The U.S. Navy Blue Angels will be headlining this year’s Atlanta Air Show Nov. 5-6 at the Atlanta Regional Airport in Peachtree City. The show will also feature an A-10 Thunderbolt II Demo, the Navy Seals Leap Frogs, an Attack Helicopter Demo, the Full Throttle Formation Team, an F4U Corsair Demo, as well as aerobatic pilots.
2022 will be the second year that the Atlanta Air Show has been at Atlanta Regional Airport.
“It’s a boutique type of show, a lot more containable, and the folks here in Peachtree City work with us very well, and it’s just a wonderful show. We are able to bring out a lot of people. Logistically, it is handled very well. We work great with the city and great with the area officials,” said Chris Dirato, Director of Public Relations for the Atlanta Air Show.
This year’s big draw? The Blue Angels.
95.5 WSB Meteorologist Christina Edwards spoke with Captain Brian Kesselring, Blue Angels Commanding Officer and Flight Leader ahead of this weekend’s show.
“To come over here, and to represent our Brothers and Sisters in Arms, all across America and again in Peachtree City, it is super cool,” Kesselring said.
He will be flying the #1 F-18 Super Hornet, the premiere strike fighter for the United States Navy. “If you were to look at the bulk of the strike fighters on any air craft carrier, this is what you would see. In fact, in a former life, this was flying off a former air craft carrier itself,” said Kesselring.
And these F-18 Super Hornets are fast. According to Kesselring, “It can go darn near Mach 2, so almost twice the speed of sound. But we’re not going to do that here in Peachtree, that would be getting a little bit loud. So we keep it under that, but we’ll get out there and go pretty fast, 600 mph is kind our fastest that we will go.”
At those speeds, the Blue Angels take a lot of precautions to stay safe and avoid g-force induced loss of consciousness (g-LOC), but g-suits are not one of them. “We fly so precisely that a g-suit will interfere with how we are flying. So it’s actually more dangerous to have one on,” said Kesselring.
The Blue Angels represent over 800,000 active duty, reserve, and civilian support personnel in the Navy and Marine Corps. They fly in numerous air shows throughout the year, and will be flying both days of the Atlanta Air Show.
Visit airshowatlanta.com for tickets and more information on this year’s show.
>>WATCH:
U.S. Navy Blue Angels fly over Atlanta Regional Airport as they arrive in Peachtree City for the 2022 Atlanta Air Show:
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Christina Edwards’ full interview with Captain Brian C. Kesselring, Commanding Officer and Flight Leader of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels:
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