. That is until the Blue Angels flew right over us. I have also been inside a building in SF when they flew over. The sound is incredible!
These pilots do take some risk to put on these shows. When I was in high school I worked with a woman who's son was a Blue Angel and was killed during practice. They really have very little room for error.
Steve
Gene Morris
New member
WOW!!!!
We were at the fleet week event. However, the photographer must have been at a different one. We didn't see a fraction of what the photos showed.
Great thanks for sharing.
Gene Morris
We were at the fleet week event. However, the photographer must have been at a different one. We didn't see a fraction of what the photos showed.
Great thanks for sharing.
Gene Morris
Awesome photos! For fifteen years I watched the Blue Angels perform on Lake Washington for Seafair. We'd be out in the boat, waterskiing in the Bayliner or perhaps the little aluminum boat trolling for sockeye or trout.... then, about three days before Seafair, one or two of them (A4 Skyhawks, later F/A 18s) would just come rushing in quite low on the water .... utterly quiet (notice how those guys on the sailboat are totally oblivious to the F/A 18 right behind/over them? That is because those planes are so fast and quiet when they go by. Then you hear it..... that incredible thuderous sound like the tearing of a rotten sheet that magnifies impossibly as the the roar does come, following that plane several hundred yards behind it.
I disagree with the photogapher on the distortion. It is caused by exhaust heat refracting the light like a mirage. You can see the same thing behind any jet parked on a runway, or over a hot parking lot, and nothing is going over 780 mph. there. What the speed of the air as it passes the plane will do is release its water vapor, creating the micro-cloud burst // halo effect sometimes seen around the wing edges or cockpit.
Also, notice the water beneath the jet? It is all white and stirred up. We saw this numerous times as they ripped past. When really low, like in some of these pics, when the pilot snaps his stick back and yanks that plane vertical, it pulls up two huge, several hundred foot high waterspouts with it! I wish he'd captured that with the camera too, but being so zoomed in, probably didn't see it. Has anyone else seen that?
Another favorite is when the F/A 18s - with their two powerful engines, go by in an extremely slow, nearly at full stall speed pass (about 70 mph) the plane inclined at about 75 degrees, using engine thrust more than wings for lift. And they can hold that for over a mile like that. And then, when ready to level out, do they drop the nose and simultaneously punch the throttle to speed up? No, they just punch it with the nose held high and the plane goes up on the same vector. Amazing.
I love those AH1 Cobra attack helicopters. I watched two of the Army's version clear a rooftop of snipers with rockets (while swinging back and forth in place like a pendulum on a short string) in Colon, Panama in 1989 (Operation Just Cause). Hell unleashed, threat neutralized, just like that.
I'd love to see a Trident Nuclear Sub go by while out boating. Have any Brats been so fortunate?
C.W.
I disagree with the photogapher on the distortion. It is caused by exhaust heat refracting the light like a mirage. You can see the same thing behind any jet parked on a runway, or over a hot parking lot, and nothing is going over 780 mph. there. What the speed of the air as it passes the plane will do is release its water vapor, creating the micro-cloud burst // halo effect sometimes seen around the wing edges or cockpit.
Also, notice the water beneath the jet? It is all white and stirred up. We saw this numerous times as they ripped past. When really low, like in some of these pics, when the pilot snaps his stick back and yanks that plane vertical, it pulls up two huge, several hundred foot high waterspouts with it! I wish he'd captured that with the camera too, but being so zoomed in, probably didn't see it. Has anyone else seen that?
Another favorite is when the F/A 18s - with their two powerful engines, go by in an extremely slow, nearly at full stall speed pass (about 70 mph) the plane inclined at about 75 degrees, using engine thrust more than wings for lift. And they can hold that for over a mile like that. And then, when ready to level out, do they drop the nose and simultaneously punch the throttle to speed up? No, they just punch it with the nose held high and the plane goes up on the same vector. Amazing.
I love those AH1 Cobra attack helicopters. I watched two of the Army's version clear a rooftop of snipers with rockets (while swinging back and forth in place like a pendulum on a short string) in Colon, Panama in 1989 (Operation Just Cause). Hell unleashed, threat neutralized, just like that.
I'd love to see a Trident Nuclear Sub go by while out boating. Have any Brats been so fortunate?
C.W.
marvin4239
New member
Kings Bay Nuclear sub base is about 25 miles north of me on the ICW. When they move the big subs security is on high alert and they don't let you get very close. Those things are huge. The one time I did see one from a distance was when they brought the first one in when they officially opened the base. Expecting trouble from Greene Peace the Navy had a decoy smaller sub come in before the Nuke. Sure enough Green Peace guys were on inflatables and tried to board the sub. What they intended to do I'll never know. Security quickly scooped them up and the big boy came on in.
When I had my sailboat I was making a trip from the bay to the delta. It was a calm day and I was motoring across San Pablo bay. My wife looked behind us and saw a submarine about to pass us.
I never heard it coming but I am sure they saw me. It was very cool to watch it pass. It was headed to the Vallejo sub base which is now closed.
Steve
I never heard it coming but I am sure they saw me. It was very cool to watch it pass. It was headed to the Vallejo sub base which is now closed.
Steve
hey, now that I look at the pics again, I disagree with C.W. about the distortion in the picture. Clearly, some is due to the heat coming out of the exhaust as he says, but when you look at the close up side view, the shock waves eminating from the fuselage at steep angeles are apparent. One of these goes right to the water and is working like a Star Trek tractor beam to pull that water along. C.W.