Photos of Navy Blue Angels Colorado Springs Practice Day August 15 2024

On August 12, 2024 a sibling of one of the Blue Angels crew members reached out to us about a photography project. They shared with us a brief story of their brother serving on the Blue Angels Team. After finishing four years with the team, their brother earned the opportunity to fly in the #4 Jet (back seat) with Lieutenant Commander Amanda Lee during a practice day to be held on Thursday August 15th (just 3 days later). We were asked if we could photograph their brother during their once-in-a-lifetime flight with the Blue Angels. Of course we said yes, as this was an exciting opportunity to help out a well deserving member of our Military that had served our country.

The Blue Angels Practice Flight

As part of the practice flight experience, the crew member attends the preflight briefing as well as the post-flight debriefing (along with the pilots). This practice was open only to media and via special invite as it was closed to the general public.

Practice Day Arrival

On practice day I was asked to drive to a specific entrance. Upon arrival at the airfield, I was greeted by the crew member who would be flying in the second seat with Lieutenant Commander Amanda Lee in the F/A-18F #7. We took a few minutes to review the flight program and protocols, given instructions and were then diven to the hot ramp area where the F/A-18E Super Hornets (and F/A-18Fs #7, back ups) were being fueled and readied for the practice flight. Shortly after arriving to the hot ramp, the crew member left for their preflight briefing. We then found a spot to set up our gear. Once settled we checked our camera and lens settings, then found a few good locations near the flight line where we could capture the event. After attending a number of crowded sold out airshows over the years, it was a joy experiencing the Blue Angels’ show on this practice day as it was only open to the media and special invitees.

Photo galleries of the Blue Angels in Colorado Springs

Located below are three photos galleries:

1. The hot ramp, crew, the jets fueling and taxing,
2. in flight maneuvers and,
3. the final flight-line ceremonial salutes given by the Blue Angels’ team.

Blue Angels Photo Gallery of hot ramp, crew and F/A-18 jets taxing

Photo Gallery of Blue Angels in Flight

Photo Gallery of Flight-line Ceremonial Salutes Given by the Blue Angels’ Team.

Photographs of The Blue Angles Practice Day in Colorado Springs

The following camera gear was used in the Aviation Photography of the Photos of The Blue Angles and their F/A-18E Super Hornets (and F/A-18Fs #7) at their Practice day. This closed practice was held one day prior to their demonstrations at the Pikes Peak Regional Airshow in Colorado Springs, Colorado:

• a Nikon Z8 with the Nikon MB-N12 is a multi-battery vertical grip,
• F-Stop Gear Aloe Green Tilopa 50L Back Pack (with large Pro ICU),
• a Really Right Stuff TVC 34L tripod,
• the Movo GH800 Carbon Fiber Professional Gimbal Tripod Head with Arca-Swiss Quick-Release Plate,
• with a Really Right Stuff BH-50 LR Ballhead,
• the Nikon Z72 with a Really Right Stuff L-Bracket,
• a NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S lens,
• and a NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR Lens with an Arca Swiss Plate for the Tripod foot.

Many of the Flight Line photos shown here were taken with the Nikon Z72 and the NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S lens. The in-flight photos were all taken hand held or with a Gimbal and tripod set up using the NIKKOR Z 180-600mm on the Z8. The Z8 was set to use Auto ISO at f/9 with minimum shutter speed of 1/3200 of a second. The ISO would fluctuate between 640 and 1600. The native ISO of settings of 64 was used on the Nikon Z72 and all images captured as RAW files. We also used Adobe Lightroom Classic CC to process all of these images. Located below is a generous gift given to me by the team member I photographed. It is a limited edition signed lithograph. Located above is a scan of the special airshow pass that was also given to us to attend the airshow the following day.

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