Angelic visit: Two USN Blue Angels stop to say hello
Nov. 20—Two members of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels flight team visited Terre Haute Regional Airport on Monday morning to finalize preparations for June's air show.
Lt. Connor O'Donnell piloted his F/A-18 Super Hornet over and around the airport with a fierce roar before landing and taxing to the building.
Brian Vaught, lieutenant commander and events coordinator, waved to those on the ground from the jet fighter's rear seat.
"You might think that this is really early to start thinking about air show prep, but there is a ton of work that goes into it," said O'Donnell, who is beginning his first year as a Blue Angel. His tenure will last two to three years before he returns to the fleet.
"So this gives Brian and I a chance to talk to the representatives from the air show, to develop relationships and make sure that [plans are in place] before the team gets here," he added.
Terre Haute was the first winter-visit stop for Vaught and O'Donnell for their 32 air-show dates in 2024. They would fly on to Fargo after meeting with airport officials here.
After the winter visits tour, all six Blue Angels meet in January in El Centro, Calif., for more than two months of training and rehearsals.
"It's six days a week, two to three flights a day," O'Donnell said. "Each pilot needs 120 flights [with the team] for the first public performance."
Vaught added, "It's a lot of repetition and moving closer and closer [to one another in the sky], and that's where the trust is really built."
"It's really precise flying to the point where if one moves a little out of position, other people in the formation can feel their plane move in response," O'Donnell said. "It's really tight, which is why we have all that training."
"Anything that one person does, everyone else notices and we go on from there," Vaught said.
Lest one think pilots experience anxiety when flying in the classic tight Blue Angel Delta formation, O'Donnell said, "You practice so much that the nerves just go away."
After the Blue Angels' air-show season begins in March, the team strives to improve to the point that its final show of the year is its best.
"It doesn't always happen that way, but our goal is to get better every show," said Vaught, who is in this second and last year on the team.
The stunt routines that the Blue Angels perform at air shows "don't change much year to year," O'Donnell said, although weather can necessitate changes.
When the Blue Angels switched a few years ago from Legacy Hornet aircraft to Super Hornets — which are a third larger, faster and louder, Vaught noted — the plane's different capabilities necessitated changes to the program, as well.
Both men remember the precise moment they knew they wanted to fly.
"I was 10 and in Brunswick, Maine, [when I saw my first air show]," said O'Donnell. "I can't forget it. They got me."
It took a little longer for Vaught, though.
He said, "After college, I was working for a professional sports team in the marketing business — it was a flyover at a baseball game where I said, 'You know what? I'm going to try that.' I signed up for the Navy the next day."
Tickets for the Terre Haute Air Show, June 1 and 2 in 2024, are 50% off until Christmas: $20 for general admission, $50 for a seating area in a shaded tent and $150 for the Pilots Lounge with a shaded tent and cash bar.
Children are free in the general admission section but must have tickets for the shaded tent ($45) and Pilots Lounge ($125) areas. There are also discounts for members of the military and their families. Visit terrehauteairshow.com.
David Kronke can be reached at 812-231-4232 or at david.kronke@tribstar.com.
