The thunder you heard today might have been Alex Miranda. Our Alex was tearing across the sky today, blasting along with the Blue Angels at about 700 miles per hour … and he stayed conscious, for almost all of it.
Here we go, in three, two, one…
Alex Miranda: “I’m here. So, where are we going?”
Hold on. This doesn’t look like Delta.
U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman: “The Navy Marines Corps in its nature is for deployed force so, out of sight, we didn’t want them to be out of mind, and that’s where we are as the Blue Angels.”
But that does look like the U.S. Navy, who picked me to fly in an F/A-18 Super Hornet before their Blue angels headline the air show this weekend over Fort Lauderdale Beach.
Chris Dirato: “You look at the Blue Angels, in particular how they fly so close together. I mean, they’re so skilled and so talented,
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman is Blue Angel #7, but they also chose someone who actually deserves this honor: the 2023 Broward County Public Schools Principal of the Year, Piper High School’s Marie Hautigan. Go, Bengals!
Alex Miranda: “Pretzels or peanuts?”
Marie Hautigan: “Pretzels.”
Alex Miranda: “Me too.”
Now, if I learned anything from “Top Gun: Maverick,” it’s that we need cool call signs.
Alex Miranda: “What are you thinking?”
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman: “Man.
Alex Miranda: “I put you on the spot. Don’t call me Shorty.”
Alex Miranda (on the cockpit): “Now, if you’re Fronz. I wanna be Frosé.”
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman: “Looks like we’re talking about 350 miles per hour. We’re going to be about 20 feet off the runway, pull back on the stick.”
Alex Miranda (on the cockpit): “Aaaaahhh! Oooooo!”
Alex Miranda: “So I can talk to you during this flight, right? And tell you how terrified I am the entire time.”
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman: “Yeah, you can.”
Alex Miranda (on the cockpit): “You know what this flight is giving me?”
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman (on the cockpit): “What is it?”
Alex Miranda (on the cockpit): “Britney Spears, ‘Baby One More Time.” You know what I’m talking about.”
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman: “Oh, yeah.”
Alex Miranda: “Has anybody fainted before?”
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman (on the cockpit): “All right, that was four Gs.”
Alex Miranda (on the cockpit): “Well, this is something. I just completely lost my sight. Literally, everything just disappeared and came back out. I looked like hexagons, it was so weird!”
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman (on the cockpit): “We could get up to 7.5, is the maximum that we’ll be able to pull.”
Alex Miranda (on the cockpit): “Let’s pull it.”
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman (on the cockpit): “All right, Alex, you ready for it?”
Alex Miranda (on the cockpit): “Sure!”
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman (on the cockpit): “Here we go. Ready, hit it!”
[Alex loses consciousness.]
Yup. I just passed out again, like a light.
But came to eventually.
Alex Miranda (on the cockpit): “I have so much respect for you guys.”
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman (on the cockpit): “Here we are, perfectly upside down. You can pick up that smoke trail on the backside.”
Alex Miranda (on the cockpit): “Wow!
The free Fort Lauderdale Air Show slices through the skies Saturday and Sunday.
Lt. Cmdr Thomas Zimmerman (on the cockpit): “First off, this nice, easy left-hand turn. You can look out there at the ground.”
Alex Miranda (on the cockpit): “Oh, my God, we’re upside down.”
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The program kicks off around at 11:45 a.m., and the show runs until about 3 p.m., give or take.
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