We took our family to elite entertainment last month (movie theater) and then a Michelin-starred restaurant (Cheesecake Factory). Total cost after the inflation that the government says doesn’t exist: $300, which includes AAA-estimated mileage rate for the 12-minute drive in an exclusive luxury vehicle (three-year-old Honda Odyssey EX-L).
What movie was worth $300? The Blue Angels documentary, now streaming for free on Amazon Prime.
The movie showed that the Blues go to the desert in El Centro, California for three months of pre-season “winter training”. That’s three months away from family who are back at the home base in Pensacola, Florida. There is no explanation for this move, though presumably it has to do with potential rain or low ceilings in Pensacola washing out training days and perhaps also more airspace being available in this forgotten corner of California.
Nerds will be cheered to learn that the Blues like to use multi-color BIC pens during briefing sessions. Medical nerds will be surprised to learn that the flight surgeon also plays the role of critic/judge during training. In other words, a person with no significant flying experience watches with binoculars and writes down everything that the pilots are doing wrong.
Perhaps reflecting Americans’ lack of interest in anything technical, the movie doesn’t bother explaining the weight at which the F/A-18 is operated, the airspeeds for the various maneuvers, or the flight control inputs that are required. We don’t get a tour of the cockpit and an explanation of the controls and instruments. We don’t see the maintenance people at work or learn what the need to do to keep the planes airworthy. Nor do we learn if they bring a spare plane! We’re told that there are 6 performers, but “Blue Angel #8” is shown with no explanation of what her role might be (the Navy says
“Events Coordinator”). We don’t find out what the demonstration pilots use for ground reference, especially important in the converging head-on maneuvers. We can guess that it is “keep right of the runway” for land-based air shows, but how do they do it when performing off a beach? (The Blue Angels web site has the explanation in a Support Manual; boats in fixed positions are used to create a “show line”.)
The movie failed to inspire our kids to want to become naval aviators. In fact, they were put off by the description of the hard work that was required, the blackouts in the centrifuge, the entire year mostly away from family, etc. Speaking of blackouts, the Blues don’t use the g-suits that Navy fighter pilots normally wear. They are bracing their arms on their legs and don’t want to risk suit inflation moving an aircraft out of formation enough to hit another aircraft. So they need to use muscles to push blood back up into their heads for demo maneuvers that are up to 7.5g. (No Auto GCAS on the F/A-18.) Speaking of muscles, the movie is a good reminder that everyone should take a job where he/she/ze/they is paid to work out at the gym. The Navy pilots look great compared to the same-age civilians in the movie!
Related (what the movie could have been in an ideal MIT Course 16 world; the F/A-18 is also a fly-by-wire aircraft):
I’ve watched the Blue Angels every year in San Francisco since the 1990s. Huge fan of their shows.
This movie was really informative and particularly impressive in IMAX. I took my 11 year old, who was exposed to some folks who work really hard and are best at what they do.
Recommended.
Wonder how that compared to Blue Angels A year in the life from 2006. Hard to believe they use the same equipment & fly the same pattern, 20 years later, as one who witnessed the progress of the 80’s. The 2006 movie was sort of interesting because it was the 1st documentary in HD. Us blog commenters have to settle for 4K in a $2500 apartment for the elite entertainment.
New equipment – they fly the Super Hornet since 2021
I watched it on Amazon. I was expecting it to cover the stuff that Philip listed. I was disappointed. Everything they covered in this “documentary” was common sense, nothing new to learn. That said, I was shocked to learn that the diamond formation that they fly, they get 18in apart (I think I heard them say 7in in the documentary is the prefect “diamond”?). That’s super close at such a high speed. Have they been lucky all this time or is air turbulence or other risk factors are not possible at altitude and speed they are flying?
https://fighterjetsworld.com/air/blue-angels-crash-videos-list-of-blue-angels-accidents/4911/
I met an air force flight surgeon once and he told me that they have to fly with their pilots all the time. Apparently this is done as an institutional safeguard against a “Oh these guys are fine…” rubber-stamp mentality that had existed at one point. I imagine that being the doctor for a bunch of very fit 20-30 something college graduates who are forced to abstain from drugs and (when working) alcohol is probably otherwise super-boring. Also: the Blue Angel pilots also look better than most because looking good is part of the selection criteria. On top of being excellent pilots, they’re also supposed to be Disney-character-style “faces” charming or impressing the young civilians.
Thanks for posting the F-22 video! Love watching those guys almost every day… Great presentation.
“Dr” Phil:
I also watched the Blue Angels movie. I immediately recognized #1 as I flew with him a couple of decades ago.
Stephen Hawking once said every formula in a book reduces the readership by 50%. I bet the same is true for technical specifications of fighter jets in a movie. “an explanation of the instruments”…?
“We don’t see the maintenance people at work or learn what the need to do to keep the planes airworthy.”
Perhaps this is for the best nowadays?