October 9, 2008
They're Ba-aaack: Blue Angels Have Arrived
Can you hear them overhead? While they don't as close to the ground as they used to during practice flight, you can sill see them if you poke your head outside this afternoon. Beware of the impending psychological and physical harm to follow.
Also, if anyone knows of any hidden-gem-ish Fleet Week events, club nights, or parties, let us know? Thanks.
Images of Blue Angels over SF this afternoon: Jim Herd and desinole
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i saw (and heard) them. damn those blue angels with their noise. causin' me psychological and physical trauma.
May be the last time we see them for a while.
This Amerikkkan war chest thumping will surely cease not long after Obama is elected.
Those guys just flew over our building a few minutes ago and it sounds like a huge crash/boom!!! But I just figured it was our economy and kept on working.
me scared
May be the last time we see them for a while.
This Amerikkkan war chest thumping will surely cease not long after Obama is elected.
"will surely cease not long after Obama is elected."- don't hold your breath.
They kinda make me feel funny, like when I used to climb the rope in gym class.
I'm leaving town, suckers. Enjoy your shahkinah!
The American attempt to annoy us into complacency with their annual flying blue penis display will surely fail! I will not be strafed into submission by some hot shot navy pilot in an F/A 18 Hornet! He'll he have to drop trou and corner me in a well lit room before that'll ever happen!
This is the one week/weekend where Chris Daly looks sane.
Kinda makes me sick to sit here and read about the plummeting stock market and economy with the sound of (totally unnecessary and fiscally wasteful) war planes screaming overhead.....
They've been flying overhead all day but given the sound-delay, I miss them by the time I reach the closest window...
On an events note, there's always SF Mags Fall Fest 08 (Saturday) if you feel like dropping a hundo on some sweet wine and food snobbery...
oh, and can we all do our part here: http://www.pbs.org/now/polls/poll-435.html
ktksbai!
@ justjimi
Well in a way it helps because it brings people out to the water front and they spend money and it helps SF.
it also serves as an excellent recruiting device. this is like a job fair on campus. And we need young people to die in far away places, so....
(because y'all realize this is the tail, not the dog, right?)
Fleet Week in SF has been going on since 1981, and the Blue Angels have been doing demonstrations since 1946, so no, this type of thing isn't going anywhere.
And remember, the military is merely a tool. A very necessary, and very dangerous, tool. Just because it's been misused doesn't make it inherently evil.
I refuse to go the wharf. Experts say about 1,000,000 people will visit. Try escaping after the show, you might as well get wasted at a bar while waiting for the traffic to die.
My best tip, time the show right and ride the Golden Gate Sausalito ferry for the best views.
I think I'll just go to the beer bust at the Lone Star instead.
I'm still trying to figure out the point of the blue angels.
How much money goes towards funding this nonsense?
How much money is spent on fuel?
Somehow I think people might be happier with some free gas instead of some fancy planes flying overhead.
@angry_young_man, I'm with you on the cornering bit. Screw the planes, I'm looking forward to the pilots. ;)
ugh....here we go again.
@baldguy
Spot on. My nerves are shot thanks to this afternoon's maneuvers. I'm glad I'll be getting out of town this weekend.
that looks pretty expensive.
@Kristinester
The 1997 basic acquisition price of a single F/A-18 Hornet is approximately $28 million. The cost of additional weapons-related equipment varies according to the configuration and use of each aircraft can significantly increase the total price.
On the average, one F/A-18 uses approximately 8,000 pounds or 1,300 gallons of JP-5 jet fuel at a cost of roughly $1,378. (not including training thursday-sat per plane)
Lets Say 5 planes.
Total gas price 20,670 for the three days
Plus Plane cost: 140 million (in operation since for 22 years) so a real cost today of around 17,543 per day for the 5 planes. so an estimated
38,213 dollars for the air show. Of course this isnt done with the inflation cost or the actual purchase price of the specific planes.
http://www.navy.com/about/navylife/onduty/blueangels/faq/#showsite
DJBurrito - you should triple your JP-5 figure as the price the navy is using is WAY out of date.
I swear these mother fuckers almost blew my windows out when they flew by once earlier.
The Navy realizes that by doing this airshow, giving tours of the ships, and having sailors and marines wear their spiffy uniforms, they can recoup their expenses in recruiting people.
"Hey kids, look how cool it is to swab the deck!"
Only thing I ever liked about Chris Daly was his attempt to get rid of these obnoxious mother effers.
My dog hates them.
Half my office was up on the roof watching them zoom around. Waste of money, military propaganda, whatever. Jets are fucking cool.
I wonder how many vets with PTSD are freaking out today because of the blue angels flying overhead?
I believe the Blue Angels were a bay area invention...or rather the dude that came up with them was from the bay. Still... it is a big waste of money.
Enjoy it while you can. The country is so bankrupt we'll be watching the Chinese Navy flying over SF next year. Are they called the Red Dragons? I hope so, I hope so.
i was curious about this so i poked around on the web, according to the army times jp-5 was like $3 a gallon in may. so $3900 per show. times five planes and four flights is around 300k. factor in all the maintenance and personnel costs, extras like fuel travelling to this location, and i'm sure it is a few million bucks at least for the weekend.
but that's chump change compared to their recruiting budget. a 30 second ad on monday night football costs more than the entire fuel for the airshow.
while i agree that technically any superfluous fuel usage could be considered wasteful, it is just a tiny percentage of the 190 million gallons used on average every day in the usa. once the chinese navy arrives and rationing kicks in that will have to change of course..
If we're going to spend $billions on the military, I think the least they can do is give me some cool stunt planes to watch.
I love Chris Daly, such a sensationalist. Anyway, knuckle up, it's the best week of the year to get in a bar fight!