American Thunder

[Twocoda]

Detroit Gets Close Encounter With Jet

 

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DETROIT -- The excitement at the annual speed boat races along the Detroit river Sunday wasn't confined to just the water. A scheduled fly-over by an F-18 Navy jet was captured by a photographer and the picture is getting attention nationwide.

 

The picture shows the jet, turned sideways, zooming past a high-rise Detroit apartment complex. It appears to be very close to the building.

 

 

"It felt like the sky was falling," said tenant Carol Stover, who saw the jet. "I looked up and saw the jet and I was praying we weren't under attack."

 

The picture, which appeared in the Detroit News, New York Post and on the "Today" show Monday, was taken by Detroit News photographer Steve Perez.

 

 

"As I was going back to edit I saw it and it just kind of jumped out (at you)," said Perez. "It's one of those things that's just timing and luck."

 

 

Tenant Inez Brown watched the fly-over from her balcony on the 28th floor. "I didn't get the perspective that they were that close. I was like a kid in the candy store. I got a chance to see some professional fighter pilots in action and that's something you don't see everyday. They did some phenomenal maneuvers."

 

 

According to the military, the jet was actually about 200 to 300 feet away from the shoreline. Authorities said no one on the ground or in a building was ever at any risk.

[Jonny]

I like that Inez Brown!

[JohnF]

Zoom can work wonders.

 

JF

[DRIFTER_016]

That's a really cool shot.

[steelhead hunter]

cool pic but I think that is an F15. F18's are a single seater and that is a two seater

[Spiel]

Sure looks like an F-18 to me and it's a great shot! I'm on the flight path F-18's always take off Lake Ontario for thier annual, somtimes twice annual runs over Ivor Wynne Stadium for Ticat games. You always know when they've buzzed by, the roar is nothing like that of a commercial jet airliner.

[bucktail]

Yep its an F-18 looks like a Super Hornet.

Awesome picture!

[steelhead hunter]

my bad the navy has a 2 seater F18

[craigdritchie]

I was aboard the Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Regina a few weeks ago off Vancouver Island, when a couple of air force CF-18s from Comox swung by to pay us a visit. It is unbelievable how loud these jets are up close. The jet passes by, then a second later you hear the sound. This photo was taken using a fairly wide angle lens ... the jet is VERY close to the ship. Shot from the top of the bridge, standing among various radio antennas. Jet is doing about 400 mph.

 

 

 

[Twocoda]

is there any rules against setting up downriggers on a frigget???

[Jonny]

Yep, two-seater F-18. In top view like in the photo in the lead post, the F-15 has air intakes the front edge of which stick out at right angles from the fuselage. That's probably the best distinguishing feature.

[danc]

That's an awesome photo. Practically every Friday I see F-18's flying near my house. This must be a refueling stop or something. Since I'm only about a mile from the airport, they get my attention. I love seeing (and hearing) those things fly.

[CLofchik]

cool pic but I think that is an F15. F18's are a single seater and that is a two seater

 

It's an Atlantic!

 

Heh

The Super Hornet and CF-18 may look similiar but they are essentially two different aircraft, the Super Hornet being much larger and the aircraft that was built as a stop gap measure to replace the F-14. Different shot of the same bird, heh it was in Paris a month ago, ah the life of a fighter pilot

 

 

 

 

Now my favourite Hornet pic, San Fran Fleet Week a few years ago:

 

 

[bigugli]

is there any rules against setting up downriggers on a frigget???

Naval vessels have been towing a kind of 'downrigger' for decades. Great for finding submarines.

[craigdritchie]

Naval vessels have been towing a kind of 'downrigger' for decades. Great for finding submarines.

 

They definitely have the best fishfinders in the world. To put it in perspective, at one point we tracked a pod of shrimp that were more than six kilometres away! We also picked up killer whales and gazillions of salmon. One of the sonar technicians guessed they were "probably pinks" based on size, location, and the way they were swimming.

 

HMCS Regina caused a major stink last year during some war games off Hawaii, when it located and "sank" one of the US Navy's newest nuclear submarines. The new Ohio-class sub is super stealthy .... absolutely silent in the water, and covered in sound-absorbing tiles so its invisible to sonar. Problem was, it was so quiet it actually stood out. The Regina crew became aware of this "quiet spot" where they couldn't hear the fish or squid any more, and started probing around. They discovered the sub, pinned it down and forced it to surface and surrender. Awesome job by the Regina crew, but the Americans went nuts since these $2 billion subs are supposed to be undetectable. Back to the drawing board!

[bigugli]

The yanks have always hated playing hide and seek with the DE's and DDE's and DDH's in the past.

[bigbuck]

Yup, F18 alright, I see the CF18's go to Downsview each summer for their annual refit a couple of times a year from my office at Yorkdale, they sure do shake the windows!!!

As for the technology we have in our fishfinders, it's probably 30-40 year old military technology that has been released to the public with updated electronics. there is wicked stuff out there that is slowly making it's way to the consumer.

BTW, thank Slick Billy Clinton for GPS, he was behind it's release for civilian use.

[endless]

the GPS was always available to civilians. It used to send out two signals though, one much more accurate military only signal, and one civilian use signal which still was quite good. They stopped encoding the upgraded signal when they gained the ability to selectively block the precision signal to certain areas of the world.