One of the best aviation videographers out there, Spencer Hughes, caught the Navy’s Blue Angels arriving in the Mojave desert yesterday to begin winter training. Watch the Blue Angels arrive at El Centro below.
Flying inches apart at several hundred mph in combat fighters is no easy feat. It may look that way from the ground, but that’s because the crews practice and fly daily. During Winter Training, it’s not uncommon to see them fly multiple sorties a day.
A busy 10 weeks ahead
The precision flying team departed their home base at NAS Pensacola, FL on Jan 4. El Centro is the ideal training location for them, due to the desert’s dry air and predictably calm sunny weather. For the next 10 weeks, they will practice their formations and demo, and slowly bring the formations in closer as the winter progresses.
The 4-ship diamond will do their practices, followed by the two solos. Each will be flying 6 days a week practicing over the desert, flying multiple sorties daily as they build their air show demonstration for millions of spectators nationwide in the year ahead.
“We travel to 32 air show sites a year putting on air shows and executing outreach events in the hopes that we can showcase what the Navy and Marine Corps represents, and hopefully inspire some folks to potentially join us,” said BOSS, the Commanding Officer of the team Alex Armatas, who is flying as #1 for his second year.
Trust is not just a word or an idea for the team, it is literally their life. Over the next 3 months they will build that bond which helps them execute such impressive flying. In some maneuvers they can’t even see each other, relying purely on radio calls and trust that each pilots does what they are supposed to.
Their first air show is scheduled to occur at El Centro in March. You can see their 2024 air show schedule here.
