“G” May with the “Blew” Angels
Happy Barksdale Air Show this weekend!
Thought you might want to revisit the famous Gerry May (my co-anchor) guest flight with the Blue Angels. It was three years ago this weekend that May climbed aboard a Navy F-18 Hornet, but not before mentioning to the crew that he had already flown with the Thunderbirds. Then, it was on!
May 8th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
i once made sweet monkey love to a fat chick who made me feel “five G’s”. and i passed out too!! didnt have to use the barf bag though.
i’ll be at the air show watching from my sons backyard. (he lives next to the base) grillin burgers and hotdawgs and duckin every time the BLUE ANGELS fly by….yeah there that low.
May 8th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
G May needed a g-suit. Lemme explain.
The Blue Angels weren’t too jazzed when I told them I’d flown before with the Air Force Thunderbirds. (They like to have first-timers so they’ll do a WOW story for them). When I told my safety instructor about my T-Bird flight, he said, “Oh yeah, the Thunderbirds, you had a g-suit, right?”
“Right,” I said.
“Well, we don’t wear a g-suit.”
At this point, I’m needing to wear new underwear.
You see, the g-suit is this magical garment that goes around your waist and legs, and automatically inflates when the jet plane roars through g-forces. This keeps the blood from rushing out of your head and knocking you out.
So my pilot was intent on showing me how the Blue Angels roll. And roll. And roll. And loop. And dive. And bank. And corkscrew.
Yup, it was a two-bagger.
May 8th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Ger, thanks for bringing us along for this!
The name “Blue Angels” came from one of the original team members when planning a show in NY in 1946. He came across the name of the city’s famous Blue Angel nightclub in the New Yorker Magazine. Maybe a few people had to use the bag there, as well.
May 8th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
…i once BLEW on the majic carpet ride at hamels park ….so i give props to g for even climbin in the plane…those guys are machines the airshow rocks!!!
May 8th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
F-18 and the G-Suit… and the reason they don’t wear it? The G-suit inflation/deflation interferes with the control set-up the Blue Angels fly… the F-16 has the control on the right side of the cockpit somewhat like in an armrest position and they get no interference. When choreographed the well trained pilots anticipate their moves and have worked to take their body to the “near” limit. If they could wear the G-suit “safely” they would and it wouldn’t be an option. The Blue Angels have a waiver to go without the G-suit.
Somewhat related to the Navy vs AF G-suit thing; Back in 89, my 2 year old son at the time and I were going into the squadron at Carswell when we heard an explosion and then smoke rising over the building… A 2 seater F-16 out of Luke was on a cross country and had stopped in at Navy FtWorth to work an exercise the next morning… the AF guy had dinner with his Marine pilot buddy & family. The next morning he took his marine buddy for a simulated strafing run over a reserve training exercise that was going on… they came in fast and low then pulled hard. The (Navy) G-suit that the marine was wearing was not the same as the Air Force G-suit and the result was an inflation of the thigh bladder pushing the stick full deflection forward and right… the jet snapped right and pulled into the ground. Who would have thought?
G, for you to not have passed out would have been a miracle! I do agree that the Blue Angels put on an incredible show and yes even though I am AF I like the Blue Angels better. My hats off to these guys for being able to sustain the G’s they do!
Yep, once again I got verbose… just kinda passionate bout this stuff.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Yes, Some AF Guy, it amazes me that those pilots can do those PRECISION maneuvers without g-suits.
Yeah, they explained that whole “it would interfere with the control stick” thing, as a feeling of dread began to sink in.
I’ve got to say, the Thunderbirds flight was much more enjoyable, and not just because of the g-suit. My pilot taught me how to make the plane roll and how to fly a loop, and actually let me have control of the stick to do it! What a blast!
My Blue Angel pilot just checked to make sure I was strapped in good
May 9th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Gerry…what a great story!
May 9th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
This is absolutely spectacular!!
May 9th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
instant face lift on take off