Embarresed myself today.

[Lear Wanna Be]

VMFA... stands for Fixed Wing Marine Fighter Attack if it were a Navy squadron it would just be VFA. VMFA-122's nickname is the "Crusaders", based at MCAS Beaufort, SC. Three of them did a fly-by at the race in Bristol. Perhaps you guys saw different guys that formed up to do the fly-by. They flew over Bristol about 1400 e.s.t.

 

[Thedude]

Dude, we are pilots....we live for that kinda stuff.

I miss the days coming out of IAH , empty in a 727. Tower would give us a lvl off at 1500' and accelerate to maximum foward before climbling...sweet it was.

 

[mcjohn]

AVL's took off around 1600Z. 11:00 am at Asheville

 

[mcjohn]

There were a few times going in and out of KMMH at night... alone... during a storm when I wanted to cry.

Is that the same?

Mammoth Yosemite Airport huh? Why does my wife insist that we stay in the southeast??!! Little does she know that when I'm at work I'll be all over the friggin planet (shhhhh...) One day. Soon.

 

[mcjohn]

Ernest Hemmingway said it best, McJohn...

"You love a lot of things if you live around them. But there isn't any woman and there isn't any horse, not any before, nor any after, that is as lovely as a great airplane. And men who love them are faithful to them even though they leave them for others. A man has only one virginity to lose in airplanes, and if it is a lovely plane he loses it to, there is where his heart will forever be."​

I cried like a wee baby when I tried to read those words during my retirement from the Air Force.:blush: ​

So true....I used to get that feeling looking up at aircraft when I was less than 10 yrs old. I built every popular fighter jet model from tester kits all through middle school. Then in highschool it became very obvious to me that I was not "military material." I'm too insubordinate sometimes and sometimes I wish that I were not. Especially when I see what I saw today. Oh well, I'm 30 years old now.

 

[epic!]

They must have sent their F-18 pilots home b/c this thing was parked over night last night. I also saw it come in yesterday. They come in often but never stay. Funny that you mentioned seeing the same thing down near Charlotte. I think they had the weekend to see their families.

the pilot said he was in the reserves based somewhere in TX and was up here to visit family. and it was a VFA not a VFMA. really cool to see, i cant wait till i get to see the blue angels in april

 

[mcjohn]

Half the emotion is from the mind blowing performance and noise those things put out and the other half is me being green with envy!! Sometimes I think it may be worth it to have to put up with lots of B.S. to make to the PIC of a F-18 or similar.

So my theory was right? They were out saying hi to the family. I saw them on the ramp. The family that is.

 

[Lear Wanna Be]

Then it must have had a chevron with "AF" letters on the tail, and maybe a drop tank that said "Hunters". Probably looked like one of these... http://www.pbase.com/keith1959/vfa201_hunters

 

[mcjohn]

Then it must have had a chevron with "AF" letters on the tail, and maybe a drop tank that said "Hunters". Probably looked like one of these... http://www.pbase.com/keith1959/vfa201_hunters

It definetly had something like that painted on it. I can't believe that I never took the opportunity to go talk to the guy. I was so busy trying to get in gear with my lessons for the day that I had tunnel vision. Until that thing fired up the engines and took off!

 

[epic!]

Half the emotion is from the mind blowing performance and noise those things put out and the other half is me being green with envy!! Sometimes I think it may be worth it to have to put up with lots of B.S. to make to the PIC of a F-18 or similar.

So my theory was right? They were out saying hi to the family. I saw them on the ramp. The family that is.

i think so, this guy had his family out their as well. right before he tried to take off he had to shut down bc of some hydrolic problem, i didnt have time to see him fix it and take off, i would have loved to see it though. im sure i would have felt the same emotions