12:27 PM: After years of watching/covering the Blue Angels from “the fence” just north of where they park at the Museum of Flight, this year we’re in the official media zone for the first time, so we can bring you a slightly different view (no chain link or barbed wire in the way this time). For everyone waiting to find out when they’re going up – if it’s the usual timetable, it’s still a half-hour or so away. We’ll have updates here, plus video of the pilots’ “walkdown” once they’re up. More to come!
12:56 PM: The support crew’s checking out the Angels’ jets now. Showtime nears. Watch the WSB Twitter account for further pre-takeoff updates.
2 PM: Airshow in progress, as you’ve probably heard or seen unless you’re nowhere near the metro area. Here’s our video of the “walkdown” as the pilots head to their jets, in formation:
Still cloudy out here, so they’re doing the “low show,” but Museum of Flight visitors are still glimpsing plenty of flybys. For those who follow the granular details, #7 is flying in place of #5, which landed yesterday shortly after going up for practice. There also was a brief flutter of activity with #6, just before they taxiied for takeoff (we’ll add the taxiing video later, that’s an interesting perspective too). And remember the I-90 bridge is closed until they’re done – the closure’s scheduled till 2:45 though they’ll be done sooner – we’ll make a note here when they are.
ADDED FRIDAY EVENING: Adding photos from David Hutchinson (thank you!) – above and below this line – if you look closely at this next one, you’ll see one of the spots (there are at least two) where something’s been added to the Blue Angels’ paint job this year, a tribute to the Centennial of Naval Aviation:
And last but not least, one more bit of our video. Once the jets were up, we left the “media zone” and went over to the Museum of Flight lawn, where you can catch sight of the planes now and then, most spectacularly just before they land, with the flyby in honor of everyone watching from Boeing Field:
Tomorrow, should be the same timeframe – performance after 1 pm.
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