Fleet Week in San Francisco

Holy smokes, right?

F/A-18 Hornets zooming in the sky and performing tricks!

Let me begin by saying, or writing, that San Francisco is my absolute favorite city. The cultural potpourri in this city is decadent. And when the metal birds rattle the skies and earth on a warm sunny day, the feeling is unlike any other you can think of.

Oct 10th to 12th was Fleet week. There’s a slew of exhibitors, performances and Navy goodies on display – everything you ever wanted to know about ships, boats, sailors – it is all for your taking. The icing on the 3 day festivity is the performance of Blue angels on two days. They fly for an hour each day and mark the end of the day. They draw the crowd from far and wide and hold the crowd for the day.

Blue angels are a bunch of 6 F/A-18 hornets that perform maneuvers as in mind-numbing tricks at jaw dropping speed and insane proximity. A 56 feet long plane with a wing area of 400 sq. feet flying at supersonic speeds is awesome by any measure but, there's more. These guys are doing knife formations, delta formations which require them to fly within inches (18” to be exact) of each other. Four blue angels usually fly in diamond formation and the other two perform more of knife formations.

An airplane of the class of Hornet when flies low and overhead makes you feel…like a kid. The excitement, the awe is indescribable. You have to see it, hear it, and feel it to understand the show that is put out in open skies for anyone and everyone to see.

Now, there’s a whole day of crop-dusters acrobats and competitions. But, as time draw close to 3 pm, the build-up from the day, the wait, the anticipation reaches fervent levels. A big blue angel transport plane cues in before the angels fly in. “They are here!” is a chant you hear as they fly in from the hills. They fly in together and fly out together. They fly over golden gate, they fly over buildings and ocean and the sheer power leaves you gaping.

I remember last year’s show where one of the hornets produced a sonic boom. Watching it happen it front of you is a crazy feeling. The perfect cone, the deafening sound gives you goose bumps. This year however they changed the drill. Angels have different routines and flying altitude for different weather and visibility conditions. This one was surely a ‘low’ altitude one and it was fabulous.

The sea of people that gather on the bay-side is another thing that attracts me to the show. The colorful bevy is so different and yet so unique to SFO. The flock gathered to watch the show is something of a show in itself. Picnics, naps, bad food, angel souvenirs are all part of it. People on roof-tops, people on ground, people on beach and boats and grass – everyone just goes still when angels fly. The wave hits a pause. And after the show the wave travels back - to cars, to trains, to streets.

I walked for almost 5 hours and traveled in train for 2 to be a part of it all. And it was great.