The Memorial Day weekend included the visit to Boeing Field of four F/A-18 Hornets from the US Marine Corps.  I had heard that they were in the area but wasn’t able to get out to see them until the Monday of the holiday weekend when they were due to head home.  Weather was a bit overcast so not great for shooting a grey jet!  Still, I wasn’t going to ignore them.  When I got there, the crews were just beginning to look like they would be ready to go.

However, things were not going to be smooth.  One of the jets was the color jet and I had heard that it had been leaking fuel during the stay.  Sure enough, when they fueled it up for departure, it must have leaked again because a bunch of ground crew – presumably from the FBO – were suddenly out with absorbent pads and brooms to clean up whatever had spilled.  This took quite a while to get done so the four pilots were hanging around the jets waiting to be clear to go.

Finally, everything was tidied up and they crewed in for departure.  The sound of engines starting was a positive one but, as one jet fired up one of the engines, it definitely didn’t sound like it was spooling up at the same rate as the others.  Sure enough, one jet shut down and the pilot hopped out of the cockpit, walked back down the fuselage and slid to the ground.  I’m not sure what he did to the jet but he then retraced his steps, back up on the jet and strapped back in.  This time, the start sequence went okay and they were all ready to taxi.