SAN FRANCISCO—The Blue Angels dazzled the San Francisco skies this past weekend as one million supporters came out to Crissy Field and along Marina Green to watch a spectacular show put on by the U.S. Navy for Fleet Week festivities.
Highlights from the Fleet Week included the three day air show, which included the Navy Leap Frogs Parachute Team, tours throughout the Parade of Ships, and a Coast Guard rescue demonstration.
The first air show took place over the Bay on Saturday, October 10, and the locals reported that the Blue Angels could be heard all across the city as spectators watched their precise piloting skills that often led them to be only 17-inches apart from one another.
The Blue Angels pilots and crew congregated at Pier 29 to sign autographs and meet their fans after their performance. The Blue Angels will be in Hawaii to perform at the highly anticipated Kaneohe Bay Air Show.
Though most of the city came out to enjoy the spectacle, some impacts the performance took on the city were not as welcomed, particularly reports of the gridlock traffic the city faced after the performance. Fleet Week attendee, Trinity Drummond, posted about sitting in traffic moving less than two blocks over the span of an hour.
There were also reports of road and public transit congestion due to President Obama and Kanye West being in town for the Democratic National Committee Fundraiser concert.
Raiders fans are pinning the team’s unexpected 16-10 loss to be attributed to the Blue Angels’ “ill-timed flyover” over the Oakland East Bay area, according to NFL writer John Breech.
The noise pollution caused by the jets’ performance is believed primarily to have been a distraction to Quarterback Derek Carr, and to have caused a ripple effect of miscommunication between Carr and his team of receivers.
