 |
| Let's go flying... (Screenshot from the following video) |
There are times lately when I just want to walk away from the world. It seems big and nasty and full of assholes. (I know, I'm one of them at times.) When I saw this video over at c w's and Peter Grant's as well, I had to stop and take a deep breath. I started to weep because the footage was just so damned beautiful. Tears of joy dontcha know...
For once the music didn't distract from the video. Often it does.
I went to the home channel of Chasse Embarquée, they also have a Facebook page, after seeing the aforementioned video. Where I watched some more (there are links below). I spent rather a lot of time over there. I chose the one above, as it fit my mood.
Headphones on...
World off...
The way things have been lately, I truly needed that. There is something about being aloft, whether in person or virtually, that just washes the cares of the world away. Go watch more, forget about the world for a while. You need that.
Enjoy...
Vive les Pilotes de Chasse Marine Nationale!
 |
| A Rafale Marine assigned to squadron “17F” of the French navy lands on the flight deck of aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). (U.S. Navy photo by MC3 Zachary P. Wickline) |
More pictures here.
More videos here. There's even a cockpit 360 which is pretty good, here.
As Mr. Sulu said OH MY!..............that was rite purty Sarge, thanks.
ReplyDeleteVery calming I found it.
DeleteThere's a lot of benefit to be had from 'meditation' of one kind or another. The ability to disconnect from the world for a few minutes and have your mind go to a beautiful place can be very therapeutic. "Rat purdy" videos and Celtic music help a lot.
ReplyDeleteGranted, it's not always possible, but a good thing to do if you can..
Stay healthy, everyone!
Being able to disconnect is important, even during normal times.
DeleteNice vid, Sarge. Could feel my stomach contracting with the G onset and telling myself, a little more lead and you'll be going guns in about 10 seconds. I loved the 270 roll at the top of the cloud and coming down the backside to chase the other fighter. I was thinking of the same maneuver just before it started.
ReplyDeleteBeen pretty busy here at Rancho Juvat. Lots of pics on Monday.
Very lovely.
DeleteLooking forward to your latest report!
Are you installing a decontamination room with shower? Otherwise known as a mud room with shower, or wet room with shower?
DeleteOne of the best features of my parent's house in Satellite Beach was the outside shower mounted next to the screen room. 2nd best feature, the main bathroom having a door to the outside, accessible from the screen room.
So you could wash off major chunks under the cold-water outside shower, then head into either the pool for clorine cleaning or into the bathroom via the back porch straight into the bath-shower.
Brilliant! Brilliant design.
Must have been designed by an old silo designer (personnel entrance always have a decom room with shower for 'interesting times.'
Hey AFSarge;
ReplyDeleteThanks for the video, I had already seen the video's over at Peter's place. They are very good. It was nice to just "see" the video and tune out things. And to be a bit tacky it is good to see a European power who's planes actually work *cough*Hack*Germany*Hack*
The French are good at carrier ops.
DeleteAnd not much else.
DeleteThat ball was just rollin' around the rim. Sorry (Not really).
"And not much else" Actually, some (many) of the French Spec Ops folks are pretty damn good, as individuals and as teams. It's their damn politicians and hamstringing ROE that mess everything up. I think someone once said that the French are great as individuals but lousy as a population, or something like that.
DeleteI think you're correct, Tom. Paris was a nice place to visit, neat things to see, but my impression is the people were much like New York City, aka had a snobbish aura about them. Once we went out into the country, Normandy, Loire Valley and Alsace, the people were much friendlier. Course that's a sample size of one visit but...
DeleteJohn Ringo, in any book that deals with the French in one form or another, usually some calamity facing the whole world, has whatever coalition is forming around the US, after parts of the world are plastered, as accepting just about everyone, except the French as they are, French run and French controlled. French soldiers, sailors, airmen, non-city people? Oui! French politicians and French military leaders and French city folk, for the most part? NON!
DeleteAnd there are a lot of military types still miffed at de Gaulle for basically ordering the US from advancing so he could march through Paris. Normandy, Bretagne, Brittany? Pshaw, no de Gaulle. Interestingly enough, those regions freed from the Nazi Scourge (tm) that didn't have de Gaulle staging marches were so much friendlier to the US soldiers. Paris? Not so much.
My dad's experience with French flight officers in 1952 who were over here to learn the F-84 was very weird. As a group, they ridiculed and stayed away from my father, who was Cajun and his quaint back-woods hick accent. Individually, the one or two from provicial France (maybe even Provencal, maybe) were good people who got along with my father. But one of their 'City of Light' Frenchies around, the provincials had to act like them else the city dwellers would call back home and get them in trouble.
An amazing number of small, inconvenient and negative things happened to most of the French by the US air crews.
As usual, a good people away from the cities. Much like us.
My time in Paris was outstanding. It was good to have a French-speaker or three in my little group. The only people the French consistently dislike are the Germans.
DeleteWithout France the USA would not exist as it does today.
The French really don't care for Cajun-French or Quebec-French. Grating to the ear.
Without Bourbon France the USA would not exist as it does today.
DeleteWithout Napoleonic France the USA would not exist as it does today.
Past that? I have questions as to how good post-Napoleonic France has been to us.
