Blue Skies and Blue Angels

I have to brag a little about my younger sister. I received an email from her yesterday with some pictures and I instantly became green with envy. SHe got to go up for a 45 minute flight in the backseat of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels F-18 jet.

Dana is the co-host of a Pensacola morning radio show on 98.7 FM Cat Country, so I assume this was her connection with this once in a lifetime event. I have been in the Navy for almost 19 years now and have never been able to even sit in one let alone go for a joy ride.

Here is the ride in her own words:

I experienced 7.5 g's and broke the sound barrier in an FA-18 Hornet. According to the screen we were at 700 knots at one time. We did about 5 air show and tactical maneuvers including the Diamond Roll and the Corkscrew maneuver where the jet flies straight up doing rolls creating a corkscrew with the smoke. It was unbelievable!

I made it through the whole 45 minute flight without having to utilize the barf bag and only blacked out one time while experiencing the max 7.5 g's.
The girl who went up from Fox news blacked out at least 4 times...so I win! :)

I've attached some photos of me preparing for the flight and I also have a video from the cockpit.