Blue Angels

[Muse]

I am watching local nightly news for the S.F. Bay Area and all week one of the top stories is the Fleet Week annual event. Most exciting they say are the Blue Angels, flying daily over the bay, 4 jets whose synchronicity is breath taking. They just said it is "death defying." I have generally thought it was astounding but just got the idea that this can't be done just by pilots in the cockpit with manual controls. Thinking now, I figure they have this automated (something I have NEVER heard), i.e. something like lasers or other digital sensor system(s) of some kind and precision control of velocity (velocity is speed and direction combined), also rolls, all controlled by synchronized computers in these aircraft. Am I right?

 

[allisolm]

I believe they hand pilot. No computers guiding the maneuvers.

 

[lxskllr]

I doubt it. I don't know anything about the particulars of flying, but they've been doing this a long time(predating sophisticated computers).

 

[pcgeek11]

Thinking now, I figure they have this automated (something I have NEVER heard), i.e. something like lasers or other digital sensor system(s) of some kind and precision control of velocity (velocity is speed and direction combined), also rolls, all controlled by synchronized computers in these aircraft. Am I right?

No, you are wrong. Quality training is what does the trick.

 

[Muse]

No, you are wrong. Quality training is what does the trick.

Frankly, I am flabbergasted!

 

[Muse]

A Google search brought up this:

Fly by wire means that there is no mechanical connection between the stick and the flight controls. Instead, pilot inputs are fed into a computer that moves the control surfaces accordingly. What does this mean? The maneuvers performed by the Blue Angels will be even more precise and inch-perfect! Dec 8, 2021

Uh, so appears I wasn't wrong.

 

[Muse]

This should provide some answers:

The Blue Angels – All You Want To Know

The Blue Angels – All You Want To Know - Aero Corner

The Blue Angels are one of the oldest aerobatic flight teams in the world, performing flight demonstrations for fans throughout most of the year. While most people recognize the distinct navy blue and yellow Hornets flown by the Blue Angels, they may not know much else about these experienced...

aerocorner.com

Of course, all you want to know for a lot of people means everything except things they don't want to know.

I believe this would provide less in the way of bias:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Angels

 

[Cyco]

I love watching the Blue Angels perform. Them and the USAF Thunderbirds.

 

[Muse]

I love watching the Blue Angels perform. Them and the USAF Thunderbirds.

I have an opportunity tomorrow if I make it over to San Francisco. On the news they said The Embarcadero is a good spot.

Sunday won't be as good weather.

 

[Captante]

Macomb man fulfills dream of flying as Blue Angels pilot (Detroit Free Press)

"There are 130 people on the team, including seven F/A-18 pilots and three C-130 pilots, he said. Frosch's jet can fly 600 m.p.h. and the 15-ton aircraft travel 18 inches or less away from each other in precision flying.

The pilots aren't on autopilot, he said, it's all hand-eye coordination during the demonstration.

When asked if he ever gets scared, Frosch said he gets nervous - good butterflies "like when you play sports."

 

[brianmanahan]

when i was a kid, i wanted to be a blue angels pilot when i grew up

i had blue angels toys, built blue angels models, even had some blue angels clothes lol

a string of seizures made flying one of those things (or anything else) an impossibility

and probably for the better, because 30 years later i realize that there really isn't any point to the danger

but dang it

 

[Captante]

Uh, so appears I wasn't wrong.

Fixed.

"Fly-by-wire" does NOT mean what you think it means.... all it is, is a lighter weight/less complex and more "robust" in combat alternative to full-hydraulic control systems in an aircraft. (also it's not "more precise" in ANY way lol)

The same kind of system is used in every current Airbus passenger-jet and all newer Boeing models as well.

 

[Meghan54]

A Google search brought up this:

Fly by wire means that there is no mechanical connection between the stick and the flight controls. Instead, pilot inputs are fed into a computer that moves the control surfaces accordingly. What does this mean? The maneuvers performed by the Blue Angels will be even more precise and inch-perfect! Dec 8, 2021

Uh, so appears I wasn't wrong.

How to show me ur a dumbass without saying the words…

 

[VirtualLarry]

Just gonna put this out there... "Fly by wire" is not the same as "Auto-pilot".

 

[skyking]

here is a pilot's explanation of "fly by wire"
In light aircraft, there is a direct physical connection between the controls and the surfaces themselves. There are linkages, cables, bearings, push pull tubes.
This system continued into the bigger and bigger airframes by virtue of boosted controls. Think of how your car's power steering works.
Despite the immense size of the 747, that physical connection from the controls to the surfaces is still there. It is boosted and augmented by servo tabs and hydraulic systems.
With the advent of true "fly by wire", that connection is gone. Now you move an Atari joystick and a computer interprets your inputs and moves the surfaces for you. There are redundant systems to keep the blue screen of death from being literal
One of the things that Fly by Wire (FBW) allows is the ability to fly unstable aircraft. The F117 is one of those, the "wobbly goblin" would be unflyable without those computers.
The C-17 is fly by wire, and I did a couple of hours in the big sim at the nearby AFB. It could do things that were otherwise unpossible.
You could pitch up to 10 degrees up, press a little switch on that atari joystick ( seriously, it is a tiny little stick on a column ), and that 10 degrees was locked in for you. It moved a combination of flaps and ailerons and trim tabs to keep that pitch, even when you were moving the yoke to increase rate of descent, etc.
Trim set the airspeed.
It had a heads up display with an airplane shape on it, and you could add throttle and the plane would move down the runway, or cut throttle and watch your projected flightpath go short of the runway. We were doing landings on a 3500' strip with a light load, and I could pull it off with no big plane experience, thanks to the instructor and those wonderful tools that FBW gave me.
Back to the blue angels and formation flight.
When you are going in the same general direction, you can bump into each other without crashing. It's not commonly done, but it does mean that you can get closer and closer and train and work it out without fear of instant death like crossing the beams on ghostbusters.

