With no wifi at St Joseph’s we emerged to find emails from worried family members and the news that Hurricane Irene had touched down 3 times along the East Coast, killing up to 25 people and causing some real devastation with 200k winds and flying debris etc. Although she didn’t hit Florida they had some pretty bad weather and the Keys were a mess so all in all we think we did the right thing.
Few friends know that I wanted to be a fighter pilot when I grew up. I studied hard at maths and geography and did everything I thought I needed to do to get into the South African airforce. Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s south Africa still had a half decent airforce with the fighter jet squadrons consisting of French built Mirage F1 and F3 fighters. When even France considered it political suicide to sell us any new military equipment we managed to update our airforce with the Cheetah, a mirage F3 convert compliments of Israel( who for those who don’t know also sold South Africa the technology for us to build 5 atom bombs). Anyway, when I was close to leaving school, dad took us to an Airforce airshow at Waterkloof airbase. It was here I found out that being 6.4 inches tall would mean I would only be able to fly the transport planes. The reason was that if I had to eject from a fighter jet, I would leave everything from below my knees in the plane whilst the rest of me parachuted to the ground. Gutted. I have always wanted to take Kath to a proper airshow. Not warbirds over Wanaka where everything in the sky is 50 years old. To see their faces when a jet fighter buzzes us overhead would be great. I knew the Blue Angels were probably the best aerobatic team in the world and I checked out their website. Fortunately I found out that we could make their two practices in Pensacola if we got a move on. We made it just in time and what a time we had.
We set up camp at Big Lagoon State Park, about 10 minutes drive from the air base, right on the state border of Alabama and Florida. We got up early and threw the kids in the car. We got to the naval base security check point where we were part of a queue of navy staff who had to flash their military IDs to get in. I thought we were in the wrong place and they weren’t going to let us in (I mean they train navy seals, they have their best aircrafts and top aerobatics team, navy ships and subs all here). When they asked me for ID I told them I didn’t have any. Meanwhile my wife has already got her NZ license out and is passing it over, I was already snorting that that wasn’t what he was after when he gave me a weird look and accepted it. I then dug mine out and put my best kiwi accent on while trying not to look too hard at all his weapons.
This base itself is huge, this is where they filmed GI Jane and it has a great naval aviation museum. We found the car park and walked towards some hangars where there were officials standing. They waved us on to the runway. Now this is where I started getting surprised. At all other airshows the crowds are kept well back (like 2kms) from the runways in case of an accident etc. WE WERE RIGHT ON THE RUNWAY.
 |
| Kath and kids excited |
 |
| Leo and I next to Blue Angel |
 |
| Like I said, right on the runway! |
 |
| Leo taking a stroll on the tarmac |
We excitedly took our seats and were amazed there there were so few people and the show was going to start. Then Justin got talking about the Blue Angels to some officials and we realised we had driven through a time zone chance just after Tallassee, so….we had shown up about 1.5 hrs early. Oh well. Beside the hangers they had rows and rows of aircrafts for us to look at and we were able to look inside a G5 Galaxy named Fat Albert (the support teams plane).
By the time the show was about to start, the stand had filled with people (about 50). The two solo hornets taxied right past us to their starting positions and blew their display smoke right in front of us. Leo was absolutely beside himself because it’s all about “smogs” at the moment (what he calls exhaust pipes).
The Blue Angels were founded by Admiral Nimitz during WWII as a motivational exercise to drum up support, they are celebrating their 65th anniversary this year. There are 6 in the team and they are America’s elite Navy Aerobatic team. They have shows every weekend all over the states and practise on their home turf in Pensacola just 10 times a year on a Tuesday and Wednesday. Visit http://www.blueangels.navy.mil/ to check out their timetable if you are in the area. The practises are supposed to be better than the shows because this is when they try out new moves….and it’s completely FREE.
The jet itselt if a F-18A Hornet, stripped of it’s war excess weight and baggage. There is 50 hours of maintenance on this plane for every ONE hour of flight. They go at about 695 miles per hour during the show but the hornet is capable of 1400 miles per hour.
