Fighter jet that buzzed Berkeley was "personal air show" from one bro to another

A U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet of the type that flew low over Berkeley on Tuesday. Photo: U.S. Navy


A U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet of the type that flew low over Berkeley on Tuesday. Photo: U.S. Navy

On Tuesday, Berkeley residents (including me!) were startled to hear the loud roar of an F-18 on full afterburner flying low over the city.

The jet triggered car alarms, upset dogs, disrupted hot yoga classes, and just generally freaked everyone out.

On Berkeleyside.com, someone calling himself "TheCulprit" posted that the pilot was his brother.

"It was an awesome personal air show," he wrote.

Berkeleyside confirmed the commenter attends UC Berkeley, and his brother is a pilot with the U.S. Navy stationed at LeMoore NAS.

"TheCulprit" said by email that his brother "is moving to Texas at the end of the week so he thought it would be cool to fly over campus while I was there before he left. Not that much to the story unfortunately."

The Navy is investigating.

"Fighter pilot who flew jet over Berkeley was giving nod to brother at Cal; Navy is investigating" [Berkeleyside]