Danger Zone

Aviatiors...check. Top Gun soundtrack...check. Left-over falafel for lunch...check. That's all you need to watch THE most awesome airplanes in the world. Last Friday over a steamy plate of phad thai, there was no hesitation when Britton accepted our San Francisco friend's invitation to watch the famous Blue Angel's air show with them. Mark and Kelly have been living in San Francisco the past couple years, and toured us around to some great, authentic Thai food, the Golden Gate Bridge, a vista overlooking the city, and some transonic airplanes! (Britton will later explain the difference between transonic and supersonic. Maybe subsonic and ubersonic too.) We walked down to the marina by these long flights of outdoor stairs. The view was amazing, and we couldn't wait to get down by the water. On our way we also passed the Palace of Fine Arts which Britton informed us was originally built for the World's Fair in Panama, and flown to San Francisco by the Blue Angels in 1874. Airplanes are always involved in his stories. I just couldn't believe that place was real! I felt like it could take me back in time to live in some golden age of art. I was almost drawn into it, but Britton was a man on a mission, and so we marched on after taking only a few pictures. Our view at the bay was perfect. We could see the airplanes flying over the Golden Gate Bridge, and some people could swear they saw the planes fly between the bridge and the water, but I never actually saw it myself. The show started off with some older planes, and then stunt pilots, and then with a Blue Angels finale. They make flying those planes look so effortless, but Britton and I know better! Our last semester at BYU I got a video from the local library called, "The Magic of Flight," narrated by Tom Selleck. Those Blue Angel guys work 6 days a week to impress people over the world. In order to not pass out during their maneuvers, they have to be flexing their neck muscles. So what looks so fluid and effortless to us on the ground is actually really painful and awkward in the plane. Maybe it's better not to know that. We were constantly turning our heads trying to figure out where they flew off to. They were all over the place flying in formation, or breaking off and flying separately with plumes of smoke behind them. They even made a heart shape with the smoke once...awww. Ahem, now that I have lost all male interest in this blog...here's Britton. What we really wanted to see was the NASA X-43A hypersonic scramjet. No, I did not just make that up. It goes 10 times the speed of sound (aka Mach 10) which means if flew by you, the sonic boom would pretty much make your head explode... well implode actually. Which is probably why NASA flies it at 90,000 feet rather than under the Golden Gate. Click here to see another awesome plane called the Raptor. It's made by Lockheed Martin. These planes are also used in the summer blockbuster, Transformers.