Blue Angels in Formation

The Navy's Blue Angels practice for air shows at their home base, Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida. I was on the walkway at the top of the Navy'...
Read more

The Navy's Blue Angels practice for air shows at their home base, Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida. I was on the walkway at the top of the Navy's lighthouse filming their practice. At times I was higher than they were since I was at about 190 feet above sea level across from the flight line where they do a lot of their fancy and death-defying maneuvers. The jets, F-18 Hornets, are often as close as 18 inches together, fly to altitudes as high as 15,000 feet and low as a few feet above the ground. Their speeds are as fast as 700 miles per hour which is a velocity approaching Mach 1. Often as I watched their wings actually overlapped! What a thrill and a half!

Read less