THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996 TAG: 9604200340
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
The Blue Angels never leave home without them.
Traveling aboard ``Fat Albert,'' a Marine C-130 transport painted in the distinctive blue and gold of the Navy's legendary aerobatic team, they arrive at each air show location an hour before jets one through six. By the time the sleek F/A-18 Hornets appear over the field, they have the site looking like home.
They are the ground crew, or more correctly, the maintenance and support personnel of the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron. They work away from the public eye but with the same military precision as the pilots who fly at 500 mph, 18 inches apart.
As ``Bert'' disgorges its cargo, their luggage is lined up in a row: Navy blue suitcases and blue and white gym bags with the Blue Angels' logo.
``Everybody has the same luggage,'' says Aviation Machinist Mate First Class Paul Beni, the crew coordinator. ``Everybody dresses the same. If one guy's in a jacket, everybody's in jackets. We do everything as a team.''
On Thursday, Beni's day started in Pensacola, Fla., the squadron's home, at 4:30 a.m. He joined the others at the air station at 5, in heavy rain, thunder and lightning. By 6:40, Beni and the others were airborne.
On the tarmac at the Norfolk Naval Air Station, Beni seems everywhere at once. He doesn't saunter; he walks at a running pace. As the crew's hand-held radios crackle to life, he learns the jets left 40 minutes behind schedule.
``They'll make it up,'' he says.
Someone's garment bag is missing; was it left behind? Beni looks into it, until he's confident he knows it arrived.
``I control everything on the ground between now and Sunday night,'' says Beni, as he heads for where the jets will park. ``Everything E-6 and below belongs to me.''
``Frontman'' is his handle. It squawks from his radio frequently as final preparations are completed before the jets arrive, on time.
``At home, we have 116 enlisted personnel and six officers to care for 10 jets,'' he says. ``Here, we have 37 enlisted and 6 officers to take care of seven. It's a high-tempo time.''
Jet number three lands with a rudder problem. Beni announces that number seven, a two seater or ``T-Bird,'' will take its place when they take off in half an hour. Number three leaves the line.
At noon, an hour after the first jets touched down, they take off again. Number seven fills in for three, but by 12:30, number three is ready to go.
``The jets have a good computer system,'' says Beni. ``They have diagnostics. We're fully self-contained, except for engines. We will do anything we can to repair the aircraft.''
In the 50 years the squadron has been flying, a show has never been cancelled because of maintenance problems.
``The show wouldn't go on without these guys,'' says Lt. Scott Beare, pilot of number seven. ``They're the hardest working maintenance guys in the Navy. We have 100 percent confidence in each other. There's a lot of camaraderie, and complete trust.''
With the aircraft in the air again, Beni relaxes a bit, munching on pretzels brought from Florida.
``Everybody asked to be here,'' he explains. ``We're all volunteers who've been screened. The interview process takes a whole day. Everybody gets three choices of what job he wants. Everybody has to do more than one thing. Everything to do with the ground, I coordinate; if these guys do their jobs, I don't have a job.''
Beni, from East Meadow, N.Y., has been in the Navy almost 17 years. After going to school to work on the F/A-18, he joined the Blue Angels in March 1994. He's on the road as much as five weeks at a stretch: out on Thursday, practice on Friday, air shows on Saturday and Sunday, back to Pensacola Sunday night, off Monday, at the air station in Pensacola on Tuesday, practice at a nearby field on Wednesday, and start the cycle again.
The jets come in, refuel, and spend the rest of the afternoon doing a full practice show.
He sums it up: ``I have a wife who understands and two sons, ages 7 1/2 and 9, who don't understand what I do half the time. But it's enjoyable. I like the fast pace. Twenty years from now, I can say I was part of the Blue Angels. There have only been about 100 frontmen; I'm one of a hundred. Pride, professionalism; it's the ultimate, as in Blue Angels.'' ILLUSTRATION: THE AIR SHOW
Air show hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and Sunday at the Norfolk
Naval Air Station. The Blue Angels perform at the end of each day's
demonstrations. Admission and parking are free. Interstate 564 will
be closed between Terminal and Taussig boulevards from 2:45 p.m. to
4 p.m. today. Free concerts will be held after the air show each
day, beginning at 5 p.m.
by CNB