Here comes excitement in the skies … that you can see, hear and feel!
The Blue Angels are scheduled to zip over Annapolis, Maryland, on Tuesday and Wednesday. It’s part of the U.S. Naval Academy’s Commissioning Week. How do the pilots pull off these dazzling shows?
Chesapeake Bay Magazine Editorial Director Meg Viviano found out — and shared what she learned with WTOP.
Read the transcript below.
Meg Viviano: I got the chance to interview fighter jet expert Ward Carroll. He is based in Annapolis. He went to the Naval Academy himself, and he became a backseater in an F-14 Tomcat. So that means, as a backseater, he was like the Goose to Maverick in “Top Gun.”
The Blue Angels actually fly in for each show in Annapolis from Andrews Air Force Base, which sounds kind of far to us. But it’s like a blink of an eye when you’re in a Super Hornet.
They come up the Severn River. The central focus point of the whole show is actually a white bus that is parked in the middle of the Route 450 bridge over the Severn River. And that white bus turns out to be a focal point, a frame of reference for these pilots, for their full 45-minute show.
So, people wonder sometimes when the weather’s a bit iffy, is the show going to go on today? Are they going to have to keep low? The answer is if they are coming up the river and they can’t see that white bus, then the show’s not going on.
We also asked him about some of those popular moves you see the Blue Angels do, the diamond formation, that’s usually how they lead off the show. It looks like those six planes are all working together and flying exactly in sync.
And it turns out the front-center pilot is the only one who’s actually steering a course. The other pilots all around him are just steering off of him. So, everything centers around that one pilot’s accuracy.
I wanted to know what the hardest move actually is for the pilot. And without hesitation Ward said that the hardest move they do is when you see the planes flying in formation and then they peel off towards the sky, like in the shape of a fleur-de-lis, and then they curve back down around and cross each other at the bottom.
Blue Angels take to the skies this week: Here’s what you need to know
The pilots have to work really hard up there. They are against such a lot of force and gravity. But they don’t wear G-suits like pilots do when they’re actually out in the fleet. Because that would limit their mobility too much for their stunt flying.
These guys just have to have a ton of core strength and handle their bodies to keep the blood from pulling where it’s not supposed to so they don’t pass out. They actually have to work out twice a day just for the stamina to do these 45-minute shows.
WTOP’s Michelle Basch: My goodness. OK.
Meg Viviano: We have a full interview at cheasapeakebaymagazine.com or on our YouTube channel.
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