Why isn't this guy looking in the pic? And you cant say nobody is looking up, most of the people have their back turned in the picture so, you can't see which way they are looking.
Also, when I was stationed in West Germany, we had a four buildings in a square called a quad. When fighter jets flew over, you could hear them over one building (say the north building), but you had to look over the south building to see it. Maybe, that is the case here?
Most of the people are looking in the direction of where the plane is flying. Having walked over that Bridge during Fleet Week I can tell you that a Blue Angel flying anywhere in the vicinity would draw quite a bit of attention even if it were miles away. There are no buildings to block the sound, either.
If you look at that picture you’ll notice that the Hornet has little condensation clouds forming on the fuselage. This is the start of a “Mach Diamond” that forms as the aircraft nears the speed of sound. So chances are the guy with his back turned is looking at something else, and the sound of the Hornet just hasn’t reached him yet.
The USAF Thunderbirds have a part of their routine called a Sneaky Pete. One Viper will fly low and slow in front of the crowd. When it passes crowd center a second will blow by at transsonic speed (just below the speed of sound) and make everyone’s heart jump into their throats. There’s a version of this where the second Viper approaches from behind the crowd too ...
I’ve actually seen, no, experienced, a Sneaky Pete performed by a B-1B. I’m pretty sure my insides were still rattling and vibrating 5 minutes later.