Great video. It truly is calming. There's something almost hypnotic about airplanes flying on top of cloud layers. It is one time you can feel and see the speed. Thanks.
ReplyDeletePS Mr. Wu Han has visited this condo on the beach of ours. Not Miss Jeanie, not me, but a friend. :-(
Some of my fondest memories involve skimming along just above the clouds.
DeleteSo sorry that viral crap has touched down near you. Prayers up!
I always liked to practice "combat" ridge crossings using clouds. Miscalculating and "hitting" the top of the ridge was a lot less catastrophic if it was a cloud. But fun!
DeleteDave, you and Miss Jeanie have been in my prayers for a while now. That will continue, with a mention of your friend. Hang in there and remember..."1. Stick-Forward 2.Ailerons and rudder-Neutral, 3. If not recovered-Maintain full forward stick and deploy drag chute."
Keep friend hydrated, use tylenol to fight the fevers, and stay safe.
DeleteIf friend is in the hospital, make sure any pets owned are taken care of.
Otherwise, as the Weather Channel advises when a hurricane is coming, "Hunker down!"
Oh no! Is there a hurricane? I must have missed it! No, wait. We've got until June to stock up on toilet paper for that eventuality.
DeleteA healty sense of humor is a powerful drug, Dave . Max speed , Weapons hot! Shoot to kill!
DeleteHow I used to love the dog bone hot. Never tried the five switches on the right side that had to agree with the GIB's analysis of the situation. Really hot.
DeleteDid you know french carrier pilots were last ones flying f-8 crusader, the "last gunslinger"... Until Rafales came in 1990s
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to believe, because the Rafales are "modern" fighters, but that was 20-30 years ago. Heck, MY F-15 is still flying and it was built in 78. That's pretty much the equivalent of starting WWII flying the Wright Flyer.
DeleteIf you think that's hard to believe, how do you think BUFF pilots and crew feel about their aircraft's age???
DeleteGood point!
Delete1978 was not THAT long ago!!!
DeleteWell, wait--I was a sophomore in collage in 78---with a LOT less gray in my hair...
So, maybe 78 was a while ago...Sigh..
Starting around late 60's, the electronic revolution was progressing much faster than the airframe and engine revolution.
DeleteRemember, that F-15 was designed starting in 1967, with first production flight in 1972.
Can you imagine, from design concept to first flight, producing a front-line next-gen fighter in 5 years?
Lesse, F-35, started in the '80s, then early 90's then middle 90's, then the tech demonstrator flew in 2001, then the first production was in 2006.
‘78 was three wives ago, with three kids, two still in diapers.
DeleteI think they "droned" the last of my Phantoms or stuck them on a stick somewhere. Lord only knows where the Deuces are.
DeleteSuz, given that in 78 I had completed my masters and was in Pilot training, You're a spring chicken in comparison. Don't even get me started on what OLD Sarge was doing at the time.
Delete'78? I was transitioning from Kadena to Kunsan.
DeleteSo yeah, it wasn't THAT long ago, feels like yesterday.
Yes. Yes it does.
DeleteWatching planes take off and land, sigh. Another thing killed off by our rabid need for security, real or imagined.
ReplyDeleteI can watch planes take off, circle around, do touch-and-goes, land, repeat, for, well, hours. And the noise does not bother me one bit.
Toss in gunnery and bombing ranges, and Mach Loop type stuff, which I can sleep through because they are relaxing to listen to, and I am totally content.
It's like listening to artillery practicing or tanks/tankettes/AFVs/IFVs (you know, tanks to the rest of the world) firing.
Or a gun range. Ahhhhh. Bliss....
Now that stupid thumpa-thumpa mope-mobile riding around that you can hear the sound system and all the vehicle's fasteners coming loose from 4 blocks away? Listening to a burst from a Bradley or Brrrrt from an A-10 quieting the thumpa-thumpa would be relaxing, very relaxing. The thumpa-thumpa itself? Not so much.
I can’t help but think Buck would say, “That’s turning off the world.”
ReplyDeleteSolitude has a magnificent capacity for refreshing the mind, unless, of course, the mind is twisted.
That’s why I always do my utmost to take good thoughts with me when I go.
Oh, twisted solitude is fun, too. AMHIK.
DeleteI don't have to ask... trust me.
DeleteI'm letting y'all run with the ball today, answering individual comments is, shall we say, rather involved over the past cuppla days. Yesterday's post is the most comments I've ever seen. 'Tis gratifying but a bit overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteSo knock yourselves out, play nice, I'll jump in here and there.
Well, Sarge, THIS should be right down your alley, then.
DeleteMore like this lately.
DeleteNice look forward at the waist cat launch and what it looks like to fly low and slow over the ocean. It is just as well that I couldn't see anything during my one cat shot. That prevented my shrieking like a little girl, and avoided UWES. (Unplanned Waste Ejection Syndrome)
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, very nice music track.
I worked with or came across some Rafale pilots when I was at CENTCOM in the mid 2000s. Something that I found interesting was that they, along with fighter/attack pilots from really any country was the same swagger, a little arrogance, confidence, and irreverant rebelliousness that our own pilots have. Nature or nurture, either way, it works. Great vid. Thanks for finding it.
ReplyDelete