Fly bys?

[Keyav8r]

We go to the Orange Beach/Gulf Shores, AL area several times (spring, summer and fall) every year.  The Pensacola Naval Air Station, home of the Blue Angels, is under 30 miles East.  On many trips we see one or more of the Angels flyby.  Occasionally we’ll see all six in formation, probably when they’re in a practice session or returning from an air show.  They also seem to enjoy making fast, low passes just offshore either solo or in pairs.

Pre-COVID the Blues posted their practice day schedule and you could go to the station and watch them.  Watching the ground crew and pilots pre-takeoff procedures is always interesting, but seeing all 6 of them takeoff and land in formation is mind-blowing!

I looked for photos on my phone but don’t have any.  We’ll be back down there next month and hopefully will see them again and get some pics.

Recently heard the Blues are transitioning to F/A-18E Super Hornets - bigger, faster, more maneuverable.  Fat Albert is getting an upgrade also.

[eaglescout526]

I found a pic of when the ospreys were doing fly bys at my parents. 
 

[MiNi Beast]

Looks like a frog skydiving 

[fiatslug87]

Today's sighting, E3 Sentry (AWACS).

And a zoomed in shot.

[MiNi Beast]

Nice.  

 

[FrankTheDog]

One of the first machining jobs I did I'm my career as a machinist was to make engine case parts for those planes in 1985.

[fiatslug87]

Came across this picture my wife took back in September 2012 when Space Shuttle Endeavour was sent to SoCal for final storage in the museum.

[rylee144]

Had five helicopters fly over yesterday. Pretty cool to see a large group of military might! America! 

[FrankTheDog]

I’d like to get a picture of the two C130’s that have buzzed  our shop a few times in the last year. Only hear them for about 3 seconds before they’re over us and another 3 before they are out of sight. can't be much more than a 1000’ over us.

[87MJTIM]

3 hours ago, rylee144 said:

Had five helicopters fly over yesterday. Pretty cool to see a large group of military might! America! 

I see similar formations over my house often. We are in the flight line of Camp #3. That’s Camp David for the rest of you. 

[MiNi Beast]

[watchamakalit]

Crappy pics but this was the second round of A10s today. 

[AeroNautical]

Ford Tri-Motor

[silvertwinkiehobo]

I'm on the Fullsizebronco.com forum, and one of the other members is an Air Force Sergeant that crew chiefs a C-17 out of Dover AFB. The thread of his exploits pics is several years old, several pages, and updated just last week. He's got some pretty darned cool pics of cargoes, other aircraft, places to (barely) fly in and out of.

As for me, I always look to the skies, but when I have a tater for a camera, all I get is specks in the sky. But where I live now, there's a USAF Aux field (Randolph Auxiliary Field, Seguin, TX) where occasionally, T-38 trainers will do landings, take-offs and 'touch & go' practice. One of these days I'll get up there, park off the highway near the flight path and watch the student pilots fark up occasionally...maybe get a decent pic.

[Keyav8r]

Coolest/eeriest sighting for me was years ago at the Pensacola NAS for the Blue Angels fall air show.  After we parked the truck and were walking to the exhibits, something made me look up as a B2 did a low flyover.  This was shortly after the Air Force made their existence public.  That batwing shape, light absorbing coating and the lack of noise as it approached was awe-inspiring and kind of creepy at the same time. 
Sorry, no pics.  Before cameras on cell phones.

[fiatslug87]

C-17s were flying low today, this one was landing.

[MiNi Beast]

Are you able to see those land at all? Those things are huge. 

[AeroNautical]

On 3/1/2022 at 12:40 AM, fiatslug87 said:

C-17s were flying low today, this one was landing.

Thats a C5, quite a bit bigger. You could fit a c17 fuselage inside of this thing its so big. 

[fiatslug87]

3 hours ago, PFCLeist said:

Thats a C5, quite a bit bigger. You could fit a c17 fuselage inside of this thing its so big. 

You’re right!! It was a quiz 

[Parei_doll_ia]

15 hours ago, PFCLeist said:

Thats a C5, quite a bit bigger. You could fit a c17 fuselage inside of this thing its so big. 

They're big, but not that big. You can fit an entire F-18 in there with the wings removed though. We had to do that in Guam after a bleed air system fire

[AeroNautical]

2 hours ago, keeponjeepinon said:

They're big, but not that big. You can fit an entire F-18 in there with the wings removed though. We had to do that in Guam after a bleed air system fire

Yeah, a bit exaggerated, we could fit 6 ah64 apaches in one, blades folded. 

[DirtyComanche]

 

Not really a flyby per se, but back when I worked on rappel stuff.

 

I normally don't bother to take pictures.  Too busy with my jerb.

 

C5s are cool.  We had one pull some ridiculous takeoff here recently and shake the crap out of the hangar.  Not sure why they stopped in, normally they don't, typically only helicopters and fighter jets stop here on the way to Alaska because of their poor range.

[gogmorgo]

I remember the first time seeing our wildfire guys doing sling training. The helicopter was doing real short laps with the longline but didn’t seem like it was carrying much, but I couldn’t make out what it was. Then the wind shifted and they started buzzing our shop on takeoff and I did one heck of a double take.

[MiNi Beast]

I wanna ride in a helicopter. 

 

Just chillen by the fire in between raking the yard. Had a couple single engine planes fly over. Great night.....to be outside anyways. 

[camjeep3]

View from the other end