These past two years, I’ve told myself that I’m getting out town during fleet week. These past two years, I’ve failed to get out of town during fleet week.
I experienced my first fleet week in 2024, after which I thought, “ok, cool – I’m not sure I need to see another one.” I have mixed feelings about it.
The kid in me still marvels at the technical display – the precision and speed of fighter jets and, well, fighter jets… cool. They fly straight up into the air. They dive straight down. They roll over. Some of them hover, some come very close to breaking the sound barrier (I think I’ve heard a sonic boom). They perform stunts, one flying upside-down very close to and above another one. They perform close passes. They emit red, white, and blue contrails. They fly fast enough that a vapor barrier (a small cloud) forms around their nose cones. There’s a jumbo jet that flies low over the Golden Gate Bridge and does nose dives – which is such an odd thing to see. There are old-time propeller stunt planes and state-of-the-art jets. There’s also a parade of ship – war ships making their way into the San Francisco Bay (I have yet to see this). But that’s about where the coolness of fleet week ends.
The adult in me recognizes the terror such planes and ships strike as they launch missiles and very intentionally scare the shit out of foreign populations and the enemies we target. Aside from the stunt planes, these are weapons of war, which always remains front of mind for me. And while the Blue Angels aren’t flying combat missions, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet (the plane the Blue Angels fly) is carrying out missions in Iran. I can’t imagine having them flying day and night while dropping bombs.
Then there’s the cost and environmental impact. The Blue Angels (the headlining act for fleet week’s air show) cost $36M per year to operate. The planes they fly cost $67M to build. It costs over $17,000 per hour for each plane to fly. Combined, the planes will emit over 800,000 pound of carbon dioxide (SF Chronicle “What do Blue Angels flying over SF cost taxpayers, environment?”). All of which seems like a pretty big tax-payer funded price tag.
In addition to what the jets represent (war) and the cost, there’s the noise. It’s impossible to forget the noise. The parade ground for the airshow is over the Bay between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. My neighborhood is next to the Bay between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. Yes, they buzz the entire city, but most of the action happens in the skies above where I live. My apartment shakes from Thursday afternoon (when they practice) through Sunday – thankfully it’s limited to a few hours each day. As I’m writing this, planes are zipping by. During that first year, I took a walk along Fisherman’s Wharf when a F22 or F35 stealth fighter flew directly over my head and very low. It felt like my ear drums might burst and it set off car alarms. It is an astonishing amount of noise.
Then there are the marines and sailors. Lots of them – roughly 2,500 of them. Enough to fill many of the bars and clubs in the city. North Beach, where the strip joints are, gets hit the hardest, but every neighborhood with a commercial strip of restaurants and bars gets their fair share of marines and sailors. They travel in packs, always dressed in uniform, sometimes drunk, sometimes rowdy. Last night, my friends and I went to an arcade bar before a concert. There were a dozen or so sailors playing pool. They weren’t overly obnoxious (it was still early) though they seemed keen on banging the ends of the pool cues against the floor when they made a good shot or missed an easy shot. The night before, four sailors walked down my street bar hopping and shouting along the way (with the occasional obscenity mixed in).
With an estimated 1 million people visiting the city for the week, it’s an economic boon with some messy side effects. The pub where I hang out will be extra crowded and will have extra door guys and bartenders. The neighborhood will probably have extra cops and hopefully enough trash cans and porta potties. It will be difficult to get around, especially in my neighborhood which has had a series of transportation and congestion misfires during its last two big events (July 4th fireworks from the Golden Gate Bridge and F1 race cars on Marina Boulevard).
There are those who love fleet week, those who hate it, and plenty of people like me with mixed feelings. My bartender friends hate the crowds and the noise, but like the extra money. I don’t get any extra money from it, so for me it’s mostly nuisance and noise mixed with inconvenience. I’ll probably try to see the parade of ships, and since I’m already here, I might watch some of the air show – after which I’ll tell myself, “maybe next year, I’ll get out of town.”