PENSACOLA, Fla. — The Navy’s Blue Angels are officially four weeks from their first public performance as the Pensacola Beach Air Show moves forward across the Emerald Coast.
Committee members with the annual air show announced Wednesday the event remains on schedule for July 8-11. The Blue Angels will be joined by several top aerobatic performers during Red, White and Blues Week.
Air show officials also announced new guidelines in the hopes of keeping massive crowds from gathering. The show will be four full days and the aerobatic box will cover Pensacola Beach and Perdido Key.
“After multiple meetings between the Santa Rosa Island Authority staff and air show performers, the staff proposes the SRIA continue planning the 2020 Pensacola Beach Air Show in July,” Robbie Schrock, Director of Administration with Santa Rosa Island Authority, explained. “The air show program this year is built around social distancing in observance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for the COVID-19 virus.”
New this year, the air show will be a full four-day event, with each day having a full show. SRIA hopes this will allow the public more opportunities to watch the flight demonstrations.
A complete air show schedule is expected on June 26. The flying will also begin along the beach before noon each day.
Civilian aerobatic acts scheduled to perform include Skip Stewart, Gary Ward, and Kevin Coleman. They will begin the flying with the Blue Angels concluding each day.
Schrock also notes there will be no air show center point this year. This is in keeping with CDC guidelines so that crowds do not bunch up on the beach in front on the marker.
“There is simply just something extra special about watching your hometown heroes perform over the most beautiful place in the world, Pensacola Beach,” Schrock said. “It doesn’t matter how many times I have seen them perform, I literally still get chills watching them.”
(Charles A. Atkeison reports on aerospace and technology. Follow his updates via social media @Military_Flight.)
