New footage shared with the Chronicle shows the Canadian Snowbirds pilots executing a hair-raising choreography of “Top Gun” style acrobatics as they dip, turn and twirl above San Francisco’s famed landmarks on a sparklingly sunny day last week.
The video, taken from the planes, shows the Snowbirds — who headlined the Fleet Week air show after the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels were grounded during the shutdown — zipping past the city’s downtown skyscrapers like Salesforce Tower and over the piers.
They make their first stomach-turning loop once they’re well above the bay, which is dotted with boats of spectators. From there, the Snowbirds cruise past the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island.
Coils of white exhaust stream out behind the red-and-white planes, which are emblazoned with Canadian maple leaves, as they perform aerial ballet moves above the water.
The footage offers a much closer view of the planes themselves than anyone could get from the ground. Their every movement is synchronized, following lead pilot Brent Handy throughout the performance. While the pilots need to be physically fit to tolerate the intense speeds and altitude changes, Handy especially stressed the importance of the breathing techniques that help them stay calm throughout the flight.
“Many folks on the ground believe there’s some kind of automation or something like that,” Handy said. “There’s nothing like that. There’s no autopilot. It’s all purely the hands and feet skill of the pilots that learn to fly them like that.”
It’s the first San Francisco Fleet Week that the Snowbirds have performed in since 2017. The Snowbirds fly nine planes instead of the Blue Angels’ six, and Handy last week emphasized the grace of the formations.