Friday Blues

I shucked all responsibilities today and went to Pensacola Beach. The reason; the Blue Angels had a practice for their show Sunday. This is the first time in a long time that I went to the beach and just relaxed. I didn’t bring a camera. I did bring PBJs, water, coke and an audio book—and lots of sunscreen.

I went to the beach by the scenic route through Navarre Beach and the National Seashore. As I approached Pensacola beach I for the first time saw BP cleanup crews at work. Well sort of, They were mostly standing around or sitting under tents. A little further up the road was a huge staging area with about 40 earth movers and shovels and piles of plastic bags. Recently we’ve been fortunate because the winds blew the oil to the west. There’s a lot of it out there. At least equipment is in position to help clean it.

I park in a beachside neighborhood about a mile and a half from the pier where the show is centered. When I arrived I was surprised to see all the spaces close to the beach filled up. I ended up parking about a half mile from the beach entrance I used. I brought my recliner folding chair, the same one I used for fireworks last week, for my seating on the beach. Once at the beach I walked about another half mile closer to the pier and found an appropriate open space to plant my seat.

I arrived around 12:30. The first plane flew by about 20 minutes later. The performers today were:

• Grumman Widgeon G-44 flown by Julian MacQueen

• Team RV Precision Formation Flying Team—10 aircraft flying together and in multiple small formations. The sky is full of airplanes doing interesting stunts—very entertaining.

• Prometheus Flown by Skip Stewart—this guy is CRAZY but crazy-good. He did things with this aircraft I couldn’t believe. He started all his maneuvers at about 10ft (if that high) off the water. On one of his maneuvers it looked like he was going to fly under the pier. A woman near me actually screamed thinking he would hit it. He pulled up at the last moment. Like I said this guy is crazy. I actually said “holy sh*t” out loud a number of times while I watched his performance.

• Red Star and the Dragon–Dragon Aviation –Vietnam era planes that usually do mock combat maneuvers but just flew in formation today.

• Fat Albert, a C-130 Hercules

• The Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornets –everybody knows these guys. This show is much more dangerous and entertaining than what the AF Thunderbirds do. Since the Blues fly just off the beach you are up close enough to appreciate the precision of their formations.

I really enjoyed the show. I waited a half-hour after the show to leave. There was little traffic going my way(East) but the cars were still backed up on the western lanes. The skies were clear for the show but now a small storm was bearing down on the area.

It was a fun and relaxing day for me. Seeing and hearing high performance aircraft fly around didn’t used to be so special when I worked on the base. Now, after 5 years of retirement it is a treat.