Thursday, July 10, 2008

Blue Angels practice

I had a great time at the Blue Angels practice this afternoon. Thanks to my friend, Lila Cox, who encouraged me to come down and watch from Casino Beach for the first time, I got some very nice shots. You may click on any of the photos to enlarge them and see more detail.


Fat Albert comes in over the Coast Guard boat.


Fat Albert is extremely impressive as he flies low over the crowd. Difficult to believe something this big cruises at 360 mph (320 knots).


Looking up at Fat Albert's 'belly', I can see where they got the name. He's massive.


Look how close the Boeing F/A-18 Hornets fly to each other during maneuvers. Check out the Blue Angels website to learn more about these jets and the officers of the team.


Four Blue Angels look like they've been lined up with a straight edge.


You can almost see the pilots in their cockpits as they pass over in diamond formation.


Whoa, look at the burners!


Two Blue Angels come over the crowd from the north.


Tip to tail.


Girls love diamonds and we especially appreciate it when they're offered by the Blue Angels.


Think this nice man would scoot over and let me share his shade? By the way, he is a very smart man. The first thing he did after sitting down was to cover his feet with sunscreen.


Awesome! I barely have time to capture them with my camera!


Blowin' smoke!


A Blue Angel streaks over the Hilton to rejoin the team. Those staying at the Hilton had some of the best seats on the island to watch the Blue Angels perform.


The beautiful fleur-de-lis formation.


A dramatic way to close the practice today.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I will never forget seeing the Blue Angels practice over our house when we lived in P'cola. The first time they flew over our home, I thought I was being bombed and I literally hit the floor. The Blue Angels were recently here in Nashville and I was lucky enough to have them once again fly over my house during practice. How wonderful and amazing they are.

Barrier Island Girl said...

Pat, thanks for the comment. I didn't realize the Blue Angels were in Nashville recently. Before my husband and I moved to PB we lived in Hendersonville, TN - a suburb of Nashville.

I completely understand what you meant by hitting the floor when they flew over, surprising you. I was somewhat prepared today for that "sneak attack' one of the Angels does during the performance. Even so, most of us jumped a foot off the sand when he came in low from behind us.

They are amazing indeed. It's a great weekend. Hopefully tomorrow I'll bike down to Casino Beach and get some shots of the other acts before the Blue Angels.

DJ

Seadog said...

Great photos Barrierislandgirl !!

My wife and I were staying at the (now gone) Holiday Inn Hotel right
next to Five Flags Inn (savefiveflagsinn.com) in July years ago and knew nothing about the blue angels. In the morning after being out late the prior night we were buzzed by the angels practice and jump to the floor !!! Could not figure what the heck that was !!! Luckly we were staying thru Saturday and caught the GREATEST AIR SHOW around.

Seadog

Barrier Island Girl said...

That's a hoot, 'dog! Bet your hearts were racin' for a while after that unexpected awakening. :-)

Great story.