Close Pass by F14
 

http://www.fuelslut.com/hosting/uploads/f18.jpg

Go get em Maverick!

Real Close!:eek:

i would assume that is photoshoped. i mean being that close to an airplane of speed over mach 1(?) would throw those guys off the deck. correct me if i am wrong.

"That shot off of the America is very widely used….most people seem to initially think it is either an edited photo, or a risky maneuver. What was it?

It's not risky at all with practice…it was my opening pass to a Tomcat tactical demonstration at sea. I started from the starboard rear quarter of the ship, at or slightly below flight deck level. Airspeed was at about 250 knots with the wings swept forward. I selected afterburner at about 1/2 mile behind and the aircraft accelerated to about 325-330 knots. As I approached the ship, I rolled into an 85 degree angle of bank and did a 2-3 g turn, finishing about 10- 20 degrees off of the ship's axis. It was a very dramatic and, in my opinion, a very cool way to start a carrier demo. The photo was taken by an Aviation Boson's Mate who worked the flight deck on the USS America. Just as an aside...the individual with his arms behind his back is Admiral Jay Johnson, the immediate past Chief of Naval Operations for the Navy."

mach1 is the speed of sound, you need permission to go that fast, theres no way he would be doing mach 1 that close to the ship and that low...

but yea...theyd get blow away form the plane IMO even if it wasnt going mach 1...

that aside....its a damn cool pic! :)

oops

So basically it is safe? Even at 250 and that close, i would assume someone would have been knocked on their asz! That is a neat pic!

Jonathon, notice the question mark. that means i have no idea what speed other than, "SCHIT your pants" speed. i dont know how fast the F14's go, but i know it is really fast.

i thought the "correct me if im wrong"meant you wanted to know...wasnt a shot at you or anything :)

im sure someone else can explain what happens there...i knew last year, but ive forgotten...its REALLY cool though..maybe thats just the physics major's pov...heh

you were correct. i didnt take it the wrong way, was just explaining myself, thats all. no harm done.

Sweet!!!!

New wallpaper for me:cool:

Haven't you guys ever seen the video of the f-16 going so fast right by the carrier deck it was spraying water up way behind it? That's a cool vid, I'll see if I still have it.
*EDIT* Nevermind, I just clicked on MustangII's photoshop link, that's one of the vids I was looking for... there are others too... I'll keep looking!

I'd guess thats a mach 1 or better pass. The pressure wave coming off the airplane compresses the air (high pressure) when the pressure releases (low pressure) the water vapor condenses ... same reason when the barometer drops rapidly (goes from high pressure to low pressure) it usually gets cloudy. There, you got a physics lecture and a weather lecture all in one :)
The weather part of it i'm sure about ... The fact that the vapor cloud around the airplane is the same process is just an assumption, so if its wrong, forget you read this :p

Here's the other one:

http://www.joe4speed.com/superflyby.mpeg

Ty97...

Unless you were the Tomcat driver who supposedly did this... I wouldn't take one ounce of truth from the quote above.

I served with VF-103 on the USS Saratoga for 2 cruises in the Med and during Desert Storm as an avionics tech (AT).
I am also licensed private pilot.

I can tell you without a doubt that the image is a photoshop job.

First of all, there's no way in hell the air boss is going to let a bird go that slow and that low right next to the boat doing a high angle of bank turn.... even during an acrobatic display....

First of all, look at the wings... they are fully swept forward.... which means the aircraft's airspeed is low (for a tomcat at least)....

Look at the right wing... the navigation light at the end of the wing cannot be seen because it is below the line of sight of the deck!!

For those of you who are not aware of general flight dynamics...
Throw in speeds 300 knots or slower and high angle of bank turn and you get a loss in altitude... Considering the tip of the wing is already below the deck, the next second of footage would be of the Tomcat cartwheeling taking out about a hundred flight deck crew.

If this photo was real... it would have meant the death of sailors and a crippled ship. In the real Navy, flight Ops are performed with only ONE thing in mind.... SAFETY.

Even during a demo.... an aircraft will not be allowed to perform unsafe maneuvers that close to the ship.

Unless someone can barf up a naval officer... I call BS...

:rolleyes:

Careful Joe, F16 is an Air Force jet. The Navy guys will have your liver with some fava beans and a nice glass of chianti for saying something like that !! lol

LOLOL
"uh, wait... wasn't she a great big fat person???"


Ahhh well, I don't know too much about jets and stuff, I just theink they're fascinating.. It's an f-14 i believe anyways, right??? :)

Yea, I've seen that one... Its cool...

But notice that its quite a bit farther away from either ship than the photoshop job before it.

Also notice the lack of any violent maneuvers....

BUT DAMN, Its STILL cool... ;)

Ok here is what's happening in the video clip. The F-14 is going super sonic ( you can see the shock waves at the rear of the jet as they slow down the clip) the rapid pressure changes of the shock wave causes the water vapor to condense and make the shock wave visible. Pretty damn cool clip. Never seen one on a scale like that. Mostly just small ones from water vapor in the air.