AVOCA, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — All eyes will be on the sky this weekend for the Great Pocono Raceway Airshow.
The Blue Angels touched down at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.
Preparations are underway for their performance at the Great Pocono Raceway Airshow this Memorial Day Weekend in Long Pond.
“We’re the lucky few that get to represent over 800,000 active duty and reserve members of the Navy and Marine Corps, traveling from city to city and doing that and this one’s no exception. We’re thrilled to be here, thrilled to have the opportunity to represent our Navy and Marine Corps,” said Blue Angels Flight Leader Commander Alexander Armatas.
Commander Armatas is one of six F/A-18 demonstration pilots.
He says flying high in the sky never gets old and an extensive amount of practice goes into it.
“For each individual airshow, we’ll arrive, like we just have, after that we’ll go over to the airshow site, today it’s gonna be the racetrack, and we’ll basically spend about an hour doing what we call circle and arrival maneuvers, where we look for checkpoints, visual checkpoints on the ground to make sure that everything is safe and in the right location,” said Commandeer Armatas.
Since 1946, the Blue Angels have flown for more than 500 million spectators all across the United States.
It wouldn’t be possible without the help of a team of more than 100 personnel that handle all the business of the squadron.
“Everyone is just working together to get these jets back up. We all have a common goal, we all know our mission, we’re all here to do it every day,” said Blue Angels Crew Coordinator Billy Mastorio.
The Great Pocono Raceway Airshow headlined by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels kicks off on Saturday in Long Pond, Monroe County.
