The Blue Angels

[SoonerProphet]

Pretty cool when they are cruising right over your backyard. Been watching them practice since Thursday. Amazing stuff.

[NickelBack]

Last weekend I was at the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola NAS and we saw the Imax movie about them. Really awesome photography. Great stuff.

[BigRedJed]

I got to spend some time with their ground crew last year. Not knowing who they were, but knowing they were a bunch of active-duty guys having a good time, I bought them a few rounds. They ended up giving me passes to their VIP tent at Aerospace America. I hung there with the family of one of the pilots, a guy from Mustang. A few weeks after that the postman delivered an official-looking mailing tube to my office. It was a big official photograph (signed by the pilots) of them in flight. It was awesome.

[BigRedJed]

The guy from Mustang is LCDR David Varner. I think his call sign is Varmint, or something like that.

[Cam]

The guy from Mustang is LCDR David Varner. I think his call sign is Varmint, or something like that. No kiddin. I watched a show on them on INHD today. If I'm not mistaken, he had to leave the group because of a medical problem. He was number 3, right?

[VeeJay]

I got to spend some time with their ground crew last year. Not knowing who they were, but knowing they were a bunch of active-duty guys having a good time, I bought them a few rounds. They ended up giving me passes to their VIP tent at Aerospace America. I hung there with the family of one of the pilots, a guy from Mustang. A few weeks after that the postman delivered an official-looking mailing tube to my office. It was a big official photograph (signed by the pilots) of them in flight. It was awesome.

That is definitely awesome!

[BigRedJed]

No kiddin. I watched a show on them on INHD today. If I'm not mistaken, he had to leave the group because of a medical problem. He was number 3, right?Yep, according to the picture anyway.

[Cam]

Yep, according to the picture anyway. If I remember correctly, he had some sort of flu like virus that zapped his physical stamina for well over a month. It was also affecting his balance, so I'm not sure exactly what it was. They did all the physical tests and determined that he wasn't fit enough to physically handle the pounding the pilots take. He seemed to be a pretty cool guy. Was built like a brick house as well.

[BigRedJed]

Yeah, a guy with an equilibrium problem flying a multimillion dollar jet hundreds of miles per hour on an intersecting path with an identical jet, also flying hundreds of miles per hour, passing 10 feet or so apart, meeting a couple hundred feet above a tarmac packed with civilians, doesn't sound like a very good idea.

[Cam]

Yeah, a guy with an equilibrium problem flying a multimillion dollar jet hundreds of miles per hour on an intersecting path with an identical jet, also flying hundreds of miles per hour, passing 10 feet or so apart, meeting a couple hundred feet above a tarmac packed with civilians, doesn't sound like a very good idea. Yeah, no matter how you slice it that's not a good combination.

[StoopTroup]

The coolest thing I ever saw them do individually was watching them point the nose of the aircraft at about 80 degrees and tap the throttles like they were riding a slow wheelie across the runway...

I was between two hangers once when they did a fly over upside down over the top of the hangers...I didn't have any hearing protection on and it nearly forced me phsycally to the ground...lol

Man it was loud! :eek:

[jk the sooner fan]

i had planned to go out to NAS JRB yesterday or today to watch them, but got busy hunting for a house

they are alot of fun to watch. the AB in San Antonio does a Pearl Harbor re-enactment at the beginning of their air show, with simulated munitions and old airplanes....alot of fun to watch

[minimom]

David Varner "Varmint" is not from Mustang. He's from El Reno. Also, he's not the pilot who had to quit due to health problems. That was "Knuckles". I don't remember which plane he flew. "Varmint" flew #3 in '03 and #4 in '04.