Hardworking crew keeps Blue Angel pilots in the air

Who doesn't know the Blue Angels, those six highly trained pilots who perform precise air acrobatics in Boeing F/A 18 Hornet fighter planes? The pilots in the Navy's acclaimed flight demonstration squadron are rock stars, dressed in matching one-piece blue suits and playing to big crowds wherever they land, including Republic Airport in East Farmingdale Thursday morning.

"And we're the roadies," said Glenn Kildare, 39, the only Blue Angel from Long Island.

Kildare is not a pilot. But the man they call "Doc" is every bit a Blue Angel. A maintenance chief who grew up in Wantagh and also lived in Elmont, Kildare is one of approximately 130 Blue Angels - from mechanics to engineers to events coordinators - who make up the team.

Lt. Cmdr. Frank Weisser, who pilots the Blue Angels' No. 5 Hornet, agreed the Blue Angels' team wingspan stretches farther than pilots. "What we do and the speeds at which we perform, these planes need a lot of TLC," Weisser said. "There's constant maintenance, and our crews work extremely hard."

Without Blue Angel specialists attentive to every detail, Weisser said, events like this weekend's Bethpage Federal Credit Union Air Show at Jones Beach would not be possible.

During the week, the Blue Angels follow a strict schedule in Pensacola, Fla., at the Naval Air Station's Forrest Sherman Field. Then, as the team performs at 68 air shows at 35 different sites this year, everything from travel plans to changing oil to logging maintenance books needs to be accounted for. For that, about 70 Blue Angels travel to each show.

Kildare said team training is intense - as long as three months - because most crew members do each others' jobs. Assistant public affairs officer Julia Casper, a Blue Angel from the Poconos, can change engine oil, tow planes and "smoke a plane," prepping with an eco-friendly material that leaves a smoke-like trail during flight maneuvers.

"People see the jets and think we're six pilots," Casper said. "So many more people are needed to put on a show."

Kildare said it comes down to trust. With precise flight formations, demanding schedules and discipline, the Blue Angels try to replicate what units do in combat, he said.

For Kildare, who is in his 17th year in the Navy, his second Long Island show has an element of family. In season, he lives in Pensacola, but his wife, Jennie, and daughters Beatrice, 4, and Josephine, 3, live in New Jersey. This week, they reunite, along with Long Island relatives.

Still, the show comes first. It's that matter of trust. "People say the Blue Angels are the best of the best," he said. "But what we do really is represent the best of the best."