Blue Angels on flight aware?

Nathan Miller

Nathan Miller

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Nathan
Did a quick search of the forums and a quick google (and search on flightaware.com). Apologies if there are 50 prior threads and my search terms didn't point them out.

The Blue Angels are flying over Baltimore and DC today. I'll be in Fairfax and I see they're scheduled to fly over at 11:55, but I'm just wondering if there is a way to see their real time location to know if I need to run outside or if I've missed em.
 
Keep in mind, as well, that Flight Aware is delayed a little, so if you depend on it to tell you when to look, you've missed it.
 
I didn't get as nice/close a shot as Nathan did, but it was fun watching them over Atlanta today. We had a good time watching them from our rooftop. So did many of our neighbors.

Both Groups Close_m.jpg Both Groups and Solo Close_m.jpg

Blue Angels Turn_m.jpg Both Groups Smoke and Solo_m.jpg

Both Over Atlanta1_m.jpg Both Over Atlanta2_m.jpg
 

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I was flying back to KRYY through Dobbins airspace (yes, I asked for and got permission). Halfway through Dobbins came back and asked me to turn due North - seems the Blue Angles and Thunderbirds were flying over a little quicker than the tower reckoned the tiger I was in would clear the space. All good - I turned due North, then due West for KRYY. Got down, on the taxi way, and then they came flying over the airport in formation from the north. Opened the canopy and got a great view. (Before leaving Dobbins, I offered to join them if they needed an extra plane. Tower laughed - "Think you could keep up?"
 
From the NYC flyover:

IMG_4810.jpg
 
are the angles flying their old hornets or the new supers now? I can't tell from that angle....

and I'm a little surprised they don't do a joint formation instead of two separate diamonds
 
I checked the Blue Angels website FAQ today, and it looks like their current rides are modified old F/A-18s they've been flying since 1986:
32 | What are the major differences between the fleet model and the Blue Angel F/A-18?

The Blue Angel F/A-18s have the nose cannon removed, a smoke-oil tank installed and a spring installed on the stick which applies pressure for better formation and inverted flying. Otherwise, the aircraft that the squadron flies are the same as those in the fleet. Each Blue Angel aircraft is capable of being returned to combat duty aboard an aircraft carrier within 72 hours.

Since 1946, there have been eight types of aircraft:
  1. Grumman F6F Hellcat, June-August 1946
  2. Grumman F8F Bearcat, August 1946-1949
  3. Grumman F9F-2 Panther (first jet), 1949-June 1950 and Grumman F9F-5 Panther 1951-Winter 1954/55
  4. Grumman F9F-8 Cougar, Winter 1954-55-mid-season 1957
  5. Grumman F11F-1 Tiger (first supersonic jet), mid-season 1957-1969
  6. McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom II, 1969-December 1974
  7. McDonnell Douglas A-4F Skyhawk II, December 1974-November 1986
  8. Boeing F/A-18 Hornet, November 1986-Present
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Wikipedia said:
Flight Demonstration squadrons
U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron / Blue Angels (will eventually operate F/A-18E/F) To begin transition to F/A-18E/F in Q2 FY2021
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What are the pods on each wing? Smoke generators ?
 
WDD said:
What are the pods on each wing? Smoke generators ?
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Apparently they're part of the wing structure on the F-16 used to rack AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. In cutaway drawings of the F-16 they're called "missile launcher."
They have the same appearance on the F/A-18s, so I assume they have a similar function.
 
Brad W said:
are the angles flying their old hornets or the new supers now? I can't tell from that angle....

and I'm a little surprised they don't do a joint formation instead of two separate diamonds
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Next year is projected for the Super Hornet.
 
Ah. I just assumed if they were the missile rails they could have been removed - so they had to be something else. Sounds like they’re a permanent part of the wing.
 
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WDD said:
Ah. I just assumed if they were the missile racks they could have been removed - so they has to be something else. Sounds like they’re a permanent part of the wing.
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B78FA91C-6172-4CD5-A854-AC47B7F6B5CA.jpeg
Talking about the wing tips? Missile rail.
 
