The Blue Angels

They just made me proud… Watching the Navy’s Blue Angels – as I did today in Maine – was pure magic, every move executed to perfection, wings just inches apart, 700 miles an hour, cause for reflection.

To watch these fearless, focused, patriotic Navy pilots take their F-18 combat fighters through every move aerodynamically possible, from inverted high speed rolls and nose-to-nose “opposing knife-edge passes” to vertical climbs, pristine formation to diamond breaks, was spellbinding.

Their moves were – had to be – executed with objective perfection, nothing subjective about it. No room for that. They were each perfect because they trained for it. The standard? No room for error.

The focus, precision, mastery of gravity, thrust, acceleration, up to 8 G‘s (eight times gravity’s force) on the body – with no “G-suit,”  since a G-suit would interfere with stick control – is stunning.

The actual maneuvers done by these Naval aviators include a super tight (within 18 inches) wing-to-wing four-jet “diamond formation” at 400 miles an hour, “delta formation” with six planes in a triangle, passes at 700 miles an hour, jets closing at 1000 miles-an-hour nose to nose and turning 90 degrees opposite in a pass, diagonal configurations, “mirror” formation (two jets rolling together, one inverted), aileron and barrel rolls, Immelman turns, loops, super slow passes, and the exploding “fleur-de-lis,” all planes vertically together, splitting apart and trailing white smoke.

The six pilots perform at a level to which all Naval aviators are, in fact, trained. They master these high-risk techniques for combat and challenging conditions, like carrier deck landings in weather.

The first impression one has, watching the Blue Angles on a sunny day, is how extraordinary it is that a pilot can make a 23,000 pound machine perform as if a barn swallow, or acrobatic peregrine falcon, only more nimble even than these gravity defying birds, able to rocket straight up, push air flying perpendicular to the ground, one wing up, one down, cut air like a knife through water.

The second impression, at least for me, was the quality of piloting, sustained concentration, no errors, stunning moves – at the very edge of physics – seemingly without effort, creating beauty.

The third impression might surprise you, and it only swept me on leaving the airshow, which also featured the Douglas C-47 (used to drop Allied troops on D-Day), T-6 Texan trainers (used in WWII), the massive C-17, an acrobatic stunt plane, then the F-35 and British Red Arrows.

This third impression was more in the form of a question than an observation or an answer. The question that swept over me was this: In an age where people are not encouraged to set the bar high, to put high expectations on political leaders – let alone personal performance – not even taught in public schools to work hard, why?

Put differently, is it not odd that some can master the human body, mind, and emotions to perform flawless Blue Angel flights, time after time, seemingly death-defying shows, while the vast majority do not try to master anything?

This was not how America was made. We were made by people who worked hard, took risks, aimed high, got back up when knocked down, prided themselves on trying, doing, learning, when failing getting better, never stopping, never quitting, seeking self-reliance, striving to be resilient. 

That is what these Blue Angel pilots do, and masters in other fields; they aim high, set a goal, work hard to get there, learn from errors until they learn not to make them, and hold themselves to standards.

Bottom line: What watching the Blue Angels did for me – perhaps others – was remind me that high standards should be set and can be achieved, that mastering the “hard thing” is impressive, and we all have countless goals, in all likelihood, that we have yet to set or meet, let alone master.

If these American patriots can set big goals and do it for us, for our nation, we can and should look to set higher goals. Most of all, these Blue Angel pilots just … made me proud of America.

Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!