Blue Angel almost hit the bridge

asdf

New Member
On Sunday during the air show I was just north of Solomon's Bridge on my jet ski. I saw one of the Blue Angels fly over the bridge headed North (away from the air show), he did a flip-turn-thing where he basically pushed down on the stick, flipped while looping down and came out of the turn right-side up, facing South (towards the bridge). He obviously had an "Oh Crap!!! Bridge!!!" moment and pulled back on the stick, going almost completely vertical. It looked like he missed the top of the bridge by maybe 20 feet.

Now, I know some other people saw this (at least 3 from what I can tell) and one confirmed that he missed the bridge by about 20 feet. Apparently it looked like he went between 2 of the poles with lights on them at the top of the bridge.

I'm curios if anybody else saw this? I'm pretty sure I was the only one on the water in the area at that time, but I'm wondering how freaky that was for the people on the bridge, and if there are any other guesses on how close he was to the bridge?

This probably wan't the right area to post this, but I didn't know where else to put it.
 
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unixpirate

Pitty Party
On Sunday during the air show I was just north of Solomon's Bridge on my jet ski. I saw one of the Blue Angels fly over the bridge headed North (away from the air show), he did a flip-turn-thing where he basically pushed down on the stick, flipped while looping down and came out of the turn right-side up, facing South (towards the bridge). He obviously had an "Oh Crap!!! Bridge!!!" moment and pulled back on the stick, going almost completely vertical. It looked like he missed the top of the bridge by maybe 20 feet.

Now, I know some other people saw this (at least 3 from what I can tell) and one confirmed that he missed the bridge by about 20 feet. Apparently it looked like he went between 2 of the poles with lights on them at the top of the bridge.

I'm curios if anybody else saw this? I'm pretty sure I was the only one on the water in the area at that time, but I'm wondering how freaky that was for the people on the bridge, and if there are any other guesses on how close he was to the bridge?

Ya think it might of been part of the show :shrug: if your :drama: is true.
 

asdf

New Member
Ya think it might of been part of the show :shrug: if your :drama: is true.

I don't think so. The bridge isn't really that close to the show, so I'm pretty sure the only people to see it were me and the people on the bridge. At first I thought that maybe he wasn't that close and that because he was headed towards me then flipped away from me that it was just an optical illusion. I was thinking he must have missed it by a lot more then it appeared to me because of the angle I had on it. I wasn't going to say anything about it, but my brother called me and told me that 3 people at his work were talking about the fact that one of the Blue Angels almost hit the bridge on Sunday. So I'm pretty sure that it was really close, I was just wondering if someone who saw it first hand (besides me) could confirm how close he got.
 

unixpirate

Pitty Party
I don't think so. The bridge isn't really that close to the show, so I'm pretty sure the only people to see it were me and the people on the bridge. At first I thought that maybe he wasn't that close and that because he was headed towards me then flipped away from me that it was just an optical illusion. I was thinking he must have missed it by a lot more then it appeared to me because of the angle I had on it. I wasn't going to say anything about it, but my brother called me and told me that 3 people at his work were talking about the fact that one of the Blue Angels almost hit the bridge on Sunday. So I'm pretty sure that it was really close, I was just wondering if someone who saw it first hand (besides me) could confirm how close he got.

I'll read it in the papers thank you. Night and drive safely! :cds:
 

RoseRed

American Beauty
PREMO Member
IMHO, if you were on a jet ski in the water your sight was off in comparison to the top of the bridge. A few years ago when they were last, I was cresting the bridge when one of them came down low, heading towards the base. No mistake there, but my daughter and niece thought it was a blast to get buzzed by the aircraft.
 

unixpirate

Pitty Party
IMHO, if you were on a jet ski in the water your sight was off in comparison to the top of the bridge. A few years ago when they were last, I was cresting the bridge when one of them came down low, heading towards the base. No mistake there, but my daughter and niece thought it was a blast to get buzzed by the aircraft.

exackry my dear!


The :drama:


I love the grammar! :smoochy:
 

I_am_that_girl

New Member
It had to have been part of the show!! I saw the same thing you did. I saw the plane do that same thing five or six times. Def did not almost crash!!!
 

