Blue Angel FA-18 Walkaround

Jerry Deren flew #3 and #4 positions with the Blue Angels after he had already had a successful career in the NAVY. Here Jerry gives us the most detailed Walkaround tour of the FA-18 Legacy Hornet. This exact aircraft was just recently received at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas Love Field

[buckbuchanan]

I could listen to that guy forever! What an all around great guy, sharp, and superb speaker

[ProudvetAFNAVYyrs]

I remember this guy. I was a parachute rigger in VFA-83 1994-1998. He was one of my favorite pilots. Even though I was enlisted he never treated you like he was so much better than you like a lot of the other ones did.

[fj-lr]

Brought back memories of Blue Angels air shows at El Toro in 1970’s. I was assigned to the Third Marine Air Wing at El Toro and couldn’t get enough of A4s and F 4s, but sitting on the hills east of the airfield and having those Blue Jets fly over our heads at 200 ft, was memorable!!
Great Gentleman and great down to earth presenter; I too consider my time in the Marine Corps my best time in any occupation!!

[nmsu]

Massive props to the guy showing us around this beast. As someone who owns the VRS Hornet and the DCS hornet, I find it amazing that the real aircraft is more complex than any software developer can even hope to match.

[davidthomas]

Best Blue Angel video I have ever seen, thanks for your service and a special thank you for this video. I have seen the Blue Angels performance many times, but I will definitely have even more appreciation for the pilots and the entire team the next time I get to enjoy the performance again.

[stevereid]

Fly by wire... As a pilot you're sort of a voting member. That made me laugh out loud.. so true. By far the best jet video I've seen!

[wardschuler]

Thank You Jerry Deren for your U.S. Service & this Blue Angel education video !

[HRNTTWK]

Spent many years working on that very jet. 163435 both VFA-86/82 and VFA-81. Was transferred to 86 from 82 at one point. Upon checking in to VFA-81, I met this old girl again 12 years later. She was a flyer for sure. Until we transferred it to the Blues in 2006 prior to transition to Lot 30 Super Hornets in late 2008.

[Meirele]

Fantastic! Mr. Deren is a wonderful host that makes himself very understandable. An empathic person that's a delight to listen to. The stories and the details of the Hornet are gold. Thanks a lot, to both of you.

[erickelly]

One of the best walk arounds I've ever witnessed. Could have gone on for another hour and had my full attention. Thank you.

[rodneywhitfield]

I had a parental unit that worked for McD’s I was privileged to be able to see the “factory “ sales tape of the F/A 18. The pilot stands the bird on her tail, and hops the bird around the field with all the ease of a 1970 Plymouth SuperBird with a 440 six pack screaming down a 1/4 strip. Awesomeness sheer awesomeness.

[BlueAngel]

I served as an enlisted member of the Blue Angels. My aircraft was the F4J Phantoms. 1968-70. This was a great video. There’s one thing that I think should have been included… the enlisted members are also critical components of the Blue Angels. Have a good one.

[jasonotoole]

As a lifelong Hornet fan this was such an amazing video to watch. LCDR Deren's walkaround brief was excellent and a real joy to listen to. A huge thank you to all involved in making this video. I'll be heading in to see this particular jet at the Frontiers of Flight Museum very soon and now with a lot more knowledge about it.

[mrjohnklake]

Hearing you tell stories took me back to my childhood when my dad would tell me stories about flying Huey choppers in Vietnam. Thank you. 😢☺️

[iananderson]

Blue Angel jets were screaming over my house in Fort Erie, Canada for the past two days practicing for the Buffalo airshow today and tomorrow. It's going to be super cool. Great informative vid..

[danielmarso]

My Dad took me to a Blue Angels show at Quonset Point, RI, when they were flying the Panthers, which till this day,
along with the Cougars are my two favorites of early Navy/Marne jets, thanks for a great video, Semper Fi

[topguncg]

Thank you for you service. Your narration of the Blues was fantastic.🇺🇸👍💯

[jamesmagnum]

Exceptionally informing and exciting walkaround from hell of a guy, seems he still carries the dedication and passion . Thank you Erik and Jerry for this fantastic tour.

[ikefork]

Incredible walk-around of the Super Hornet! It doesn't get any better than this...I'm really blown away with the outstanding flying abilities and guts of these incredible Super Hornet jocks.  

Jerry Deren's mention of Lcdr Pat Walsh @ like to add that my good friend growing up in Alexandria, VA in the mid-late 1960s was future USN Admiral Bill Gortney ("Shortney"), who followed a similar career path as Admiral Walsh, although Bill did not do a tour with the Blue Angels. To enlighten those reading this, the one thing I recall most about the adolescent Bill Gortney was this "fire in the belly" attitude, guts, and raw determination.... DESPITE being the shortest kid in school. As kids growing up in the 1960s, Bill and I were very passionate about military airplanes from WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam. We religiously followed the U.S. Space Program which culminated with the Apollo 11 landing in July '69. We regularly bought & assembled the ubiquitous WWII plastic model airplane kits sold by Aurora in all the stores. IMO his gutsy dad Capt. Gortney, USN Retired, a Korean War era Naval aviator, instilled much of the drive and determination I witnessed in Bill every day.

To the Blue Angels and all the other F/A 18 pilots out there....you have my undying respect and admiration.

p.s. Bill if you read this give me a shout on FaceBook. Thanks. Tom R.

[karvi]

Awesome video and briefing. I am 76 yrs (young?) and learning to fly this great a/c in DCS Sim. Thanks 👍