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A RAAF F/A-18F Super Hornet flew just 70 metres from Brisbane’s skyscrapers on Friday to prepare for Riverfire festival.
YouTubers posted these incredible videos showing how close the fighter jet came to the city’s buildings. At full speed, the aircraft can reach 2,000 kilometres per hour.
The Super Hornet will return for a full performance on Saturday evening at 5:20pm followed by a flyover from Army MRH-90 Taipans and EC655 Eurocopter Tigers ten minutes later.
RAAF aircraft appearing to ‘weave’ between Brisbane skyscrapers has become an annual event in the Queensland capital, with the videos regularly going viral globally.
Last year, Australian Aviation reported how a then-three-year-old video of Globemaster received more than 100,000 likes and 6,000 comments on the discussion website Reddit.
Reports at the time suggested the aircraft flew at an altitude of 100 metres and cruised at 300km/h.
Riverfire draws an estimated 500,000 attendees each year and, in 2022, will open, rather than close, the Brisbane Festival in the city’s South Bank.
“Brisbane Festival also provides important employment for artists and arts workers, with more than 1,100 Queensland artists featured in this year’s festival, including more than 160 First Nations artists,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
“This year, the festival boasts more than 580 performances including 230 free presentations with 22 new works.”
Australia originally bought the Super Hornet to act as a stopgap between the retirement of the RAAF’s Classic Hornets and the delayed arrival of their true successor, the fifth-generation F-35.
Today, the RAAF has 24 Super Hornets and 11 Growlers, which have also participated in Exercise Pitch Black in the Northern Territory and Exercise Bersama Shield on the Malaysian Peninsula.
Both models are operated out of RAAF Base Amberley in Queensland after arriving in 2010 and achieved final operational capability in 2012.
The US navy has a fleet of more than 600 Super Hornets, and the aircraft were flown in the new Top Gun film.
Steve
says:Please please pretty please can we fly under the Story Bridge….. That’s a NEGATIVE Ghost rider the pattern is fun…..??
Diana Marshall
says:Fantastic shots. Saw the Hornet display from one of the hills to the north of the CBD. The most extraordinary moment was when it went straight up like a rocket lifting off at the end of the display. As a tiny dot in the sky, it eventually banked and headed for Archerfield. Remember seeing an F111 almost 20 years ago when it did its afterburn run during Riverfire. Saw it go past the hotel window and had a fantastic view of the pilot. He was at our eye level. Used to work for an airline, so love the thrill of the ride.
Steve Wilson
says:Actually, the Super Hornets were purchased to fill the gap created by the retirement of the F111 from RAAF service, not the classic Hornets. That’s why they are based at Amberley at 1 and 6 Squadrons. The Growlers were added later as part of a new capability.
Rocket
says:Oh, wow, 2,000kph…………. One of the slowest combat aircraft around…. The F-111 could fly the better part of twice the speed as can the F-15 and the F-35 is even slower than the F-18F. The F-18 is a piece of junk….