Airshows Rant

[Boss_BlueAngels]

oh yeah, those Harriers are loud mothers. I'm so happy, i finally got to see one hover last summer for my first time.

[Mr. Bones]

Now officially recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the worlds largest military airshow...

I know, the 2003 show was recognised to be the largest military airshow in the world...and I was there. Eat this US of A!
With small local shows I didn't mean the Air Tattoo...it's not very local for me anyway!  ;)

[Sobby]

I rember one year, the Harrier, flew non stop for 1 hour, during lunch, just about destryoed my ears

[Hagar]

[quote]But, certainly not the loudest thing I've heard without ear protection.

[Mr. Bones]

Last year, we stood next to a taxiway while a F-16 came by. He was just taxiing lets say 4 meters away from me. You'd say: "he was only taxiing, that can't make any noise"...but au contraire mon fr

[Ben_M_K]

Hmmm Can't say I've ever come to close to a military jet...

Only the harrier at Airventure, which I didn't think was all that loud. Well, I go to concerts all the time, so I'm used to loud noise...

[Saratoga]

Those Harriers can get loud of they are near you and decide to fly out of a hover. But at idle on the ground, they are very quiet for military aircraft.

[Sobby]

I rember being bout, oh 15m from the runway, and the F4 sat there, nice and quiet, I thought,this should't be to bad :-/ well

it fired up them afterburners the ground shoke, and car alarms went off

[Craig.]

4 harriers all hovering in front of you. Now that is loud, i am sure Doug remembers the display from Yeovil last year that too was pretty impressive. Gotta admit the Vulcan had a ring to it that couldn't be beaten

[Saratoga]

Hey Budd, when I was an AF instructor, I would occasionally light up the plane near cars on purpose, quite amusing to watch the alarms go off (and back then, it was VERY easy to set off the alarms).

[Hagar]

4 harriers all hovering in front of you. Now that is loud, i am sure Doug remembers the display from Yeovil last year that too was pretty impressive. Gotta admit the Vulcan had a ring to it that couldn't be beaten

There are louder aircraft but the Harrier is one of the worst (or best) for concentrated sound for a prolonged period. The RAF Harrier hovers & moves slowly backwards & forwards in front of the crowd for several minutes at the end of his display. This is done at full power throughout & could very easily damage a young child's ears permanently. Some friends of mine with a young baby left last year's Shoreham show before the Harrier display for this reason.

The Vulcan was very impressive. His party trick was to do a low pass over the airfield, then lift the nose into a steep climb on full afterburner with the jet exhausts aimed directly at the crowd. This made the ground shake & the sound went right through you. We used to call it being Vulcanned. I've seen all sorts over the years, even 3 Vulcans in formation at Farnborough, but this was probably the most memorable.

[Boss_BlueAngels]

Another thing that's hecka loud is Carrier ops.  Try standing 80 feet from an F/A-18 at full afterburner on a cat, ready to go.  After seeing the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds, Super Hornet, Tomcat, F-15, B-1 takeoffs... nothing beat the noise on that carrier.  And feeling that thump in the deck as the shuttle hits the waterbreak, and that jet going by, as the next one revs up on cat 4 ready to launch.  Prowlers are prtty loud to for not having afterburners.  Hoovers just whine.  lol  But they sound cool as the engines spin up to full power.

[Mr. Bones]

If there's something that doesn't have afterburners but makes a hell of a noise, it must be a good old B-52 during take off! Saw it last year and oh my god that was loud.  ;)

[Saratoga]

Yup those B-52s can be looouuuuuddd! Hagar, they do that same flight routine with the Harriers in the US I have seen. The demo team ALWAYS ends up hovering, then flying backwards and forwards slowly (weird seeing a plane back up), and spinning in circles. Walk away at the end of that one and you won't hear the guy announce the next event!