By Janis Mara – Looping, rolling and gliding between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, the Blue Angels will amaze and delight once again with their storied air show, the highlight of Fleet Week, this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Thousands of visitors and residents are expected to attend Fleet Week, which began Monday and runs through October 10.
The six F-18 Super Hornets in the Blue Angels air show and their daredevil pilots are the stars of the show, perhaps even more so this year, following the success of “Top Gun: Maverick.”
“We expect this year’s Fleet Week air show, starring the Blue Angels and a host of world-class performers, to be yet another amazing event and inspire a new generation to create a tradition of their very own,” said Jim Breen, chief executive of The Air Show Network, which produces the event.
It’s the only air show in the U.S. with a commercial airliner, the United 777, to perform a fully choreographed act, according to the organizers.
The 777 will doubtless put on a thrilling show, despite its rather conservative honorific. Some of the other aircraft in the air show sport sobriquets as colorful as the call signs in “Top Gun.”
Examples: the U.S. Navy Leap Frogs Parachute Team, the Red Bull Air Force and the Greg Colyer Ace Maker T-33 all will perform in the air show, along with others with less fanciful names but equally impressive moves.
Residents and visitors can watch Fleet Week goings-on from sites including Fisherman’s Wharf, the Embarcadero and Marina Green.
To get a taste of what the air show is like, organizers have posted a video on the event website at https://fleetweeksf.org/air-show/.
People may gasp, flinch, or even get dizzy watching — and that’s just on a laptop, desktop or phone; the real deal is one of the best shows in San Francisco. Details about the show and other Fleet Week activities are available on the website as well.
photo credit: Mass Communications Specialist 2nd Class Timothy Schumaker
I hope they do a flyover around Mt. Diablo.
Yes, please.
Can you imagine how far that sound would carry?
Don’t remember from the past…
Wondering if they will show up on Flightradar24 ??
I love the Blue Angels, the first time I heard and saw them I was at my dentist office on Union Square in a high rise, I think his office was on the 23rd or 30th floor, don’t remember, but I was sitting in the dentist chair when they flew by. Then when I got down on the street the were still flying around the City. Since then I have gone into the City to see them several times, that day they were just practicing, but it was still a thrill to see them. Then after that I went a few times with a girl friend and we would go to the Marina Green and watch them perform. Parking is a hassle, and I won’t go this year, but I’m glad I got to see them several times.
Back before everybody complained they would fly low through the city… I was on top of 140 New Montgomery one year and they were so low you felt like you could reach out and touch the planes – awesome!
Hi Janis, it’s always nice to see your writings on Claycord. A few years ago, my wife and I were on the beach in Pensacola and got to watch the Blue Angels practice. It was a thing of awe and beauty.
L.A.L. is right! Saw the show in SF once in the 90s; but wouldn’t go near there (or Oakland) now.😝
What a waste of taxpayer money. It costs hundreds of thousands for an hour display of these hot dogs. Put that money into the schools, or the police force, or just give us a rebate. No one is proud of the military anymore, look at the fiasco in Afghanistan. The military is more concerned with being woke and paying for sex change operations with more taxpayer money. The army is setting up dilation stations, again with your money.
America has become a parody of its former greatness.