F-18 from VFA-122 Flying Eagles based at NAS Lemoore, CA is creating a vapor cone caused by a sudden drop in air pressure as a plane approaches the sound barrier.
Mr Wittmann51; The camera work on that item was exceptional. It appeared to be hand held but the camera operator was extremely adept at covering this aerial antics. Congratulations and an extremely 'well done' gong from me. ( veteran of TV production)
I am an Air Force veteran and loved the photography so much, and that airplane put on a show for those who watched it at MCAS Miramar. The Navy at Guam have to escort aircraft flying over the South China Sea because of problems with the Chinese military creating incidents with the Americans. The fighter aircraft from the fleet are the ones escorting Air Force, Navy, and Marine aircraft over that region. One P-3 patrol aircraft was forced to land on Chinese soil after their aircraft was hit by a Chinese fighter aircraft. The Chinese aircraft crashed into the sea.
Great video! Excellent filming and the zooming and steadiness was very well done. That was an excellent demo, too. That vapor cone at 4:40 was sick. F/A-18F is the badest looking of them all and this guy piloting was outstanding!
lockic yubba Funny you should say that, man! I was at Quonset RI today for the airshow and the Raptor did a demo flight prior to the Blue Angles coming out for the finale. It was unbelievable! It made 2 high speed passes and the rest of the entire demonstration was all new, mind blowing low speed action! It was amazing!
I went to a New Orleans Airshow to watch and film the Blue Angels; It was not easy keeping the planes within the shot, especially when zoomed in, so this is great footage!! Great job capturing the Vapor Cone and panning/keeping up with the planes.
That "cloud" is called a shock cone. Caused by when the aircraft hits the sound barrier and the water vapor travels with causing a cloud affect at the end or around the aircraft. Just to clear somethings up
Thankx for all the great vids Wittman if you have any more F-14 footage I'm sure all the fans would be forever great full if you posted them. Keep up the good work!
Sound barrier air pressure wave producing water vapor condensation envelopes. Solid, super stable, great flying aircraft with enormous engine thrust. Great video! Thanks!
That was a great demonstration by the F-18 Super Hornet and I was wondering if it was a Marine crew or a Navy crew flying it. I love what that airplane can do and the enemy fear it too.
That's the closest I've ever seen a fighter jet come without breaking the sound barrier at an airshow. He is literally 50 knots short of breaking it. Awesome demo! * Still give me an F-14D any day. 😎*
I grew up in a small mining town and one year they put on a small airshow. The few air-force planes that came put on the best show they could but on the last run of the day for the F111 the pilot decided to push his speed run close to the speed of sound. After a long turn and out of view we spotted it again coming in fast with wings fully folded back and no sound at all and then the air force guy standing close to us spotted a mach cone form and I remember him say Shit he is going supersonic followed by him covering his ears which as a young teenager did as well. I think I remember the PA person yelling out for people to cover their ears as well. The dead silence watching it come in and then pass over without any sound was shocking to watch but not as shocking as when the sound shortly caught up a moment after the plane had flown over. Even blocking my ears the sound was loud with a thump to the chest that it left you feeling shocked. It broke windows in the small airport and left a lot of people with ringing ears. Afterwards they said the pilot had contacted the airtower and apologized for breaking the sound barrier and so close to the ground as well And a later story was he had apparently misjudged the hot and super dry air of that region of the country vs the hot and humid part of the country he was trained to fly in. I mean that last part was in a newpaper so no idea if that is true or just a fairly new pilot out to try and impress people and overcooking it lol.
This is one trick bird. Didn't know they were doing this in F-18's with modern fly-by-wire software four years ago. China & the Russians have been bragging about their new air frames with the forward canard wings & thrust vectoring doing these kinds of aerobatics for the last few years & here we have an F-18 with a conventional 20 year old air frame doing the same aerobatics. Sweet!
Super Hornet is just AMAZING. It flies just like the F-22 Raptor, with some stealth added enemy pilots would think they were up against the F-22 Raptor. GO USAF.
Wow what an incredible bird!!!! Can you imagine Iranian, Syrian, Russians, etc etc, having to scramble out of their bunks, rush to their planes, take flight and go toe to toe with a Hornet? Might be one of those days where it might be in you're best judgment to stay in bed heh...
this must of been so cool so see live, the vapor cones are caused by the hornet going faster than the speed of sound which compresses and stretches the air they travel through which creates high and low pressure areas in the air. the low pressure area are much lower in temperature causing the moisture to form a visible cloud
Your right yet also wrong. I doesn't only happen when it breaks the sound barrier. In this video he didn't break it. If he did he would have gotten in a lot of trouble for it, since it is illegal unless done in a special zones or over oceans. I have seen this happen a lot to fighters going only 300, just happens under the right condition. But ya that is a common misconception that if it has a cone it broke the sound barrier. In fact about 90% of the videos on youtube titled fighter breaks the sound barrier, actually didn't break it.
That's a transonic flight and you can also tell as the vapour cone wasn't behind the plane but in front of that uprights. I'd say around Mach 0.95 on the fly by. For an f18 to create a sonic boom ias would need to be around the Mach 1.2 area (true supersonic) as that's where the speed over and under the wing will be faster than the speed of sound but this is prohibited over land anyway and will never happen at an air show
4:40 look at the perfect shape of that thing....its like a cone! what is actually? it only appears perfectly shaped for like 1 second! Is that just before the sonic boom?
The aircraft is super compressing the moister out of the air. It can happen even at transonic speeds. This is a demo and they are not allowed to go above .99 mach.
Contrary to what our "resident expert" says at about 0:58, the letters on the tail stand for what carrier air wing the plane belongs to, not where in the country it's from. Trying to sound all smart...
@mongyaj NO ACTUALLY THIS IS THE F 18F SUPER HORNET A DIFFRENT PLANE FROM THE BLUE ANGELS THEY FLY F 18 C HORNETS.THE SUPER HORNET IS A WHOLE LOT BETTER THAN THE LEGACY HORNET
at what point does a sonic boom happen? what speed? what does it feel like to the pilot? I would love to fly in a jet at least once when it does that. Do you feel pressure changes in your ears? get dizzy? which jets do it best?
Shock waves occur at different speeds depending on the altitude...in other words, air density. At sea level it can occur at around 650 knots, at high altitudes, around 700 knots. Frankly, I'd like to see an aircraft do 770 mph at sea level... It' would suck the paint off your wall and break every window within a half mile...and it would take great engine thrust to push even an F-18 Rhino to get to that speed at sea level. The SR-71 can travel faster than a 30.06 bullet-but at 30,000 feet plus. Thin air, low friction.
Cavecanemu2 As for what a sonic boom feels like, a pilot once told me that when he approached and passed supersonic, the plane became quiet except for the whirring of the electronics...why not, all the sound is behind him... In some planes crossing supersonic creates a bit of a bump (buffeting) then smooth sailing and quiet. P.S. This plane did not go supersonic, just approached the sound barrier. If it had, there would have been a huge boom after it passed and many of the windows at that station would have shattered. When a plane comes at you supersonic, you will not hear it until well after it has passed you, and if close enough to the runway, knock you down from the air pressure...
Nerocryptic Assassin You are totally incorrect. It is a vapor cloud and not breaking the sound barrier. Supersonic passes are prohibited unless over oceans or special zones. The big cloud doesn’t always mean supersonic. In fact probably 95% of videos labeled “supersonic pass” is not actually breaking the barrier. Just has a lot of moisture in the air that day. You’ll never see a supersonic pass at an air show. Sonic booms are too dangerous.