WDD said:
Ah. I just assumed if they were the missile rails they could have been removed - so they has to be something else. Sounds like they’re a permanent part of the wing.
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Correct, they CAN be removed for maintenance purposes, but there is no flight clearance to fly without them.....ie the "airworthiness cert" if you will, requires those wingtip LAU's to be present. Fun fact, in the FA-18, you are actually slightly more fuel efficient in cruise with AIM-9's mounted on the wingtip launchers than without. We flew our F-16's with either empty wingtips, one AIM-9, or 9M and a TCTS pod, but the USAF birds generally fly with AIM-120's out there due to other ordnance occupying the wing stations, and I'm told some sort of "flutter" mode inherent with loading up the wings that exists if 120's aren't on the wingtip rails.
 
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Velocity173 said:
Yeah and probably running “military flight bag” ForeFlight on his iPad. Pretty common these days, whether it be issued or privately purchased.
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There was a video taken from one of the KC-10's that flew in support of this mission, and they had a Stratus as well.
 
I notice that there is always one F 16 flying not in tight formation but a bit on the right side and a little back. A spotter perhaps ?
 
WDD said:
I notice that there is always one F 16 flying not in tight formation but a bit on the right side and a little back. A spotter perhaps ?
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Photo plane. It is a "new" airframe for the thunderbirds that has not been painted in their livery yet.
 
Didn’t know that. 2 seater - photo guy in back I suppose ?
 
I thought this flight aware track was from Blue Angel 1.
michigan-flight.jpg
 
35 AoA said:
...I'm told some sort of "flutter" mode inherent with loading up the wings that exists if 120's aren't on the wingtip rails.
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Fun fact: There's also a sorta-flutter-supression "active oscillation control" on legacy Hornets with AIM-9's on the tips and "heavy" stores on the wings. I don't know if that made it into E-G's or not. There are a couple of subtle benefits with AIM-9's on the tips due to an 'endplate' effect sort of like a small winglet.

Nauga,
and vortical integration
 
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Brad W said:
are the angles flying their old hornets or the new supers now? I can't tell from that angle....

and I'm a little surprised they don't do a joint formation instead of two separate diamonds
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Still rocking the legacy models. They start the switch to Supers next year.
 
35 AoA said:
Correct, they CAN be removed for maintenance purposes, but there is no flight clearance to fly without them.....ie the "airworthiness cert" if you will, requires those wingtip LAU's to be present. Fun fact, in the FA-18, you are actually slightly more fuel efficient in cruise with AIM-9's mounted on the wingtip launchers than without. We flew our F-16's with either empty wingtips, one AIM-9, or 9M and a TCTS pod, but the USAF birds generally fly with AIM-120's out there due to other ordnance occupying the wing stations, and I'm told some sort of "flutter" mode inherent with loading up the wings that exists if 120's aren't on the wingtip rails.
Click to expand...
Yep, what he said!
 
Will Kumley said:
They start the switch to Supers next year.
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I heard from a little birdie that is getting delayed another year (i.e. 2022). Not sure if true, kinda sorta rumor mill still, but man.....time to get them some new jalopies if true (or anyway).
 
nauga said:
Fun fact: There's also a sorta-flutter-supression "active oscillation control" on legacy Hornets with AIM-9's on the tips and "heavy" stores on the wings. I don't know if that made it into E-G's or not. There are a couple of subtle benefits with AIM-9's on the tips due to an 'endplate' effect sort of like a small winglet.

Nauga,
and vortical integration
Click to expand...

Yeah I remember that about the chuck. I'd have to dig into the big book to see if its a thing for rhino/growler, but I imagine it is. One of those neat howyadoins that is transparent to us ignorant non-test folk :) But I'm sure someone put a lot of hard work into it, and to their credit, I never had any problems with heavy wing stores and speed or turbulence. Well, I should say we did have problems with heavy wing stores that we didn't drop, trying to come back to mom, but I digress.......not the engineers fault
 
35 AoA said:
I heard from a little birdie that is getting delayed another year (i.e. 2022). Not sure if true, kinda sorta rumor mill still, but man.....time to get them some new jalopies if true (or anyway).
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Even when they switch to Supers, they'll get the bottom of the barrell. High time aircraft that have been in the training pipeline for some time. They don't use new aircraft as the blues can beat them up pretty bad and its better to kills a high time airframe than one that can be used for combat missions. When I was at 106 3 years we were already identifying which Supers would go to the Blues first.
 
