A reporter's report riding with the Navy's Blue Angels!!

[Malaria_Kidd]

June 23, 2005

Never again.

Some people refer to the Blue Angels as birds in the sky. If they're birds, I'm a penguin. I'm an ostrich with two 80-pound dumbbells strapped to its legs.


I don't do well 10,000 feet off the ground, especially in a F/A-18 Hornet. I found that out Wednesday when I volunteered for a flight with the Blue Angels.

The twisting, the turning, the flipping, the dogfight maneuvers - in the end, it got me. My equilibrium became anything but equal. My sweat was cold. My facial expressions, I'm sure, were bleak.

I can take roller coaster spins. I can handle carnival flips. I can scale mountains. I can jump off a diving board.

Riding with the Blue Angels? I'm scratching that one off the board.

Never again.

I had no idea what to expect. The last reporter from the Courier & Press to ride with the Angels is no longer around. The only advice snotty co-workers offered was "Don't eat breakfast." I listened. In fact, I was so conscious about keeping food out of my mouth that I forgot to brush my teeth. I guess I was afraid I'd eat toothpaste.

At a briefing for the media Wednesday morning, an Blue Angel crew chief told us not to fly on an empty stomach. Eat healthy and drink lots of water, he said. I went home and ate a ham and cheese sandwich, raspberries and grapes, with lots of water.

Of the three media outlets who were invited, I went last. I arrived at Tri-State Aero at 2:30 p.m., wearing a gray T-shirt and jeans. I arrived in anonymity, but when I changed into the Navy blue flight suit, things changed.

Kids pointed, and their moms took pictures. Police, who were there to guard the Angels, acknowledged me with head nods. Suddenly, I was somebody important. At least I thought I was.

Finally, it was time. I climbed into the plane, and a crew chief strapped me into the cockpit. The hatch lowered. I grinned. Go time, baby. The pilot, a Texas native, made small chat. This will be fun, he assured me.

For the first 30 minutes, it was. The view was awesome. The insane speed rocked. The jolts tickled.

But then it got ugly. The G's hit me. I burped, a first sign of trouble. I nearly blacked out in a flip. Everything went dark. Strike two.

When the tricks were over, I reached for the airsick bag. Green vomit and tears fell inside. Strike three.

Never again.

I was ready to land. Before the hurl, I had visions of hopping out of the jet and beating my chest like a proud ape. When the time came, I wobbled down the side of the jet like a drunk duck who just lost a bar fight.

I've complained a lot, but I'm glad I did it. How many people get to ride with the Navy's elite? It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The greatest thrill of my life.

But would I go back up?

Never again
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To all pirates venturing here.

This report of his ride of a lifetime was so well written!!

MK

[Cpt Spike Mike]

This guy really wasn't prepared for his flight, and by that I mean physically as well as instructively. His physique wasn't at a level to endure this flight, as evident by his condition afterward.

When in the Army, I was gifted with the opportunity to take an incentive ride in an F-14. Getting airsick while riding is part physical and part mental. He was pumped at first, but then when he blacked out, that shook his confidence and it was all downhill. Had he been in better shape, an informed of a particular physical tightening technique, he could have rode it out & had a better ride.

When in a hard-G maneuver, pilots will perform an internal muscle tightening, similar to (and I'm sorry about this) taking a crap, only you try not to mess yourself. This helps to push the blood back upward into your brain, which avoids loss of consciousness.

Now, the Blue Angels fly a special mission. They don't use a G-suit, the airbag-like layer which presses your legs to help force the blood upward. (Special note: even pilots who use G-suits perform the strain technique) In the F/A-18 Hornet has a particular design in the cockpit; it's a tight fit, and the pilot's arm rests on his leg. When the G-suit inflates, it can cause a slight deviation in the joystick: one that could be a show-ender when four planes are flying with 6 feet of 4OO-knot air between the wingtips.

The awesome power of these planes cannot be interpreted to the non-experienced. First of all, these planes are huge; even the little F-16 has a ground-to-wing clearance of six feet. The F-14 weighs in at around 2O tons. These aren't Cessnas. When you roll the throttles to maximum the plane shudders, as the airframe is having a hard time dealing with the thrust. It's being held back by air, but the engines demand the acceleration. Hard-G maneuvers will hurt you, and I mean physical pain. Your eyes pull around in your sockets and you grip hard just to keep your arms from flying around the cockpit. You'll feel your internal organs shift and you're just this close to scared if it weren't for the ASS-KICKING VIEW! I promise you can see your house ffrom here, even if you're 4OO miles away! You're at altitudes of anywhere from 1O,OOO to 8O,OOO, depending on the maneuver. This is commercial airline territory.

The plane feels like it rides on rails in the sky as the engines whine softly in the back. You don't hear them as much as you feel them; unbridled, pure rocket power. The best part was the hammerhead stall. You get a good run of speed built up and then slwoly pull back on the stick until the plane is flying about 2-3 degrees short of vertical. Then slowly roll back the throttles until the forward (upward) speed diminishes to the point where the plane's weight takes over, and the bird settles backward. You're weighless for a moment, adn you feel your stomach want to stay up there as the plane backs up and starts to flip downward. There's nothing to see but blue sky, so the plane's nose-down rate is eye-opening when you finally see the earth roll up into view. Roll the throttles back up to get back in the thrust, and here comes that shudder again as you power into the screaming dive. It's all done in a matter of seconds really, and the written description takes about three times as long.

Yes, they are a mindblast of a ride, and when you get back to the ground you're physicaly shaken a bit, even if you didn;'t get sick. Maybe it's the realization of what you've just done, and how dangerous it can become in just a fraction of a heartbeat. Maybe it's because you realize these planes are designed to be air-superior in warfare, and they do it very well. Maybe it's becaue you realize it's the most thrilling experience you'll ever have and it's over. Or, just maybe, because you know you love to have that job, if you could. Yeah, I don't blame that reporter for getting sick: he had absolutely NO idea what he was in for.

San Fransisco Bay & the Golden Gate Bridge, as seen from the cockpit of an inverted Blue Angel.

[Malaria_Kidd]

Very informative Mike. He was green as a gourd before and after the PR flight. He is a good asset to that paper with such neat descriptions. I saw them perform once at age 14.

Now they fly low over our shop near the interstate spur as they spread their wings before the Evansville Freedom Festival and Thunder on the Ohio that's Sunday. Bring the USS Texas up river and join the retired Navy vets headed here with LST 325 in late August.

Both veteran ships won't get here for the hydro boat races, but our war sea horses may arrive at the same time.

I forgot to add the USS Texas may have to tie up at Cairo and wait for higher water.

WE ARE PROUD TO HAVE LST 325 docking at Evansville as it's permanent home,...away from home. It was built in Philly, PA.

God Bless Our Troops!

Got windy Mike, take care and good luck @ ORR.

MK