JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — They are some of the most elite pilots in the world, and this weekend they will be flying over Jacksonville Beach.
CDR Armatis, the pilot of Blue Angels 1, shared, “We got two aircraft out here, we have our C130 affectionately known as Fat Albert which is our logistics platform and the marine core’s primary logistics platform and then we have our FA-18 Super Hornets out here to fly the flight demonstrations."
The demonstrations will showcase the capability of these amazing aircraft in real world scenarios.
CDR Armatis has over 4,000 flight hours and has landed over 900 times on a aircraft carries deck.
So what would be his advice to anyone who wants to become a pilot in the US Navy?
“First, don’t give up on it, the process to become a military pilot and certainly a navy or marine corps pilot is a lengthy process. There is a lot of training, since these are the best trained aviators in the world and to get there, it takes time, and there will be times you could get discouraged," he said. "But my advice would be to stay the course, keep that focus on the ultimate goal and just keep working at it, we would love to have folks out there watch our flight demonstrations and draw a little inspiration from the Blue Angels and decide to join the navy and marine corps.”
He went on to say, “I hope everyone can make it out to the air show. We are extremely excited to be here, we are going to be on a great flight demonstration, it will certainly be safe and I hope it’s as inspirational to as many people as possible and were excited to fly over Jax Beach.”
