A local reporter gets to go flying with the Blue Angels.
He takes a little nap at the 6:40 mark.
Bored, I guess.
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Targets of Opportunityblog advertising is good for you Credo"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones "Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra" "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche "A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke “You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier "Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas "Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex Amazon AssociateFor the Effort!Winnar! Subscribe CategoriesPagesTagsacademy
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Lex, I don’t know how you guys do it. And chasing a bad guy at the same time!
You know that the pilot is going to do that to the Guy In Back. It’s what every pilot does.
What I don’t understand is who you can have breakfast and then get in the cockpit. I’d have to skip meals for a day before going up, just so my lunch wouldn’t come up as well.
Didn’t they teach him the ole M-1 “grunt” maneuver pre-flt? Or were they just more sadistically bloody-minded?
Lex, you have to post this for everyone to see. Kaci is so funny (she’s a comedienne) and she takes a nap as well at the 3:50 mark. Ends up with the mic in her nose. At the end, when they’re taxi’g the the pilot mentions she went cross-eyed for a minute there….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h32oUZP2Yo
That was great. I think I’m in love with her. She’s adorable.
ooooo….a panter and screamer!
“Are we going to crash?”
“Yes we are.”
Gotta love pilots humor.
Lord, but that was funny.
I love how she kept referring to the pilot as her God!
Of course Naval Aviators are used to that huh?
Now she was a real Trooper. Handled 6.4 pretty well. I’m guessing he used a bit more than that in the break. LOL
Most excellent video. Thanks AV!
The Blues tried to do it to Dale Earnhardt Jr. and it didn’t work…all he did was turn his head around and go, “WOOOHEEEE!!!!” like a kid on a roller coaster. Never even looked like he was going out at 6Gs and forget about sick, he just wanted more
Great post Lex!
That was a little like my wedding night (the 2nd wedding that is), but without the helmet, G- corset, helmet, F/A 18…. and the other guy.
Fleet Hornets don’t have a manual inverted fuel pump, although there are baffles for short term inverted flight at negative g. (0 g flight is prohibited except for transients.) There really isn’t a fleet requirement for sustained negative g flight. Or smoke devices, for that matter.
You mean you don’t use smoke to show the bad guys where you are so they can come to you to get shot down? Wouldn’t that be easier than chasing them around? Sorry again. Now I’m just in dumba$$ mode to avoid working.
Every time I hear someone complain that Social Security and Medicare “aren’t entitlements _ I paid into the system” I wonder when I am going to get my ride with the Blues or TBirds. I’ve been paying into the defense budget!
Lex, sorry for the silly question, but, the pilot mentions turning on/off the inverted fuel pump. Isn’t that something that should be automated? As a combat pilot do you have to turn it on and off when on a combat mission or do you just turn it on and leave it on? Why would you not leave it on during a flight like this one?
Oops. Wrong hole.
Must….
Not…..
Got that, didja?
Dave Anderson had the unfortunate pleasure of learning the hard way that an inverted fuel pump was necessitated on Blue Angel F/A-18s on 12 February 1987 – he ejected from his Hornet after a dual engine flameout during practice near El Centro, CA. Turns out sustained inverted flight starved the GE404 noise makers.
Crazy people. I love you all but … crazy people.
How many gees did Sleepyhead do?
All in all, he didn’t do too bad for a civvie!
My son loved this video. As for me, despite having flown hundreds of thousands of miles in my time, I still persist in thinking that, if man were meant to fly, he’d have wings. Clearly, you guys are practicing some sort of witchcraft to make this happen.
Great video! having had a bit of Aerobatics (Pitts S-2, Citabra Decathlon,Blanik l-13.)
What I love is the obvious smoothness of the F-18 driver. To the uninitiated it can seem slam-bang but, it ain’t. Worst experience I ever had was with an old Chief Pilot (ok he was ex-Air Force) who literally tried to pull the wings off a Decathlon. Only time I ever go sick in an Airplane. I was in the back seat, and said:” Bob- if you do that again, I’m using your collar as a Sic-Sac!”….
Appreciate anything with the Blues…
It would be interesting to see and hear Miss Loralee on a ride like that.
Joe, that was my first thought. There is a resemblance.
Dude, that was fairly rude.
No, no, no, Chunk…They were talking about the GIRL riding in the video above. NOT the “OTHER” kind of ride!! (Or comparing my looks to a dude.)They’re both grand.
