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Big blue recruiting tool

While showcasing U.S. military might, AirFest also attracts recruits.

By MICHAEL A. MOHAMMED
Published April 1, 2007

TAMPA - Wayne Matusiak grinned in the predawn chill as dogs sniffed his car Saturday, and talked excitedly about his favorite subject - air shows.

"It's the No. 2 spectator sport in the world, after NASCAR," he said.

For a year, Matusiak has traveled the country for Airshow Traveler, the magazine he started with a friend.

Soon the security dogs left and a crowd returned to their cars, forming a single-file convoy through the press gate at MacDill Air Force Base.

Matusiak, who called MacDill's AirFest a "very big deal," looked forward to seeing the Blue Angels again.

He was among and about 140,000 others who converged on MacDill Saturday.

Here are some glimpses of the show.

A tan, inflatable hangar dominated one side of the show. Throughout the day a long line snaked in front.

The "Virtual Army Experience," part video game, part theme park ride and part recruiting tool promised to give civilians a taste of street-level combat in Iraq.

Inside, mock Humvees sat in front of projection screens. Kids and their parents hunched over faux machine guns, blasting insurgents.

Ernest Lopez, 14, said the experience was more than worth the 2 1/2 hours he stood in line.

"It gave me the feeling I was helping my country," said the Spring Hill resident. "It helped me make up my mind that I would like to join the Army."

He wasn't alone.

"This is one of the best assets I've seen for recruiting," said Maj. Isaac Williams, the head of Army recruiting for Hillsborough County.

His staff had arranged meetings with nearly 15 potential recruits by the end of the day.

Pilots

Growing up in Brandon, Joe Elam dreamed of flight.

So he worked hard to get into the Air Force Academy in Colorado, which gets half of the roughly 1,000 spots for new pilots that open up each year.

Now, the 29-year-old fighter pilot instructs Air Force trainees on the T-37 "Tweet."

Standing next to one, he spent the day discussing it with showgoers, many of them retired pilots who learned on it themselves.

Then, "You've got wannabe pilots, aviation buffs and patch collectors," he said. "Guys that come up and tell you all the things that are wrong with this plane."

At an event where pilots are heroes, Elam said he tries to stay humble.

"It makes you feel good," he admitted, but he never forgets "I'm lucky I get to do this. I'm just a normal guy who gets to fly planes."

Blue Angels

Don't call the Blue Angels "stunt pilots." Like most stunt pilots, they don't like it.

"They're not doing any maneuver that they would not normally do in combat," said Ryan Courtade, a spokesman for the squadron.

Courtade said the Angel pilots' grueling training and the support team's obsessive maintenance of the planes remove almost any chance of mistakes.

The six blue-and-yellow fighter jets took off about 3:20 p.m., easily the most-anticipated moment of the show.

The routine, full of seeming head-on near-collisions and complex maneuvers by planes in frighteningly close formation, drew gasps and shouts.

When one of the F/A-18 Hornets zoomed low over the crowd, 3-year-old Kaela Piotti squealed and clapped her hands over her ears.

Her dad, Mike Piotti, smiled and put his arm around her.

The Angles soon joined in a six-plane triangle, soaring upward and breaking off in their trademark fleur-de-lis finish.

By then, Kaela was smiling with the rest of the crowd.

[Last modified April 1, 2007, 00:27:46]