High Alpha Pass of Blue Angels numbers 5 and 6.
Always a special spectacle, the High Alpha Pass of Blue Angels numbers 5 and 6. This manoeuvre is performed at a speed of 120 knots (=about 220 km/hour). For an aircraft like the F/A-18, that is extremely slow. To avoid falling out of the sky, the pilot pulls up the nose of the aircraft, see photo, so that the wings provide more lift.
This photo was taken on 29 April 2016 at MCAS Cherry Point. Blue Angel number 6 was captain Jeff Kuss at the time. On 2 June 2016, at the age of 32, Jeff Kuss sadly crashed while practising the flight demonstration prior to the airshow in Smyrna, Tennessee.
I am Jaap van den Berg and photography has become a great passion of mine since 2010. Since then I travel all over the world to take pictures of military aircrafts. But besides aircraft I also love to photograph other subjects like landscapes, architecture, flowers, animals, .. Read more…