Earlier this week, Kerstin showed us what it’s like to be in
the cockpit of the F/A-18 Hornet the jet flown by the U.S. Navy Blue
Angels Team, but what is the experience like when it’s your every day
job?
WDAY 6 reporter Drew Trafton spent the day with the commanding officer of the Blue Angels ahead of this weekend’s Airsho.
If you fly with the Blue Angels, fielding questions comes with the gig,
and that goes double if your fellow pilots call you ‘Boss’.
and that goes double if your fellow pilots call you ‘Boss’.
Captain Tom Frosch pilots the jet with the “number one” on it. The CO
says he genuinely enjoys the work outside the jet, as much as flying.
“To
see a kid just look up and smile at you, they’re thrilled. And you just
hope that when you leave the show you’ve sparked, you maybe sparked the
interest of one child here to follow their dreams and pursue their
goals,” Frosch said.
We asked what’s the question you get most frequently asked when you are out and about doing these air shows?”
“What’s it like?” Frosch answered.
Drew, “What I’m most curious about is what it’s like to harness the
speed of one of these things. This jet can reach 1,400 miles per hour.
That’s about twice the speed of sound.”
“Believe it or not, the jet flies so smoothly, it’s hard to tell if you didn’t look,” Frosch answered.
Another of my curiosities didn’t generate an enthusiastic response.
Drew, “Do you ever get ‘Highway to the Danger Zone’ stuck in your head when you’re flying? Or is that just…”
“No. That movie happened a long time ago,” Frosch answered.
The reason why, is that safety weighs more heavily on the pilots than g-forces.
“Once you get into it you need 45 minutes of just supreme focus,” Frosch said.
Frosch
says if he were the one asking the questions he’d like to shift the
spotlight to the work the 130 person maintenance crew performs on the
29-year-old jets.
“We break the jets a lot. And our maintainers
will stay after, sometimes until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning to make
sure the jets are ready to go for the next day,” he said.
And it’s evident, when talking to those who are the first to arrive and last to leave,the respect is mutual.
The
Blue Angels will headline each session of the Fargo AirSho. It runs
from 11 to 4 on Saturday and Sunday out at Hector International Airport.
says he genuinely enjoys the work outside the jet, as much as flying.
“To
see a kid just look up and smile at you, they’re thrilled. And you just
hope that when you leave the show you’ve sparked, you maybe sparked the
interest of one child here to follow their dreams and pursue their
goals,” Frosch said.
We asked what’s the question you get most frequently asked when you are out and about doing these air shows?”
“What’s it like?” Frosch answered.
Drew, “What I’m most curious about is what it’s like to harness the
speed of one of these things. This jet can reach 1,400 miles per hour.
That’s about twice the speed of sound.”
“Believe it or not, the jet flies so smoothly, it’s hard to tell if you didn’t look,” Frosch answered.
Another of my curiosities didn’t generate an enthusiastic response.
Drew, “Do you ever get ‘Highway to the Danger Zone’ stuck in your head when you’re flying? Or is that just…”
“No. That movie happened a long time ago,” Frosch answered.
The reason why, is that safety weighs more heavily on the pilots than g-forces.
“Once you get into it you need 45 minutes of just supreme focus,” Frosch said.
Frosch
says if he were the one asking the questions he’d like to shift the
spotlight to the work the 130 person maintenance crew performs on the
29-year-old jets.
“We break the jets a lot. And our maintainers
will stay after, sometimes until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning to make
sure the jets are ready to go for the next day,” he said.
And it’s evident, when talking to those who are the first to arrive and last to leave,the respect is mutual.
The
Blue Angels will headline each session of the Fargo AirSho. It runs
from 11 to 4 on Saturday and Sunday out at Hector International Airport.
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