Hornet Ball 2014: the best naval aviation video of the year

October 23, 2014 Aircraft Carriers, Military Aviation, Top Stories

David Cenciotti

Once again, Hornet Ball is the best naval aviation video of the year.

The Hornet Ball (Strike Fighter Ball Pacific) is an annual event consisting of all the West coast Naval F/A-18C Legacy Hornet and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet squadrons, their pilots and guests.

Each year the event features a video, produced by “Wingnut”, a Hornet pilot himself, compiled from all the squadrons’ last year of flying in both combat and training missions: catapult launches, trap landings, aerobatics, dogfighting against Su-30s and Mig-29s, live firing of air-to-air missiles, HARM anti-radion missiles, LGBs (Laser Guided Bombs), cluster bombs, low level flying in the desert, ATFLIR (Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared) pod clips, and much more.

Here’s the Hornet Ball 2013.

H/T Tom Demerly and Al Clark for the heads-up

About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

stracy says:

November 9, 2014 at 8:25 PM

Horrible music…frantic editing. Kill the music and leave each scene up long enough so the viewer could appreciate the beautiful video!!
No One says:

November 13, 2014 at 12:56 AM

Why are they formatting with Sukhoi -30 MKI’s around the 8:36 mark. No one in the Pacific operates them. The Video is a fake.
- couch rocket says:
  
  November 14, 2014 at 5:41 PM
  
  moron – read up on what the annual even Hornet Ball is. Ever hear of Red Flag @ Nellis? It’s kinda like that. Nothing fake about this video whatsoever.
Bill T says:

November 15, 2014 at 2:32 AM

I flew over 5000 hours during a 20+ year career as a naval aviator during which I flew 385 combat missions. I had 800 CV landings with 200 being at night. I always flew with standard issue gloves, so I don’t understand the statements about finger cut gloves. Gloves were worn as protection in case of cockpit fires and might be important in the event of a cold weather survival situation.