Rhino Ball 2016 is the best compilation of Hornet videos from last year

Amazing footage shows U.S. Hornets at work everywhere, from every point of view. Enjoy!!

You probably know Hornet Ball, the compilation of cool videos produced by LT Joseph “C-Rock” Stephens, an Instructor WSO with the VFA-122 Flying Eagles, and made of clips from most of the squadrons based at NAS Lemoore as well as the 4 forward deployed squadrons in Japan.

Well, this year’s edition has been dubbed “Rhino Ball.”

“The 2016 Rhino Ball video is finally here! From November 1999 through 2015 NAS Lemoore has hosted a mixture of legacy F/A-18A-D Hornets and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, otherwise known as “Rhinos.” Beginning in 2017, the new F-35 Lightning II will also join the presence in central California.

That makes 2016 our Year of the Rhino. Goodbye Hornet Ball and warm feelings to future Strike Fighter Balls, but this year…this year we have the one and only Rhino Ball, with the only official Rhino Ball Video ever made,” says “C-Rock” in the YT video comment.

Through the eye of HD GoPro cameras, the awesome 17-min video brings you aboard West coast F/A-18C Legacy Hornet and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet during flight deck operations, trap landings in  very bad weather or at night, live firing of AIM-9 and AIM-7 air-to-air missiles, JDAMs (Joint Direct Attack Munitions), low-level flying in the mountains and through the famous Jedi Transition, ATFLIR  (Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared) pod clips taken while flying missions in support of Operation Inherent Resolve against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

Here are Hornet Ball 2015, Hornet Ball 2014 and Hornet Ball 2013.

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About David Cenciotti

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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.