SEATTLE — The hydroplane may claim the waters during Seafair, but it's the Blue Angels who own the skies.
This is the 75th year the US Navy's elite flying squadron has flown together.
But this will be the first-time pilots Katlin Forster and Julius Bratton will be coming to Seattle.
"I have heard just incredible things about Seafair. And how, you know, it's just really one of a kind of having this giant airshow happening in the middle of Seattle center. And so I'm really looking forward to the air show in August.” Said Forster. Bratton added, "I am beyond ecstatic to get up there and looking for beautiful, low humidity, clear, beautiful, you know, comfortable temperature. And, you know, the gorgeous backdrop of the mountains, right on the water on the lake. Seeing the boats. I mean, I can't wait."
Besides these new pilots, this will also be the first year the Blue Angels will perform their acrobatic act with the Boeing built F/A-18 Super Hornets instead of the "Legacy" Hornets that the team has used for 34 years.
"It should look very similar to how it has worked in the past. But being a bigger plane with louder engines, you know, it'll just naturally make the show bigger and louder. So I'm looking forward to that," says Forster
The jet will be new, but the skills and focus it takes to fly these machine is always on display.
Bratton said, "Before I, you know, go flying in my brief and mental preparation, I'm thinking, alright, what is trying to hurt me today. And whether it's weather, other traffic, you know, lack of preparation or have merely with what I'm about to embark upon. You always have to think about that so that whenever you do go flying, you're going to mitigate the risk, and you realize that you know, it's a dangerous profession. You have to respect that."
And if things get better, that respect will be back in the skies over Seattle later this summer.
Tickets are now on sale for most of Seafair's iconic events. You can find the information here.
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