11-04-2025
What it's like to sit passenger in a Blue Angel F/A-18 Super Hornet jet
BEAUFORT, S.C. (WSAV) The Beaufort MCAS Air Show is going to bring in thousands of viewers this weekend, but not many folks get to actually take to the skies. I got to witness a Blue Angel pilot perform the most incredible maneuvers in the air…all while sitting passenger in the flybridge.
It's the thrill of a lifetime. The sound of the jet engine roaring as you take off inside the 2-seater F/A-18 Super Hornet jet.
It's a level takeoff, keeping low and steady off the ground. The speed increases by the second, quickly transitioning into a straight shot up into the sky.
'We started off strong. Six G's right off the bat, pulling into the vertical to get airborne here from Beaufort,' said Maj. Scott Laux, USMC Blue Angel No. 7.
What you see on the way up is a 360-degree view of the clouds, eventually leveling out to a calmer view of Beaufort's waters.
As you take in the view, pilot Maj. Scott Laux radios into your ear, letting you know it's time to start testing the many maneuvers they perform in their aerial shows.
'We start off with a G awareness maneuver. So just a couple of light turns to one G's, three G's, four G's and then six G's to get our body warmed up to the G-forces,' said Maj. Laux.
Each maneuver reaches different speeds, and different perspectives.
After a few G awareness maneuvers, the first of many aerial tricks begin.
The first is a diamond roll. It's a 360-degree roll that's meant to look graceful, as Maj. Laux described it.
'We did it as a as a single ship,' said Maj. Laux. 'Think about trying to do that roll with three other aircraft around you. Pretty crazy.'
The next trick was a full circle loop. Imagine a roller coaster loop, but on a much larger scale.
'I put the smoke on, we did a loop and then flew right through our smoke trail down at the bottom again,' said Maj. Laux.
A minimum radius turn followed. The first of the really high G-force maneuvers.
'We started at 350 miles per hour and used full afterburner. It was a 7G turn to start out,' said Maj. Laux. 'Then we held four G's to five G's pretty much all the way around the turn, picked the nose up really aggressively at the end and showed you how quickly the F-18 can reposition its nose after the minimum radius turn.'
Much of the flight is looking at the ground, the sky, or both, all while flying at extremely high speeds. The Aileron Roll combined both.
'That was two rolls to the left and then one back to the right as fast as I could. I just took the took the stick and shoved it as hard as I could.' Maj. Laux referred to the maneuver as 'tennis shoes in a dryer'.
What followed was a 15 to 20 second inverted (upside down) flight at 450 miles an hour.
After the inverted flight was a zero G pushover.
'We put the aircraft in a 45 degree nose up attitude and then just pushed over it zero G's to kind of get that weightless sensation.' Laux comparing it to a similar feeling of going up into space.
Before the most intense G-force maneuver, Maj. Laux slowed the ship down to around 120 miles per hour. He said the jets are known to fly fast, but they can also fly at slower speeds.
'We basically cocked the aircraft up at about 25 degrees, nose up, but not climbing or descending, still flying straight ahead.'
After that, the final act approached. We got really low and really fast. Maj. Laux radioing in, reminding of the breathing and straining exercises needed to withstand the high intensity G-force.
'We went about 670 miles an hour probably, and that was 500 feet above the ground,' said Maj. Laux. 'Then I planted the stick in my lap. And for that one, we hit 7.5 G's, which is the most that the aircraft will give us. We pulled straight up on that one, and once we got pointed vertical, did a few Aileron Rolls in the vertical so we went from 500 feet to about 15,000 feet on that one.
In just a few seconds we hit our highest and hardest G maneuver of the day.
It was a 45-minute flight. After hitting all the maneuvers, we had time left to explore and have some fun on the beautiful sunny, and perfectly cloudy day.
'We did some cloud surfing and then we did a little flyby of the of the Watchtower down there at the Townsend bombing range.'
Now imagine all those maneuvers in the air with 5 other jets just feet apart. Pilot Maj. Laux said this is the reason they train and practice so hard, making sure they can put on an amazing show for folks all over the country.
'It's a lot of training. Some of it's very basic, you know, drink water, eat food, go to sleep, stuff like that. Take care of your body. But then a lot of it is technique as well,' said Maj. Laux. 'The more you do it like anything else, the better you get at it.'
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