Whos Fat Albert?
Fat Albert is a what, not a who. It’s the baddest cargo plane on the planet, a Lockheed-Martin C-130T Hercules that hauls support personnel and spare parts for the Blue Angels from show to show, logging more than 140,000 miles in a typical year. The plane has four turboprop engines for cruising, but it also has eight solid-fuel rockets attached to the rear that allow it to take off on short runways and reach 1,000 feet in 15 seconds. The Angels announced earlier this year that this will be the last year for jet-assisted Fat Albert takeoffs. What do the Blue Angels have planned? This is the second-to-last performance of the season for the Angels, who will have performed 67 shows at 34 locations in the U.S. and Canada when they wrap up next week in Pensacola. Expect extreme precision flying, outrageous speeds and lots of noise (bring some ear protection). The team flies F/A 18 Hornets. They’ll do maneuvers at heights ranging from 15,000 feet down to 50 feet (when you least expect it). Th