35 AoA said:
Yeah I remember that about the chuck. I'd have to dig into the big book to see if its a thing for rhino/growler, but I imagine it is. One of those neat howyadoins that is transparent to us ignorant non-test folk :) But I'm sure someone put a lot of hard work into it, and to their credit, I never had any problems with heavy wing stores and speed or turbulence. Well, I should say we did have problems with heavy wing stores that we didn't drop, trying to come back to mom, but I digress.......not the engineers fault
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Supers/Rhinos also require the wingtip pylons installed for flight. Got plenty of questions about it when I was leading the Rhino demo team a few years ago. Actually, the Thunderbird maintenance crew asked more questions about it than the civilians did. The thunderbirds were also jealous we didn't need to truck out a ladder for the pilots to use. I always told them if they could figure out how to get in the plane and start it up I'd let them sit at idle. I never had any of them even figure out how to drop the ladder. :)
 
Will Kumley said:
Supers/Rhinos also require the wingtip pylons installed for flight. Got plenty of questions about it when I was leading the Rhino demo team a few years ago. Actually, the Thunderbird maintenance crew asked more questions about it than the civilians did. The thunderbirds were also jealous we didn't need to truck out a ladder for the pilots to use. I always told them if they could figure out how to get in the plane and start it up I'd let them sit at idle. I never had any of them even figure out how to drop the ladder. :)
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Sorry, meant I couldn't remember if the FCS "auto oscillation control" from the A-D is also resident in the E/F/G. Cursory search of NATOPS big book says it isn't a thing, but I imagine it probably still exists.

Yeah haha the ladder is nice. That being said, when I transitioned from A-D to E/F, I was mildly disappointed to see that the ladder was only semi-automatic.....still have to attach/release the brace fitting as you know. Not sure what that new capability added, other than being able to now stand at the canopy switch panel and drop the ladder on some unsuspecting person's head :)

You'd know more about the jet flow to the blues than me, but I was also assuming they would be eating up a lot of low lot jets, maybe even some LRIP. Nice thing about those is from the pilot perspective, it's basically a chuck with a lot more gas. We got some of the same leftovers out in Fallon/NSAWC, though we did have a couple APG-79/high lot rhinos that ended up going to the fleet after I left, to fill gaps that the Legacy shutdown created.
 
35 AoA said:
Sorry, meant I couldn't remember if the FCS "auto oscillation control" from the A-D is also resident in the E/F/G. Cursory search of NATOPS big book says it isn't a thing, but I imagine it probably still exists.

Yeah haha the ladder is nice. That being said, when I transitioned from A-D to E/F, I was mildly disappointed to see that the ladder was only semi-automatic.....still have to attach/release the brace fitting as you know. Not sure what that new capability added, other than being able to now stand at the canopy switch panel and drop the ladder on some unsuspecting person's head :)

You'd know more about the jet flow to the blues than me, but I was also assuming they would be eating up a lot of low lot jets, maybe even some LRIP. Nice thing about those is from the pilot perspective, it's basically a chuck with a lot more gas. We got some of the same leftovers out in Fallon/NSAWC, though we did have a couple APG-79/high lot rhinos that ended up going to the fleet after I left, to fill gaps that the Legacy shutdown created.
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Oh god no, please don’t drop the ladder with the switch. Maybe it was because we were at a training command but pressing the button usually ended up with something broken in the latch lock.
 
Will Kumley said:
Oh god no, please don’t drop the ladder with the switch. Maybe it was because we were at a training command but pressing the button usually ended up with something broken in the latch lock.
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hah yeah, always seemed a little unnecessary to me. What you say kinda reminds me of the old wing fold mechanism in the legacy. So many memories of getting the old "hornet salute" behind the JBD when told to spread em, only to have the poor shooters get directed to shake it, then hop up there and pound until the beer can went down and locked.
 
It doesn't look like there have been TFRs popping up during the flyovers. Does anyone have an idea what (AGL) altitude they've been flying at? There's a good chunk of the Houston flyover tomorrow that's outside of the Bravo and real close to the airport I fly out of.
 
Will Kumley said:
Speak of the devil. Here ya go. A Rhino painted for the Blues.
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While I'm glad to see the Blues finally get some newer equipment, it will be sad to see the Legacy Hornets go. I understand their routine is getting quite a few modifications because the Super Hornets are bigger, heavier, and less maneuverable than the Legacy ones were. Probably not as bad as the Phantoms hopefully.
 
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