Q. Has anyone contacted the real Blue Angels about your accomplishments?
A. Yes we have been fortunate enough to have some guidance from the real Blues.
We keep in contact with the LCDR John Saccomando, #2 pilot from the 2005 team, and he gives us tips and explains things in detail to us when we are stuck on something. Also about a month ago Kato was able to visit with the Blues in a more private environment at a remote show airfield were he was given a full tour of the aircraft, and had some time to sit down with the pilots and show them some of the movie, talk “Pilot Talk” with the real guys, and have a blast. The slot pilot, Maj. Matthew Shortal, enjoyed it so much he ran to a back room and returned with a bunch of Blue’s memorabilia for him. Still the real jewel was the home movie from the walk around of the Blue Angel’s Aircraft.
Q. Were there any umm, “incidents” during the practice and filming?
A. As with any aerobatic team, real or virtual — yes! But we try to focus on the positive.
Q. What’s next for the Virtual Blue Angels?
A. More flying! Our biggest love is live air shows. We try to fly in every online virtual event, such as the Virtual Festival of Aerobatic Team’s or “VFAT”. We are looking to start flying more live air shows as soon as we can. The only thing really holding us back is having a server that can host enough people and maintain smooth non “laggy” flying for the pilots. Flying a water show and a low air show is another thing we’re going to start working on soon, in an effort to duplicate every aspect of the Blue’s show. We have many more Idea’s and things we’re working on but those are just for the VBA at the moment.
Thanks so much Jeremy for taking time to talk with us about your team and their great accomplishments.
Download the just released 2006 Virtual Blue Angels performance video here.
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