F/A-18 Afterburner Catapult Night Launch on the USS Nimitz

[erwanbaumann]

With that amount of fuel homie's going on a world tour

[KEDOA]

The jet says let me just take a little sip from these gas tanks

[TheMuro]

Don't worry, he isn't gonna fly with those tanks, it's just exactly what he needs for that afterburner takeoff...

[noezmavrick]

The aircraft has so much fuel tanks because he is tasked for refuelling other aircraft. You can see the air to air refuelling POD on the belly of the plane.

[TheWizardGamez]

"your hearing loss was determined to not be service related"

[ginolorenzo]

He was on a mission to refuel the space shuttle or something

[GrandpaPapi]

I was at an airshow, and they had the speakers for the commentary turned up real loud. One of these things flew by, and you could head the commentator just fade away when the afterburners turned on. Hearing one of these things in real life is nuts, but when ya have another loud sound be droned out by it, ya really get an idea of how loud these things are!

[BlueonGoldZ]

There's so many cool things in this video but I just wanted to highlight the guys towards the rear with the flashlights highlighting the ailerons as a safety check and then raising their lights as an "all good". Awesome stuff.

[foxtrotgamer]

Im sure the pilot did like 17 bladder checks before that fligt 😂

[WonkyTonkBotty]

Those two madlads standing right next to the afterburners though

[MikeCheng]

That F/A-18 has enough fuel to take a 1 way trip to Afghanistan.

[MrUnified]

As a former Argonaut, thanks for the post!

[fgm]

this never get's old. did he had 6! external tanks?

[baddonkey]

I deeply respect lil dude right next to the afterburners when it takes off, i went to night under fire in tulsa and the jet trucks going by gave me flash burns from standin too close to that same area, still did it again every time they came to town

[keahi]

Night launches were always fun to watch; the added intrigue of the dark, and the recoveries by THE GEAR!! was equally daunting because you never knew if a pilot might come in to low. The smells: fresh oxygenated air, with salt spray, and jet fuel all made me super alert and excited. CVN-65 ABE-5, 1975-77

[toastrecon]

Can you imagine showing this video to the Wright Brothers?

[DavidH-spwz]

I was stationed at minot air force base, it's really awesome to see the boost when those after burners kick in. ❤😊

[BudgiePanic]

"What kind of music do you listen to?"
Me: _"It's complicated"_

[Stormshadow]

Wow, that's almost as loud as my friend's mic

[NhamshahSpah-ky-idjo]

Love seeing this. I was on the Nimitz in the late 80s, and worked NX.