LordStanley

I know nothing
On Sunday during the air show I was just north of Solomon's Bridge on my jet ski. I saw one of the Blue Angels fly over the bridge headed North (away from the air show), he did a flip-turn-thing where he basically pushed down on the stick, flipped while looping down and came out of the turn right-side up, facing South (towards the bridge). He obviously had an "Oh Crap!!! Bridge!!!" moment and pulled back on the stick, going almost completely vertical. It looked like he missed the top of the bridge by maybe 20 feet.

Now, I know some other people saw this (at least 3 from what I can tell) and one confirmed that he missed the bridge by about 20 feet. Apparently it looked like he went between 2 of the poles with lights on them at the top of the bridge.

I'm curios if anybody else saw this? I'm pretty sure I was the only one on the water in the area at that time, but I'm wondering how freaky that was for the people on the bridge, and if there are any other guesses on how close he was to the bridge?

This probably wan't the right area to post this, but I didn't know where else to put it.

yup... pilot error. he was supposed to fly under the bridge, but there was a sailboat in the way...
 

asdf

New Member
IMHO, if you were on a jet ski in the water your sight was off in comparison to the top of the bridge. A few years ago when they were last, I was cresting the bridge when one of them came down low, heading towards the base. No mistake there, but my daughter and niece thought it was a blast to get buzzed by the aircraft.

I agree 100% that my sight was off. I was at a bad angel. I wasn't going to even mention it to anybody because I assumed that it was an illusion caused by the fact that he was headed away from me, not across my view which would have given me a more accurate picture. When I saw it I thought he was going to try to go under the bridge then pulled up, but after it happened I thought about it and assumed that it was, in fact, an illusion. The only reason why I brought it up was that my brother told me that 3 people at his work were talking about one of them almost hitting the bridge. Because of that I'm currently under the assumption that other people saw the same thing and want to get another first hand account if there is one. If nobody can confirm it, I’ll be happy to assume it was an illusion (which again was my assumption until I was told about the other 3 people).
 

asdf

New Member
It had to have been part of the show!! I saw the same thing you did. I saw the plane do that same thing five or six times. Def did not almost crash!!!

That's fair enough. I was assuming that he messed up because of the way he turned and it was a huge mistake. Also, I wasn't sure if the bridge was visible from where the spectators are. If you saw the same thing more then once, then I’ll be happy to assume it was an illusion. Thanks.
 

unixpirate

Pitty Party
That's fair enough. I was assuming that he messed up because of the way he turned and it was a huge mistake. Also, I wasn't sure if the bridge was visible from where the spectators are. If you saw the same thing more then once, then I’ll be happy to assume it was an illusion. Thanks.

Damn I need another drink!
 

belvak

Happy Camper
That's fair enough. I was assuming that he messed up because of the way he turned and it was a huge mistake. Also, I wasn't sure if the bridge was visible from where the spectators are. If you saw the same thing more then once, then I’ll be happy to assume it was an illusion. Thanks.

I'd like to think that after all the years they've been doing this at PAX, they wanted to give the folks on the water something to look at, and it was deliberate. Sure sounds like a heart stopper for the fans, huh?

We used to live in Morningside (near Andrew's AFB) and whenever the Blue Angels flew there, they would always make a point to do a VERY LOW flyover over Morningside. We had several over our house where the pilot was waving at us. Also, they used the colored "smoke" coming out of the tail of the plane and we watched that drift down into our yard!!
 

TreeRat

Always a Good Target
On Sunday during the air show I was just north of Solomon's Bridge on my jet ski. I saw one of the Blue Angels fly over the bridge headed North (away from the air show), he did a flip-turn-thing where he basically pushed down on the stick, flipped while looping down and came out of the turn right-side up, facing South (towards the bridge). He obviously had an "Oh Crap!!! Bridge!!!" moment and pulled back on the stick, going almost completely vertical. It looked like he missed the top of the bridge by maybe 20 feet.


What is a flip turn thing?

When he pushed down on the stick, did he use both palms over top each other...or just one?

When he flipped, was it backward...or forward?


I flew under the that bridge once........




TR
 

jetmonkey

New Member
I had the front and back door open to get some fresh air and one flew through my house. He almost crashed into my end table.
 
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