 

[BoomerD]

here is a pilot's explanation of "fly by wire"
In light aircraft, there is a direct physical connection between the controls and the surfaces themselves. There are linkages, cables, bearings, push pull tubes.
This system continued into the bigger and bigger airframes by virtue of boosted controls. Think of how your car's power steering works.
Despite the immense size of the 747, that physical connection from the controls to the surfaces is still there. It is boosted and augmented by servo tabs and hydraulic systems.
With the advent of true "fly by wire", that connection is gone. Now you move an Atari joystick and a computer interprets your inputs and moves the surfaces for you. There are redundant systems to keep the blue screen of death from being literal
One of the things that Fly by Wire (FBW) allows is the ability to fly unstable aircraft. The F117 is one of those, the "wobbly goblin" would be unflyable without those computers.
The C-17 is fly by wire, and I did a couple of hours in the big sim at the nearby AFB. It could do things that were otherwise unpossible.
You could pitch up to 10 degrees up, press a little switch on that atari joystick ( seriously, it is a tiny little stick on a column ), and that 10 degrees was locked in for you. It moved a combination of flaps and ailerons and trim tabs to keep that pitch, even when you were moving the yoke to increase rate of descent, etc.
Trim set the airspeed.
It had a heads up display with an airplane shape on it, and you could add throttle and the plane would move down the runway, or cut throttle and watch your projected flightpath go short of the runway. We were doing landings on a 3500' strip with a light load, and I could pull it off with no big plane experience, thanks to the instructor and those wonderful tools that FBW gave me.
Back to the blue angels and formation flight.
When you are going in the same general direction, you can bump into each other without crashing. It's not commonly done, but it does mean that you can get closer and closer and train and work it out without fear of instant death like crossing the beams on ghostbusters.

Exactly. Several automotive functions are now "fly by wire" controlled. In the days of old, you stepped on the gas pedal, it pulled on a wire inside a cable housing that pulled on the linkage for the carburator. Nowadays, when you step on the gas, you're stepping on an electrical switch that tells the throttle how much gas to feed into the fuel injectors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_by_wire

 

[sdifox]

A Google search brought up this:

Fly by wire means that there is no mechanical connection between the stick and the flight controls. Instead, pilot inputs are fed into a computer that moves the control surfaces accordingly. What does this mean? The maneuvers performed by the Blue Angels will be even more precise and inch-perfect! Dec 8, 2021

Uh, so appears I wasn't wrong.

LoL fly by wire just means you are not mechanically connected to the various parts. The pilot has full control of the aircraft. And it is very hard to do what Blue Angels do.

 

[skyking]

^ it helps to start out with the best skills and have an unlimited budget and time
I've done some rudimentary formation work in dissimilar types for fun. It is a challenge to just go somewhere as a "flight of X"
The lead pilot does all the communicating for the flight, all the see and avoid of other traffic. His wingmates have one job, maintain that spacing. It helps to have extra eyes in the cockpits.

 

[Jeeebus]

Uhh you guys are 100% wrong. Fly by wire literally involves them mapping out the flight plan beforehand. They then launch a bunch of helium balloons with a metric shit ton of string between them. After the plane is launched it connects to 1 end of the string and then wheeeeeeeee! Morons.

 

[SKORPI0]

My Father and I met Capt. Harley H. Hall early '70s when the Blue Angels had an airshow in Manila, Philippines.
Dad was the air show announcer describing the flight patterns/maneuvers they did.

Found out years later that he was "shot down on the last day of the war and was the last Navy air casualty of the Vietnam War. He was the last American to be classified Prisoner of War in the Vietnam War" .

 

[pcgeek11]

A Google search brought up this:

Fly by wire means that there is no mechanical connection between the stick and the flight controls. Instead, pilot inputs are fed into a computer that moves the control surfaces accordingly. What does this mean? The maneuvers performed by the Blue Angels will be even more precise and inch-perfect! Dec 8, 2021

Uh, so appears I wasn't wrong.

Drive by wire only means that the movements are done via servos in accordance with the stick movements via servo motors. Just like the throttle in a modern vehicle. I doubt there are many modern aircraft that don't use fly by wire. Some even have electronic power steering controls like my wife's 2010 Highlander, no hydraulics.

 

[skyking]

. I doubt there are many modern aircraft that don't use fly by wire.

Many modern aircraft still have that physical connection and are not technically fly by wire.

 

[GrumpyMan]

 

[Captante]

Even most "fly-by-wire" control systems especially on large, heavy aircraft are only used to make hydraulic systems more compact/lightweight.

The wires carry inputs/signals from pilot's to servos which in turn control discreet hydraulic systems and manipulate flight-surfaces directly.

This is far easier to maintain than an aircraft-wide full-hydraulic control system for what should be obvious reasons plus saves significant weight and is far less vulnerable to damage.