Meteorologist Ricky Matthews rides along with the Blue Angels
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — The Blue Angels display from the ground is an example of grace and formation flying at its finest. In the cockpit, however, it's a different story.
Meteorologist Ricky Matthews got a once in a lifetime opportunity to fly with the Blues Angels, to gain an understanding of the physical and mental demands of their flight demonstration.
After a preflight briefing, it was time to climb into the famous Blue and Gold Super Hornet and get strapped in.
From there, it was on. On takeoff, the pilot executed a low transition — pulling 5gs and going from the runway to 10,000 feet in mere seconds.
Through loops, rolls and high G maneuvers, Matthews gained a real sense of the forces these pilots experience.
As we sit still on earth, we experience 1G or 1x the force of gravity.
In a typical blue angels demonstration, pilots will pull up to 7.5Gs, forcing them to take action to keep the blood in their upper body and avoid passing out. Keep in mind too — these pilots doing this in close formation! Oh, and unlike other pilots, the Blues don't wear G suits ...
To counter these forces, the pilots perform the Anti-G strain manuever where they squeeze all the muscles in their legs, abs and lower body to restrict blood flow. This helps keep blood flow in your brain and saves you from passing out.
During the flight, Matthews was successful at that a few times — until they hit 7.4Gs. At that point, it was all over! He G-LOCd, or in simple terms, passed out. After a few seconds, he came back — but it shows just how demanding this flight is. Below is a picture of our Ricky Matthews trying to squeeze every muscle he has, right before he passed out ...
Don't worry, he's fine.
Oh, and for anyone wondering – yes, he did lose his breakfast (as most riders do)!
Hopefully, through my backseat ride, you can see just how fit and amazing these pilots are. The men and women who fly the Blue Angel's jets are in top physical shape. Matthews was only in the air for 45 min, and doing turns and manuevers for a quarter of that time. They're in the air several times a week, doing these manuevers. Just like many combat pilots do in the fleet.
Special thanks to the US Navy Blue Angels and the folks at NAS Oceana for this amazing opportunity to show what they do to the folks of Hampton Roads! It was an honor and privledge to get to ride with the Blue Angels and #7 – LT. Connor O'Donnell
If you attend the airshow this weekend, you'll hear LT O'Donnell – he's the narrator for the team. Next year, he was transition to be one of the six demonstration pilots.
