L-39's, Pair of Blues, Fat Albert

Flyjets1Flyjets1 Registered Users Posts: 225 Major grins
edited April 3, 2011 in Other Cool Shots
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Comments

  • chuckinsocalchuckinsocal Registered Users Posts: 932 Major grins
    edited April 2, 2011
    WOW :jawdrop ... #2 just blows me away ... I have no idea how they can do that without bumping into each other. Awesome photos!
    Chuck Cannova
    www.socalimages.com
    Artistically & Creatively Challenged
  • Rob PauzaRob Pauza Registered Users Posts: 119 Major grins
    edited April 3, 2011
    Nice job. Fat Albert is pretty incredible when it does the jet assisted take off. Number two is my favorite. The pilot in the plane below seems to be keeping a really close eye on the other plane. :)
    -Rob Pauza
    Rob Pauza Photography
  • drdoakdrdoak Registered Users Posts: 64 Big grins
    edited April 3, 2011
    I as admiring #2 there and then noticed the reflection of what I think is the airport on the top F/A-18's wing. Hard to judge from the ground for sure, but I wonder just how far off #6's starboard wing the upper jet is. Maybe overlapping wings? Either way, I really like that reflection!
    ...and the river flows through our souls...
    www.chrislindbergphotography.com
  • Flyjets1Flyjets1 Registered Users Posts: 225 Major grins
    edited April 3, 2011
    1. There is no overlap at all. These teams use what is called a "cheat" to give the illusion being closer then they really are.
    Yes, for a good many of their formations they are flying wingtip to wingtip with about 1-3 feet separation. But when they make passes like this the aircraft further away "stacks-up" that is, flies at a slightly higher altitude so that the "slant view" from the audience gives the appearance of the formation being closer then the normal few feet and, as in this photo, the illusion that one canopy is directly over another.

    2. Fat Albert is no longer doing the jet assisted takeoffs. They ran out of the JATO bottles about 2 seasons ago and there was no one manufacturing them any longer.

    Thanks to all for the very kind remarks.
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