A good day to hear hard

Not unlike a loud Bruce Willis flick it was a very good day to be out by the waterfront and listen to some hard rock. As in the loud booms created by the flying fighter aircraft of the US Armed Forces as part of Fleet Week celebration. You cannot hear yourself speak as the display dazzles the million plus audience mere feet away from the screaming hardware overhead that costs millions.

So this being a fine autumn weekend a work colleague and I decided to check out the aerial acrobatics and air power display by the American and Canadian navies. This is an annual tradition here in San Francisco where for almost 30 odd years the armed forces and public get a chance to interface and learn and appreciate some of the challenges of and awesomeness of the American military.

The air show is the most watched and admired part of the entire three day long celebration. It varies each year in terms of overall hardware displayed but always ends with the grand finale of the Blue Angels squadron performing aerial feats with their F-A 18 Hornet aircraft. F-A designates a fighter and attack aircraft used by both the Navy and Marines in operation.

Here are some muted glimpses from the event.

CF 18 Hornet buzzing the Coit Tower - Fleet Week 2016
Top Speed 1120 mph

Most aircraft in the fighter category were ones capable of flying close to Mach 2.0 or twice the speed of sound although for demo purposes the max speeds were probably close to 500 mph (almost reaching Mach 1).

Pier 27 also a Cruise Ship Terminal was my base camp to take these pics

F 22 raptor showing off its after burners (the orange glow you see)

F22 show off over Coit Hill

I found the lighter training aircraft made by an obscure outfit near Prague equally entertaining during their displays - two teams performed - a local US team consisting of former Navy pilots and a French team sponsored by a Swiss watch maker.