Happy Sunday, FighterSweep Fans! Our celebration of Independence Day continues this afternoon as we go inside the cockpit with the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron.
I remember seeing the Blue Angels for the first time when I was a young boy. One of the pilots of was a high school classmate of my father’s, which warranted an extra up-close-and-personal tour of the A-4 Skyhawk and time spent hanging out with the team. As you can imagine, it only fueled my hunger to one day become a pilot.
There’s not much I can say about the Blues that hasn’t already been said a thousand times over. No offense to my friend Cheetah and his teammates on the Thunderbirds, but I enjoy the Blue Angels demo to a much greater degree than any other demonstration team I’ve seen to date.
They fly lower, faster, and tighter formations in their F/A-18 Hornets than their Air Force counterparts in the Block 52 Viper are allowed. Not only that, but they’ve got BERT! But I digress…
So in this clip, you’ll see the demonstration from the perspective of the Slot Pilot, or the #4 position on the team. This particular venue is Sea Fair in Seattle, Washington. If you’re paying attention, you’ll recognize Boeing Field, Vashon Island, and you can even see the Space Needle in the distance at a couple different points. Hats off to Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Jim Hiltz, who managed to stay awake for the entire performance!
Get after it!