Monday, June 20, 2016

F/A-18 Acrobats





                            
 



An F/A-18 Hornet cruises through the canyons of Northern California ridiculously close to the ground and at speeds so high he is forced to make many turns inverted to avoid pulling Gs to deadly to withstand.
  Tom Smith

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

We used to do the same thing in P-3s.
Tim

rwnutjob said...

I almost sold Buicks in a T-34 over North GA in a T-34. "Hey Y'all, watch this"

jlw said...

only slightly off track:

http://www.duffelblog.com/2016/06/b-52s-on-tour-playing-classics/

Anonymous said...

This is a no shitter, we were cruising below the arctic ice cap and caught the Russkies shooting torpedoes at the whales! Well we went to Battlespeed and barrel rolled right into the path of them torpedoes before they could hurt the whales. We got a double secret medal for that from the Prez. Of course, we're not supposed to talk about that, but what the hey!

pdwalker said...

two thoughts

1 - it sure beats walking

2- he's got some great big brass ones.

Anonymous said...

Love the ride-along videos.
For the best video I've seen on a road track, check out Hans Stuck blasting a BMW M3 around the Nurburgring, all 13 miles and about 100 turns, averaging about 90 mph, hitting about 170 mph on straights, all the while passing lots of slower cars out for a Sunday drive.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=hans+stuck+nurburgring&view=detail&mid=84101292FCE5D10F41EA84101292FCE5D10F41EA&FORM=VIRE
Lt. Col. Gen. Tailgunner dick

Sonoboy said...

Tailgunner, my favorite 'ring video is several years old, but features one of their driving instructors rounding the course IN THE WET. Right on the hairy edge of adhesion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7E91r_iim0

Anonymous said...

I still say it's more impressive when it's an A6 Intruder at night in a rain squall with 18,000 lbs of hot death on board. But I'm overly dramatic. -Anymouse

Anonymous said...

Sonoboy - Right on the hairy edge of adhesion.
Have a link to that?
Stuck is too. Watch closely and you'll see the viewpoint snap in and out near instantaneously as Stuck corrects oversteer, and he must be lifting the inside front wheel as he runs over the course edge markers in many turns.
Also, watch the pic in pic and see how busy he is with the steering wheel.
I liked this vid particularly because the camera stayed put, looking through the windshield, keeping you on the course, and never snapped from one viewpoint to another as so many post MTV vids do.
Lt. Col. Gen. Tailgunner dick

Wabano said...

That look like pretty calm weather...The CF-104 was far superior for this to anything that ever flew due to the extreme wing loading...Lockheed Starfighters used to do that sort of thing over Germany at 50 feet AT NIGHT supersonic and 0/0 weather in high winds and the thing stayed rock steady, unlike a F-16 or 15 or 18(like here)that would bounce all over the place.
One time the wing man hit a radio tower guy wire 8 inches across and sectioned it, causing a foot and a half gash in the wing...he still manage to fly home to Rammstein...(The wing was made of concrete and steel honeycomb, with a razor sharp edge...) Cost 80 million $ to the Canadian Air Force to replace the collapsed tower...several billions in today's $

Unknown said...

Regarding Tailgunner Dick's comment about a video of Hans Stuck on the Nurburgring, when I was a teen I had a vinyl LP of Karl Kling driving a W196 on the Nurburgring. No visuals, just audio, and it was still thrilling.

Unknown said...

P.S. I meant to add that the engine sounded at times like scratches on the record!

OregonGuy said...

Papa drove a P-38.

I understand that with all guns lit at tree level, it was a Come to Jesus Moment.

Uncle Sam's Misguided Children love some close air.
.

Anonymous said...

Sorry but, he ain't moving all that fast, 420 knots max, or that low, probably about 300 feet AGL and the only reason he is going inverted over ridges is so that he doesn't have to push over and experience a few negative G's - although he would probably be able to find that pesky pen he lost during pre-flight if he did ;>} If you're going REAL fast and low, you're not glancing back over your shoulder.

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