McDonnell Douglas FA-18 Hornet (16-1959)

The Blue Angels departure for the main act. Blue Angel #2 (161959, cn 0171/A133) experienced a landing gear systems failure on takeoff at the Cleveland National Air Show on 3 Sep 2006. You can see the gear still down. The aircraft landed without incident and the team transitioned to the backup aircraft without skipping a beat. Blue Angel #7 then flew to NAS Oceana with a mechanic in the back seat, to get a small landing gear actuator. Crews worked all night and finished the job. Teamwork at its finest!