Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/08/21/watch-a-blue-angel-surprise-th.html
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At least it’s at an air show. That s***'s not funny when you’re out backpacking.
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They fast.
I have a video of one of them breaking the sound barrier at close range like this. (On an old DV tape somewhere from a “Tiger Cruise” I went on in 2008)
Super cool.
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I especially appreciate the deaf couple (center of the frame, dude in the orange T-shirt, woman in the green tanktop).
Woman: “My God!”
Man: “FUCK.”
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I envy them!
As a small child, my baby-sitting grandparents took me to Canarsie NY one day, just to hang out (right on the bay, sitting in lawn chairs). An F-4 (must have been from Floyd Bennett Field) buzzed us, directly above, toward us, and very, very low. I mean LOW. I’d already caught the jet plane bug before then, and the experience at the bay permanently nailed it. (Warm, appreciative thoughts toward that pilot!)
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Wowzer! That was awesome.
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Having lived in Nevada where there’s some big airforce bases i experienced some low flying jets before. Scares the hell out of you every time. The coolest thing i’ve ever seen though was driving through the desert at night, the acquaintances i was with pulled over because they noticed some jets in the area in the dead of night and we got to see some practice dog fighting.
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This kind of stuff is not exactly my thing, but I do know I was lucky to have a family friend who enjoyed babysitting me as a child in Wichita (near McConnell AFB). She was the widow of a fighter pilot, and would take me to see the Blue Angels each year.
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I was at Michigan Summer Beerfest once when the Blue Angels were also in town. The turn around area for their flight path was directly over the park, so naturally, on the second and third passes, thousands of beer drinking folks raised their cups. I swear that last pilot gave everyone who could see him a very fast thumbs up.
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Back in the 90s, I had a temp help desk job at a big downtown law firm working nights and weekends. Our office was in the northeast corner of the big glass building overlooking the lake, across from Burke Airport. Labor Day weekend, I was taking help desk calls while literally ducking under a desk because all the fighter jets flew SO CLOSE to the building. After an hour or so, it became natural, if surreal, to have the office buzzed by dozens of jets - sometimes in formations!
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Well before I was born my Dad was a Navy carrier pilot, and sometime after that he was a pilot and CO and his squadron was put in charge of making sure the Blue Angels were well taken care of when they were doing an airshow at his base. There is an old family photo of the house with seven Corvettes in front of it, which he rented for their stay, and had delivered. My siblings got to hang out with them.
I grew up going to airshows. Love this stuff.
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I think I just pooped their pants.
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Right?
What’s so cool about death machines?
I was driving in the middle of Nevada once and got bounced by an A-10. No doubt he lined up on me on a dry weapons run. Nice to know if he’d wanted me dead, I never would have known it was coming.
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Our air power is significantly more advanced than that of Eastasia, with whom we have always been at war.
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Air show tickets have reduced from $5 to $10…
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Kinda depends. These death machines look pretty darn awesome to the folks in Paris.
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I live a stone’s throw from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, so at least once a year I get to watch them practicing and performing from my apartment. It’s pretty awe-inspiring.
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Yes, context certainly does matter. I don’t think they’re pretty darn awesome when wielded (as they currently are) by a relentless, rapacious empire.
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