Incredible photo of an F-18 zooming through the Golden Gate bridge

sploid ^ | 10/13/14 | Rick Shelton

[do the dhue]

Rich Shelton loves airplanes and San Francisco, which shows in all his beautiful photos. He was able to take this incredible image of a Blue Angels' F/A-18 zooming through the Golden Gate bridge at Fleet Week in San Francisco.

[tanknetter]

I have a couple copies of the book. One is the Landmark soft cover edition I had as a kid, and is now too fragile (from just age and rereading) to open anymore. The other is a recent rerelease with the extra material supplied by Ellen Lawson, some of which contradicts the official story (a lot of the pilots knew the mission during training and long before getting to the Hornet. They, including Lawson, told their wives before leaving).

Also have the movie on VHS and DVD. B&W, not the Ted Turner colorized abomination. I sit down with my kids and make them watch it with me every April 18th.

[do the dhue]

I liked this photo too.

[ExpatGator]

Navy P3 pilots sure enough know how to land in a cross wind. Oh, and those same pilots who land on carriers also often land those same aircraft on land.

[do the dhue]

and this one:

[Moonman62]

I read Yeager’s books which were very good. He broke the rules a lot.

[GOYAKLA]

In 1953 my brother(Crew Chief, F86) was stationed at Greenville (AFB) when a pilot tried the same stunt, at night. It did not work.
http://www.johnweeks.com/river_mississippi/pages/lmiss06.html

Story was “he thought lights on bridge were on the bottom of bridge, they were on top “.

[Grammy]

Mr G’s cousin used to fly under the rim of the grand canyon. He had to quit because his commander was worried about power lines.

[1Old Pro]

What’s most impressive is the timing of the picture. Must have been measured in the milliseconds.

Could be a frame grab from video or auto shutter.

[ken5050]

Here ya go:

B-25 flies under the Bay Bridge

Sequence begins at the 3:45 mark

[BlueNgold]

Nice, and I used to take my big grey ship to the parade to watch all the people on the bridge...

[al_c]

I got to see the Blue Angels out there during Fleet Week in 1997. Most awesome experience ever. Those pilots are incredible!

[ken5050]

In 2009, two Navy pilots ( both Georgia tech grads), lost their wings for a flyover at Bobby Dowd Stadium when Tech played Wake Forest.

From my perspective, the pass over the Golden Gate seems a tad riskier.

Video here

[BlueNgold]

You realize, of course, that the vast majority landings made by most navy pilots are on normal runways attached to terra firma...

Sounds a lot like an AF or civ guy trying to take a dig at the navy guys with faulty logic.

[do the dhue]

I am sorry

[moehoward]

"...they are taught to land in to the wind only…"

"The rest of the time is spent flying from land bases."

Roger that. However most of the Navy pilots aren't trying to land a flying barn in a crosswind.

[do the dhue]

very cool. I have never seen them in action.

[BlueNgold]

There’s a difference between what a standard pilot in a regular hornet is allowed to do and what the Blues are allowed to do...

The training is different as are some of the control settings for the aircraft.

[ken5050]

I fully accept that, and I understand that the pass at the football game was probably too low....but aren’t all Navy pilots trained in low level flying?..

[Joe Boucher]

Use to live on Davis Island and watched the Phamtoms take off from McDill.
Would sail off the end of their runway.

[BenLurkin]

I’m surprised it didn’t cause a wreck.