ulfinator From United States of America, joined Mar 2004, 311 posts, RR: 0 Posted (9 months 2 weeks 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 4703 times:
Just got back from taking my family to the shores of Lake Washington here in Seattle to watch the Blue Angels perform at Seafair. My three year old has been wanting to see them after I showed him the classic IMAX film "The Magic of Flight". He was a bit leery of the noise at first but seemed to enjoy it by the end. It was a bit on the warm side this year but still good to see the Blues.
I did notice a few things that were a bit odd this year that I was wondering if anyone else saw.
First it looked like Fat Albert tried to kick off his show too early I saw him coming in from the east and when he got to the shore he keeled over into what looked like a minimum radius turn right over the beach. I suppose it was because the Clay Lacy Lear was still exiting the airspace to the south. Can anybody confirm?
Second I saw one maneuver that seemed odd. Usually the diamond does a pass where the lead and slot are inverted while the right and left wing are still upright. However today only the lead was inverted leaving the wings and slot upright. Seemed a bit weird. Not sure if he has an issue or forgot or what.
charlib52 From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 164 posts, RR: 20 Reply 1, posted (9 months 2 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 4533 times:
Quoting ulfinator (Thread starter): Second I saw one maneuver that seemed odd. Usually the diamond does a pass where the lead and slot are inverted while the right and left wing are still upright. However today only the lead was inverted leaving the wings and slot upright. Seemed a bit weird. Not sure if he has an issue or forgot or what.
Yes, Blue Angel #8 on KIRO TV even said "Well today it's a single farvel instead of the double farvel" But provided no further elaboration. They've always done a double in the years past.
Anyways, no complaints! Great show as always. Just curious...
ebj1248650 From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 1932 posts, RR: 2 Reply 4, posted (9 months 1 week 3 days 1 hour ago) and read 4007 times:
Could it have something to do with the fuel pump system on the airplane that didn't go inverted? As I recall, the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds have modifications to their airplanes that allow them to fly inverted for longer than is normal. Or at least they have had on some of the airplanes they flew in the past.