The show consisted mainly of 4 jets who flew in tight diamond formation and two solo’s, they then joined up and did some amazing manoeuvres (an official overheard Kath ask Leo if he liked the plane’s tricks, he promptly told her “The Army does tricks ma’am, the navy does manoeuvres”). Having the jets come right over us and do their cross overs, barrel turns, 360’s etc right over the runway was an experience I’ll never forget. Leo couldn’t take his eyes off them. This was by far and away the best airshow I’ve ever seen because of our proximity and the skills demonstrated by the pilots. Check out this link to see what I’m talking about http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeoZFnlebuk (Fast forward to about 8.10mins to where they take off)
 |
| Diamond formation |
 |
| Spencer spellbound |
When they fly in formation they are about 18 inches apart and apparently afterwards they check for melted or scraped paint on the planes to see how close they got. The pilots don’t wear G suits and the pull up to 8Gs during the show.
The average age of the pilots is 38 and every 2 years about 320 pilots from the marines and navy try out for the team. Only two are selected. These two rotate in and every alternate year two of the team rotate out. The tests are based on physical, academic, flying skills and psychological fit with the current team members.
The show itself is about 45 minutes long, we were a bit of a novelty because we were from NZ so one of the officials sat behind us and narrated all the moves as they happened and gave us back ground on the team etc. It was fantastic. Even Spencer thought it was great. At the end of the show the planes land one at a time and taxi back down the runway blowing their smoke and the kids get invited out onto the runway to wave. Both Spencer and Leo went and loved it, although Spencer was a bit uncertain when mummy disappeared!
After the show you can climb up into a Blue Angel cockpit and have a photo taken so I took Leo and tried it out myself. Sitting in the cockpit I realised that they were speaking the truth, it was so cramped and there would have been no way I could exit quickly if need be.
The museum is awesome, it has F14s, F15s, Cobra Gunships, missiles, Anti submarine helicoptors, Hueys, TomKats, F4 Phantoms and the list goes on. It also has a great kids playground with old cockpits and loads of buttons, switches etc. We stayed for about 2 hours so the kids could have a good nosy.
 |
| The ultimate fighter jet - Tomcat |
 |
| SAM Missile |
 |
| Check out size of bomb next to Leo |
 |
| Checking out the F4 Phantom |
 |
| Kath wishing she was first lady - Presidential helicopter |
 |
| Captain Leo |
 |
| The long climb |
We had such a great time and went home on a real high. After a swim at the beach later, we decided to go the second day too, there were a lot more people and at least four new manoeuvres (including coming from behind us low and giving us a fright which Leo loved) so it was worth it. We took no photos this time, just sat and absorbed it all. At the end Leo went out with about 40 other kids onto the runway and waved the American flag as they taxied past.
 |
| Spot the kiwi kid who really wants a kiwi flag |
 |
| Leo on left, finally got the spirit of things |
 |
| Signing Leo's Blue Angel hornet |
On Wednesday practises you get to meet the pilots, so we bought a poster and a Blue Angel jet for Leo and lined up. Leo really wanted to meet the pilots and show them his plane so Kath got the signature on the poster (for my bar when I build it) and Leo showed them his plane. The first pilot signed Leo’s plane too which gave him a bit of a shock but he got into the spirit and asked each pilot from there on in to sign a certain part of his hornet. These guys are in primo condition and were very “cool”, it was only 10 mins after the show and they didn’t have a bead of sweat on them. Us on the other hand, we were frazzled and sweaty after sitting in the hot sun.
 |
| Leo and I with Captain (#1 jet) |
 |
| Love this look on Leo's face |
If you are ever in the area where the Blue Angels are flying, I thoroughly recommend that you make the effort to see them. I don’t know if you will get as close as we did during an actual show but if you go to the practises you will not regret it.
Oh yeah, and we spent some time chilling around the state park too.
 |
| Gulf of Mexico |
 |
| Apparently only one alligator |
No comments:
Post a Comment