The U.S. Navy Blue Angels will streak across Tampa Bay skies this weekend as the Goodyear Blimp motors along at a slower pace for the 2018 AirFest. Admission is free to the public, along with free parking, at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.
To make it easier to plan your visit, MacDill crews created an AirFest App or a visitor’s guide that people can download to get information about transportation, parking, show schedules and ground displays.
“We get to give back to this community that supports us so much. We get to basically show them virtually everything the Air Force does in a pretty little package -- in a two day period,” said Colonel April Vogel, commander of MacDill AFB and the 6th Air Mobility Wing.
This Saturday and Sunday, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., you can watch the Blue Angels, an F-22 Raptor Demo and Special Operations Para-Commandos Flag Jump, along with a wide variety of aircraft performance including a P-51, a single-seat fighter known as a Mustang.
Visitors also can explore 18 different aircraft on the tarmac from a Cessna to a super-tanker and even experience what it's like aboard the U.S. Navy Nimitz through virtual reality.
Vogel said virtually every airman has worked to make the free community event possible.
“Putting on an airshow is quite a monumental task. So, we’ve been working on this for better part of a year mostly because we want to make sure it’s as great as event as last time,” Vogel said.
Food vendors will be set up, as well as air-conditioned tents to protect visitors from Florida’s heat.