But thanks for the chivalry! Nice to know it hasn’t worn off since we dated in college a billion years ago!
You’re an awesome friend, dude.
I picked up on it…lack of threading-foo.
Again…awfully nice of ya, intention-wise, though. Always nice to have a wingman! (Especially if they can actually fly!)
A previously unrevealed connection. Layers within layers…
How do ya think I was introduced to y’all in the first place?
That Chunk is good people. I owe him. 
This is the week of people thinking I look like other people! Ha! This poor woman that was at a blogging conference I just went to must have had 30 people think she was me.
And I would freaking LOVE to ride in that thing, even though I am scared of heights and flying. LOVE TO.
I didn’t think you looked like her, but I would LOVE to hear your rich, mellow voice in that situation.
My voice would totally go up an octave or four in that thing!
Would that take you to the low end of the mezz range?
Bwahahahaha! Most likely, yes.
@Stephen,
My apologies. I did not follow the entire thread through. I thought you were comparing Loralee to the *guy*…
No problem Chunk. The gal’s giant grin during the whole ride just made me think of Loralee. And of course, if Loralee did get that opportunity, her blogging it would be a huge PR coup for the Navy. Anybody around here have any Naval aviation connections?
I am TOTALLY GAME, DUDE.
Am I the only one sitting at my desk and involuntarily tensing my legs and gut while watching this, on command? I hope not…
+3
Trust me, Buck: you ain’t the only one….
+2
There were talks of me going up in a USAF fighter in my old job… many many moons ago. Something came up and there was talk. I wasn’t too into it. I know dang well what happens to the guys in the backseat. No good can come of that from what I’ve ever seen. It’s fun to watch others… but I’ll pass on the passing out and the potential throwing up. No thanks… Blech.
What I really really wanted to do was go up in the C-17. (I know, eye rolling.) I was all set to go through egress training when… the rabbit died. My team loved it. I was so bummed. I felt certain I’d not throw up on that flight and if I did, I think they have bathrooms…
As for me, I just get incredibly irritated every time I see one of these news anchors or celebrities go up with the Blue Angels. I worked in the media for a long time and know way too many of them to think very many truly appreciate what an honor it is for them. Fewer still deserve such an honor.
I’d give just about anything to get to go for a ride like that. Since I’ve been in the Navy Reserves, I’ve been trying to figure out how, though I know it’s nearly impossible for someone not attached to a squadron. Any hints?
A LOT of people get Fat Albert rides. Just as fun, it seems.
I can assure you that Mike was EXTREMELY honored and grateful to take the flight (I work with him and edited down the 45+ minutes of raw video footage that was presented to us). It was truly the experience of a lifetime for him.
He is a huge aviation enthusiast and his brother is a flight instructor at the University of North Dakota. In fact, his brother took him up a month or so earlier to prepare him for some of the maneuvers he’d be experiencing in the Hornet. He shot some footage from the little plane they flew around in. Granted… I’m not sure if it actually prepared him for the forces he experienced in the Hornet!
Much respect for the folks that fly these amazing machines.
Super Decathlon. Cool!
I’m very glad to hear that. Unfortunately, I’ve worked with a couple who got a flight and most certainly didn’t deserve it.
Now, what about the rest of us who aren’t TV anchors? How do we get up there?
“Let’s see if I can do an airline landing here.”
EVERYONE wants to be an airline pilot!!
How you guys been?
I’ll be in Fargo this weekend for the show. Can’t wait! Seen the Blues a ton of times but have yet to catch the Super Hornet demo so this weekend will be a treat!
Super Decathlon is the best aerobatics trainer you can get.
Enough power to keep you out of trouble and enough to be interesting.My first intro to Aerobatics was a C-150 Aerobat.
Ok, but get LOTS of altitude,’cause you’ll spend all day getting back up there. Roll rate leaves a bit to be desired…
My Decathlon experience was a 150 hp/inverted system, that Super doing a Cuban 8 shows how it is a very capable aircraft.
Lex (and all you fighter drivers out there), your gut must have been sore in the morning from all that GRUNTIN! By the way, notice the F4′s at the 00:28 mark!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tO_Sw3P5Bs&feature=related
Here’s another one that also shows-off our Country’s excellent pilots and their flying machines. Thank-you to all of you pilots out there! We Honor You and Your Families.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX5Piq5BJoQ&feature=player_embedded#at=17
Last, but not least, those very naughty aeroplane pilots acting very much like children, I must say!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Dr2ZB36p9Y