Blue Angels Over San Francisco Bay: How Low Can You Go?

The photo looks legit, and there's no reason it shouldn't be. The vapor cloud around the jet is what is known as a Prandtl–Glauert singularity. A common misconception is that it appears only as an object passes the speed of sound. In point of fact, it can occur at subsonic speeds that are near the speed of sound. I've photographed it myself at military airshows where the jets did not break the sound barrier (no sonic boom). Here's more on the Prandtl–Glauert singularity:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prandtl–Glauert_singularity

For video of this phenomenon (which looks a lot like the same fly-by that produced this photo), check out this link. It's ranked the #1 low fly-by, so you have to watch to the end:

http://biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=19448*

SKEPTICS !!! Check out all these photos from Fleet Week on San Francisco Bay. Some HIGH SPEED LOW PASS shots are here, too! Same place, different year...

http://home.comcast.net/~bzee1a/FleetWk07.html

NOT PhotoShopped - Here is the Navy website stating date and place, and with additional photos of the same low sneak pass!!

http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=34239

051009-N-7559C-001 San Francisco, Calif. (Oct. 9, 2005) - The Navy's Flight Demonstration team, the Blue Angels lead solo, performs the sneak pass, a maneuver that demonstrates the F/A-18 Hornet's ability to sneak into a target area undetected at speeds approaching 700 mph. The Blue Angels perform more than 70 shows at 34 different locations throughout the country each year. U.S. Navy photo by PhotographerUs Mate 2nd Class Ryan Courtade (RELEASED)

Listen people there wa no sonic boom. its against flight regutaions to fly that fast especially wit people around. another the photos is fake. look at the shadow. on top of that they cant fly that low cause u cant accuratly judge how far u are oof the water cause water constantly move. if so he would have to have made in flight adjustment that could save him or kill him. beside nothing i think below 1000 ft off the flight deck during a show over people or next to them. not if it was a runways then yea he could fly that low. peace.

Cool, but definitely fake. I have been there every year and they don’t go nearly that low, and they don’t exceed the sound barrier during the show.