AirCARE1 was able to get up close and personal with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels during ‘The Great Florida Air Show’ at the Orlando Melbourne International Airport last weekend, May 15-16, 2021. We have called the MLB airport home to our third base of operations and were thrilled to get front row seats for the airshow. After meeting the Blue Angel pilots, we have put together 10 interesting facts that we learned about them that you might not know!
Fact #1
The Blue Angel Air Show season goes from March through November every year
Fact #2
Blue Angel pilots usually tour for 2-3 seasons at a time and are on the road every week of that season, with minimal breaks. Because of this demanding schedule, most pilots are single.
Fact #3
The Blue Angels headline air shows most weekends during the season all around the United States. Their team starts trickling in a couple of days prior to the shows:
- The narrator, Blue Angel #7, arrives to the airport first on the Wednesday before the show. The narrator pilots a spare Hornet brought to the airshow as a backup aircraft. He speaks with the public and covers interviews prior to the shows.
- The Lockheed C-130 Hercules, Fat Albert, arrives the Thursday before the weekend show. This aircraft transports all specialized maintenance and support personnel, as well as necessary equipment, and plane parts. Support personnel includes flight surgeons, security, public affairs, marketing and other members that help the flight demonstration team.
- Soon after the Blue Angels come in with their F-16 Hornets, they perform a couple of practice runs the Friday before the show.
Fact #4
The Blue Angels are kept on a pretty tight schedule the weekend of the Air Shows. We know that before every show they have a flight briefing (around noon), Are ready to walk out to their van at 3pm, get to their aircraft and start the show at 3:30 sharp, if everything goes smoothly. The entire show is 40-45 minutes long.
Fact #5
The Blue Angels are constantly eating and drinking. Their strict diet helps maintain a certain body fat volume and coupled with hydration their body can properly fight g forces.
Fact #6
The Blue Angels have mandatory gym time 6 days a week. This is not only to help them maintain their fit physique to fit into their suits, but it’s also necessary to perform their tight maneuvers’ during flight. Their workouts focus on their core, glutes, and the big muscles in the mid part of the body so they can squeeze and manage blood flow during their tricks. The pilots are sometimes compared to professional athletes because of the physical intensity and skill required to fly.
Fact #7
They wear super fitted anti-gravitational suits because they aren’t able to wear compression suits. They do not wear compression suits because they interfere with their ability to control the flight stick and move the jets into the team’s famous tight formations.
Fact #8
The Blue Angels fly six F-16 Hornets during the show, but they have a total of 8 jets available just in case they have any mechanical issues. A pilot can land, switch jets and take off in the matter of 5 minutes during a show, if needed (we saw this firsthand!).
Fact #9
“Applicant” Blue Angels come to the shows to experience the shows firsthand prior to trying out for the team.
Fact #10
There are currently no female pilots that fly during the shows, this is due to female pilots not being able to pass the rigorous and physically demanding tests to become a Blue Angel. There are women on the Blue Angels support team. We still encourage female pilots to work hard and keep trying to join the flight demonstration team.
About AirCARE1
In January 2021 AirCARE1 opened a base of operations in Melbourne, Florida to provide faster and more cost-efficient transport services to patients on the east coast. The Florida base is our third base, added to our Phoenix, AZ base and base headquarters in Albuquerque, NM. We transport critically ill patients utilizing our fleet of company owned Learjet aircraft, outfitted as airborne hospital intensive care units. We also provide Medical Escorts for commercial travel for more stable patients. AirCARE1 has dual accreditation by both CAMTS and EURAMI to prove our commitment to higher standards of safety and patient care, we are the only Air Ambulance provider with these dual accreditations on the east coast. AirCARE1 provides care through empathy and compassion to make a difference in the lives of our patients while advancing the healing process through our Holistic approach to patient care.
