Lt. Rob Kurrle admits having the jitters the first time he performed as a member of the Blue Angels, headliners for this weekend's Airfest at MacDill Air Force Base.
"I got nervous my first show. I think it was just stage fright," says Kurrle, who is in his first year with the Navy's famed flight demonstration team. "We do 120 practice flights prior to our first air show, and it's nerves like just before a basketball game or a football game. But I'm fine now."
It takes years of training and thousands of hours in the cockpit before a pilot can fly F/A-18 Hornets as part of the Blue Angels. Kurrle says it's an exciting and challenging profession. During some maneuvers, the wingtips between jets just inches apart.
The 16-member Blue Angel team is stationed in Pensacola during the show season and spends January through March training pilots and new team members at the Naval Air Facility in El Centro, Calif.
The Blue Angels flew into Tampa today for the annual Airfest, which will also feature more than a dozen military aircraft on display as well as demonstrations and food.
"One of the new things that we have is the Navy Seals team. They have a demonstration out on the ramp." Lt. Col. Patrick Thompson said. "We also have the Army Experience for those who basically want to grab an M-16 and run around the Army Experience with that."
The Army's Virtual Army Experience allows people to go on a virtual anti-terrorist mission through interactive state-of-the-art military technology.
Airfest is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The Blue Angels are scheduled to perform at 3 p.m. both days.
The Dale Mabry Highway and MacDill Avenue gates to the base will be open to the public at 8 a.m. both days, however there is limited parking.
For information, call (813) 828-7569 or go to www.macdill-airfest.com.
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