Name: Lieutenant CJ Simonsen
Location: Pensacola, Florida
Age: 34
Years on job: 1

Navy Lt CJ Simonsen used to land jets on ships in the dark, which is why he sees his role as a No 7 pilot for the US Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron – the Blue Angels – as a relatively stress-free job. After Simonsen graduated from the Naval Academy in 2002, he spent three and a half years training to fly the F/A-18F Super Hornet. Piloting the aircraft, he claims, beats any carnival ride. “Multiply the best roller coaster you can imagine by 100,” he says, adding that, compared with combat training, “flying as a Blue Angel is just pure exhilaration”. – GE Anderson

F/A-18 Hornet
Other than the distinctive DuPont paint job, the biggest differences between a Blue Angels jet and its Navy fleet counterpart are weight and drag. Although the craft gains a smoke oil tank for shows, it loses a nose cannon, external fuel tanks, bombs, rails and missiles. A 1:1 thrust-toweight ratio lets the Hornet accelerate quickly to its max speed of Mach 1,8 (2 250 km/h). A pressurised spring on the stick helps pilots maintain arm stability while flying inverted and performing other aerobatic manoeuvres such as the Diamond 360.

Teamwork
“The guys who do the wrench turning and make sure our jets are safe are the best maintainers in the Navy and Marine Corps,” Simonsen says. “I’d say that my No 1 tool is my No 7 crew chief, Travis (Simpson). He always knows what I’m doing, and I always know what he’s doing. We have the utmost trust in each other.”

Suiting up
Fleet squadron pilots wear G-suits, which pressurise to keep blood from pooling in the lower body during high acceleration. Blue Angels can’t do that. “We rest our forearms on our legs and use our knees as a fulcrum,” Simonsen says. The inflating suit could interfere with hand movement – dangerous in tight formations. Instead, Blue Angels use the hic manoeuvre: bracing the legs and flexing lower body muscles to constrict the vascular system, then exhaling forcefully, causing the diaphragm to elevate blood into the upper torso. Blue Angels also eschew oxygen masks during demonstrations because they typically don’t fly above 4 500 metres.