Blue Angels to fly over Downtown Pittsburgh for photo shoot

The U.S. Navy will be visiting Downtown Pittsburgh Wednesday, June 4th  in the afternoon, but don’t look for a big ship to pull into the Point. 

The U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, more popularly known as the Blue Angels, will be flying over Downtown for a photo shoot.

The six-member team will fly in formation at least three times over the west side of Downtown between 2:45 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. The team, flying the F/A-18 Hornet, will fly at about 300 knots and from 500 feet to 1,500 above ground level, according to the squadron’s public affairs office.

The Blue Angels are in the area as part of Navy Week and will perform at the Westmoreland County Air Show this weekend.

Source:   http://www.post-gazette.com

The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels once again will command the skies at the Westmoreland County Air Show at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity.

The performance team will be a welcome sight at the June 7-8 show, which had to be canceled last year after federal sequestration budget cuts grounded the Army’s Thunderbirds and other nonessential military flights.

The Blue Angels will bring an 80-member  team and six F/A-18 blue-and-yellow fighter jets that can hit speeds up to 700 mph.

The precision team also will bring a huge C-130 Hercules transport aircraft, affectionately known as “Fat Albert,” which hauls their equipment and also puts on a demonstration.

Gates to the air show will open at 8 a.m. both days. Performances by six aerobatic acts and the Blue Angels will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $14 in advance at Shop’n Save stores, 16 at the gate. Children 10 and younger and military personnel are admitted free. Parking is $3 a car, with all proceeds going to the Unity Township fire department.

The air show has attracted as many as 100,000 spectators in recent years when the weather was favorable.

Officials are preparing to handle big crowds. A satellite parking lot will be used for the first time, and parking will be available for 10,000 cars, according to Gabe Monzo, executive director of the Westmoreland County Airport Authority, which owns and operates the airport.

Here are the six airplane acts that will perform:
■ Geico Skytypers. Six vintage World War II aircraft will fly precision maneuvers and write in the sky. The group flies the SNJ-2, the Navy's version of the main plane used to train pilots during WWII.

■ The U.S. Army’s Golden Knights paratroopers. A team of 13 performs skydiving parachute maneuvers.

■ Matt Chapman. He has been a finalist in several international championships and is sponsored by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida and Arizona.

■ Jacquie Warda, known as Jacquie B. She started flying at the age of 50 in 2003 and will do a tumbling sequence in her Extra300 biplane.

■ Raiders Demo Team, which consists of three aircraft, including a Yak 52 and a Nanchang CJ-6.

■ Andrew McKenna, an aerobatic pilot.

Planes also will be on the ground for spectators to tour and to ride.

“We’ll have a Vietnam cargo plane to go through, and a bi-wing plane to ride in, and an old MIG fighter,” Mr. Monzo said.

In addition, a NASCAR race car will be on hand for rides, and children will be able to use a simulator that mimics driving the race car.

Food will be provided by DeNuzio’s catering and will include sausage sandwiches, pulled pork, hot dogs and hamburgers.

Several improvements are being made to the county airport, which continues to see steady growth, Mr. Monzo said.

The federal Transportation Safety Administration recently upgraded the baggage screening equipment with a $400,000 conveyor belt machine. It triples the number of bags that can be scanned at a time to search for hazardous and prohibited materials.

“Before, the TSA inspectors had to screen bags individually using a hand wand,” Mr. Monzo said. The safety agency added the equipment because of rising passenger numbers at the airport, he said.

Spirit Airlines flies nonstop from the airport to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“Our numbers are up over last year, even with the loss of Spirit’s flight to Dallas,” he said.

In 2013, the airport saw about 250,000 passengers and is on track to surpass that number this year, he said.

In April, nearly 20,000 passengers used the airport, for a total of about 81,000 so far in 2014.

Spirit began flights in 2010 and had 65,000 passengers in 2011 and 145,000 in 2012.

Mr. Monzo said the busiest time of the year for the airport occurs when the school year ends.

“Spring break is good, and then there is a lull until school lets out,” he said. “In a couple weeks, it will pick up to Myrtle Beach and Orlando. Myrtle Beach is our busiest flight by far.”

The airport’s private jet management and charter flight business also is on the upswing. Mr. Monzo said three new hangars are being built at the airport for the business.

“L.J. Aviation is expanding,” he said. "They are building a 200- by 150-foot hangar. They fly charter jets all over the world and manage the private jets for people like Arnold Palmer."

He said a second hangar is being built by an individual to store a plane and a helicopter, and a third hangar will be moved to the airport. The airport currently has about 40 hangars, he said.

Source: http://www.post-gazette.com