Witness the Jaw-Dropping Takes-off CF-188A Hornet at RIAT 24!

Now THAT'S what a air display should look like! Exciting, dynamic, entertaining, skilful. I'm really impressed by the F18 also. I didn't realise it could do such things.

I recently watched a video on The Fighter Pilot Podcast where he interviewed a test pilot that has flown the F-14, the legacy F-18C from the USMC, the F-18 E and F Super Hornet, F-15 C and E, and F16. He said in a phone booth dogfight he'd take the legacy Hornet every time. Elwyn, this video was spectacular! Thanks for sharing.

Props to Tango and all the CF-18 Demonstration Team for a great presentation. The old girl (CF188A) still has some awesome dance moves left in her, with the right partner of course. Makes us proud. As always, very high quality camera work Elwyn. Thank you.

Wow - thought those 'turkey feathers' were going to hit the ground on takeoff from the thumbnail. Guess +30K worth of afterburning thrust prevents that! LOL I'm old enough to remember as a kid when T-33, F-5, F-104 and F-101 were still flying around up here in Kanuckistan. When the CF-18 was introduced in 1983 it was a monumental upgrade for the Canadian Air Force. Still a magnificent aircraft 40 years later. Thanks for this great video! Cheers from Manitoba!

Thanks for that video, Elwyn. As a Canadian it is nice to see our Demo bird up there, and winning best livery and the team won best solo jet display!

Best Hornet demo I've ever seen! Extremely skilled pilot! 👍👏😎

It's nice to hear something good said about the CF-18 for once.

Our Demo team are bloody amazing! Outstanding flying by RCAF, they might have older equipment but they know how to get the best performance out of that equipment. So proud of our pilots and crew. 🇨🇦❤️🇨🇦❤️ Amazing video Thank you🇨🇦❤️

That is some of the best acrobatic flying I’ve ever seen. It was like an aerial ballet! Genius!

Just saying as a Canadian... Thanks! Spent five years in a CF-18 squadron as an Avionics technician. Being a fighter pilot is something else. They've always had my upmost respect. I had it easy as a guy on the ground. People see the airplane but as a pilot you need to be in tremendous shape. Seen all sorts of pilots with green faces after landing. They're like one step away from passing out. It's gruelling to be a fighter pilot and most people can't handle it. We had techs in our squadron who would go up in the back seat. Forget about this demonstration stuff... They would come back burnt and have to sleep for two days straight, lol. Gravity is brutal!

Elwyn: You never disappoint and thank-you for your kind comments to us Canadians. Our boys are doing their best with what they get to fly and they give it their all.

Us Canadians love a Legacy Hornet dirty roll!!

shall we just leave the 'flying the airplane' to the pilot?

Those maneuvers are incredible, almost unbelievable! His trust in the airplane is absolute.

First time the Cannucks brought their Hornets to Mildenhall ((85 or 86 ?), they did that wheels out, take-off roll - My mates and I were right at the front, honestly thought we were all about to witness 'a very news-worthy incident' !! Cheers from NZ (again).

Superb display. Definitely one of the best solos I’ve ever seen.

My outmost respect for this pilot. He must be a combination of a ballerina and the Hercules! Long Gs in tight knife-edge turns, a high altitude Cobra? And a trust vectoring ballet in an aircraft without trust-vectoring nozzles!!! Proud of our northern neighbors, bravo!

I’m lucky enough to live in the area of Canada that the CF-18 demo team and the Snowbirds do their spring training, we get to see these guys fly twice a day for a few weeks and it’s always a blast. Great paint scheme this year too to celebrate 100 years of the Canadian Air Force!

Yes the dirty roll on take off is routine for the Canadian demo but seeing it from this angle makes it look awesome, great filming Elwyn! There is a video of a twilight demo from Abbotsford I believe where it does look like the pilot was melting the runway with the blowers on take-off which is also incredible. I watched numerous Canadian demos in person from 1987-2005 then had a 15 year gap with no airshows in my area until 2019. They really have made the demo much more dynamic with high G/AoA maneuvers and over the crowd passes. It truly is one of the world class jet demos out there. It blew away the USAF F-16 demo I saw that same day.

Damn… that was bad ass!