A brief heat wave provided unseasonably warm conditions for the expected 1 million spectators gathered in San Francisco to enjoy the 2023 Fleet Week festivities and watch the weekend air show that is the highlight of the event.
Threats of a government shutdown had worried many about what the show would be like without the Blue Angels. Luckily those thoughts were pushed aside with the arrival of U.S. Navy vessels, along with the Blues.
This year’s Fleet Week was historic, as it was dedicated to the late California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who passed away the week before the show. The first modern San Francisco Fleet Week took place in 1981 and is credited to Feinstein when she was the mayor of San Francisco.
Friday is my usual day to attend this show. There are less crowds to battle and far less boats on the water between my camera and low flying aircraft. One tradeoff is that not all performers fly on Friday.
The Leap Frogs skydiving team delivered a U.S. Navy flag to show center successfully and then it was United Airlines turn.
A unique feature of this air show are commercial airliner flight demonstrations. This year it was provided by one of United Airlines’ Boeing 777s diving into the air show box to execute low altitude fly-bys in both landing and cruise configurations.
The Missouri Air Guard was represented by one of its C-130 Hercules doing a few fly-bys.
Next was a formation fly-by by the local Memorial Squadron chapter, a mixed bag of Bonanzas, RV homebuilts, and a Mooney.
There was a rescue demonstration by the U.S. Coast Guard with its MH-65 Dolphin helicopters deploying and recovering rescue divers.
Warbird fans enjoyed Greg Colyer’s performance with his Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star “Ace Maker.”
Another highlight was the flight demo of the F-35B Lightning II, making its first Fleet Week appearance. This is the Marine vertical takeoff variant of the fifth-generation fighter, effortlessly transitioning into hover mode among the boats in the Bay as part of the demonstration.
Saturday and Sunday spectators were also treated to the Patriots Jet Team, plus fly-bys by a quartet of US Navy T-6 Texan II trainers.
The finale of the day’s flying were the Blue Angels. As always, their C-130 transport “Fat Albert” got to warm up the crowd first, performing a series of low fly-bys. The fog-free conditions were perfect for the Blues to fly their normal show on Friday.
By Sunday the fog had returned and forced them to fly a “high” show. The high show is obviously better for flight safety, but worse for the spectators who only saw the jets about half the time.
