Flights of F-18's

[billymach4 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close billymach4]

Yeah Baby.

Sitting out here on my terrace a squadron of F-18's just peeled overhead! Must be for a Memorial day celebration. It is not often you see Military Jets fly over here in Northern Queens, NYC. Really Cool. No they were not the Blue Angels. I know what they look like. Saw them yesterday over Jones Beach!!!!

GO NAVY!

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

Yeah Baby.
...
GO NAVY!

I did!

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

A little over 20 years I was doing a project at NAS Lemoore near Hanford, CA. At the time, NAS Alameda was still operational, and was the homeport for the USS Abraham Lincoln. The squadrons for the Abraham Lincoln were based at NAS Lemoore.

To my good fortune, I happened to schedule one of my field visits for the day when the squadrons returned to the station after a tour of duty on the Abraham Lincoln. The Station was fully dressed for the squadrons return, yellow ribbons tied around everything on site, banners and signs out, unformed personnel in their dress uniforms. Even the civilians upgraded their attire.

To my further good fortune, I was working in the hangars when the squadron made it's arrived. I stood on the tarmac next to one of the runways as the squadron arrived in formation, swooped, dove, climbed, banked, turned, waggled wings, and everything. Much of it was directly overhead. At times when they swooped, dove, and went into a power climb no more than 100 yards away from me. As they climbed I had a direct view into the afterburners.

Previously I had done work at the old Western Airlines maintenance facility at LAX, which was located at the east end of the south runway. That's where the jets taking off on the south runway would turn onto the main runway, and and put the jets at full throttle for takeoff when given clearance. The Western Airlines facility was about 200 yards from the end of that runway. It's a pretty awesome experience to stand that close to a 747s when they put all four jets at maximum thrust.

But that wasn't nearly as impressive as those F/A-18 on a power climb. Even though the plane was about 1000 feet off the ground, the ground would shake, Remember, I'm standing on a tarmac in front of a hanger, which is a reinforced concrete slab, probably about at least 8-inches thick. As I was looking at the planes I knew what it meant when someone said the plane was pretty much nothing but a jet engine with some attached wings.

It was pretty spectacular.

[billymach4 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close billymach4]

They must have been going to the game at Shea. The Mets vs FL, I think the game started around 7pm!

[kbletzer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kbletzer]

I drive by NAS Oceana every day and I get to see these landing over my head on a daily basis. It is an awesome sight to behold! A sight and sound that I will never grow tired of!

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[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

What is the picture? Any details of what is happening?

[kbletzer Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kbletzer]

What is the picture? Any details of what is happening?

This is a photo of a FA-18 breaking the sound barrier.
When we have the air shows in September every year here at Oceana we actually can SEE this happening. It is awesome! The sound is deafening and one year some of the surrounding shops and homes had some broken windows (reported in the local news).

We all have bumper stickers on our cars that read "I love jet noise"!

It's kind of distracting when you are driving down Oceana Blvd or London Bridge Blvd and one of these is landing over your head and you are trying to drive but want to watch the awesome sight HEH HEH

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

So as the sound barrier is broke, the cloud forms? Way cool

I never heard that, but glad I know it now.

It is to fun being a nerd.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

So as the sound barrier is broke, the cloud forms? Way cool

I never heard that, but glad I know it now.

It is to fun being a nerd.

More nerdness. Goes along with finding humor in the chemical structure of Mercedes benzene.

I suspected the photo was of the plane breaking Mach 1, but I can't figure out why a cloud would form. The disc-shaped cloud is almost certainly produced in an adiabatic expansion around the plane. A sonic boom, of course, should develop, but a boom is an adiabatic compression. So what causes that cloud to form?

+++++

[edited to add]

I think I figured it out. The boundary layer of air around the plane is traveling at the same speed as the plane. When the plane crosses Mach 1, that boundary layer of air is now moving faster than the associated pressure wave, so the surrounding atmosphere cannot fill in the wake behind the airplane. The wake thus is filled by adiabatic expansion of whatever air is left in the wake. If this is correct, the outer edge of the disc probably closely defines the area around the plane at which the velocity of the boundary around the plane remains below Mach 1.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

This is a photo of a FA-18 breaking the sound barrier.

Chicago's television channel 2 has this identical photo on its web site. Their commentary:

This U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet is not breaking the sound barrier here. That white cloud is just water vapor, and appears when fighters fly over water.

[Joe L Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Joe L]

So cool Billy. I saw them too, from my backyard in Elmhurst.