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Blues Video
- Thread starter HAL Pilot
- Start date
phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
Good link HAL, but on the list of others they have the original. Reminds me of a younger day
. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GjPEBunlstQ&feature=related
How close has anyone actually been to a Blue Angel? We had Angel 7 on our test line at NADEP in 06 because it ingested a bird during the Miramar fly in and our guys had to replace the left intake cowling. I was surprised how crappy the plane looked up close, in terms of the paint job. You always see the planes from a distance and imagine them to be flawless, their not. I was actually very close to riding in the back seat of it for one of its FCF's before we delivered it back to P-Cola. Unfortunately, I was unable to schedule an ejection seat class in time, Miramar was booked for two weeks. Oh well, maybe I'll get a shot at flying one.
At OCS, our class adj. was a prior AZ2 for the blues, so she "got us into" the flight line to tour the offices and look at the birds up close, and then we got to sit in some bleachers on the line and watch the blues practice. It was rather awesome, and we got to meet the blues and take a picture with them as a class. Good times.
Agreed on the birds. You have to realize that they are some of (if not THE) oldest hornets flying in the US Navy. Some of the ones we saw were leaking fuel/other fluids and flaking paint jobs. But they always look pretty in the delta formation.
phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
We had two aircraft in my squadron when I was enlisted that we got from the Blues. Ass-load of hours on the airframes, but in decent shape. So, I would say they're not THE oldest... They go somewhere after the Blues, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's similar to HMX-1, and that they have no issues with parts, etc...
I don't think the navy has much need for Alphas anymore, considering Charlies are being phased out...
MasterBates
Well-Known Member
We were actually talking about this at the club on Friday, and the couple senior Hornet bubbas seemed to be of the opinion that anything the blues fly now is essentially "stricken" after they get them, since there are some mods they do that are not easily un-done, although things like the artificial feel springs and FCS Proms can be changed pretty easily.
^^^Not to mention the constant stresses that they endure that the average hornet doesn't day in and day out. Those airframes should not be passed around after that type of treatment IMO.
My understanding is that the Hornet fleet is suffering more due to airframes that are "trapped out," rather than normal FLE issues. My guess is that the Blues' jets aren't getting any more fatigue life hits than fleet jets.
Brett
I just did some research and was surprised at how many Alphas are still in use, but then again I couldn't find a date of that publication. They have to be on their last leg. Also, it would be interesting to see maintenance reports of the average operational Alpha squadrons vs. Blues. Though I have no evidence of this, logically it would seem that the Blues would see more stress related problems than the average squadron. I mean with 68 actual performances a year, not to mention countless practices in between...But I don't know..
MasterBates
Well-Known Member
I guess this is a problem when we keep the same front line aircraft for 25+ years now.