{"id":1858,"date":"2014-07-12T22:23:27","date_gmt":"2014-07-13T05:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=1858"},"modified":"2014-07-12T22:24:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-13T05:24:00","slug":"blue-angels-soar-over-traverse-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/golf\/lifestyle\/1858\/blue-angels-soar-over-traverse-city","title":{"rendered":"Blue Angels Soar Over Traverse City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lt. Commander John Hiltz flew to <\/span>Traverse City<\/span> for his first visit last week. But before the 34-year old Notre Dame alum landed at <\/span>Cherry <\/span>Captial <\/span>Airport<\/span>, he banked his Boeing F\/A-18 Hornet over the <\/span>East Grand Traverse Bay<\/span> at Mach 1.8 and said \u201chello\u201d to the guests at Park Place Hotel and everyone milling about downtown at 1,200 miles-per-hour. Hiltz, as you\u2019ve guessed by now, did not arrive via Delta Airlines, but rather as a member of the \u201cBlue Angels,\u201d the U.S. Navy\u2019s famed flight demonstration squadron. The Blue Angels arrived to perform an air show at the National Cherry Festival. Hiltz called the festival \u201ca slice of <\/span>Americana<\/span> on Independence Day weekend,\u201d and, upon landing, was presented with a slice of Grand Traverse Pie. He was likely hungry since, instead of stretching out in a first class seat he literally flew his jet fighter up from <\/span>Pensacola<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"blue

There are no baggage handlers or flight attendants when the Blue Angels fly long distance. (Credit: Harrison Shiels)<\/p><\/div>\n

Just like the commercial airlines, though, Hiltz can bring one, small carry-on, which is certainly no roller-bag. \u201cThere\u2019s just a little spot behind the ejector seat for me to stick a duffel bag.\u201d In the military, comfort is not a priority. \u201cI am not complaining because while I am flying to beautiful Traverse City for an air demonstration we have people flying combat fighters in places like Iraq and Afghanistan,\u201d said Hiltz, who has flown missions overseas from the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier as part of Operation Enduring Freedom and will return to the \u201cnot so friendly skies\u201d of combat operations after this season with the Blue Angels.<\/span><\/p>\n

How did Hiltz enjoy his first views of the <\/span>East <\/span>Bay<\/span> and <\/span>Lake Michigan<\/span>? \u201cWe are so tightly-focused while in-flight that we really don\u2019t get to look around much, but from what I could see, this area is as good as it gets. It\u2019s a pleasure to be here.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Cherry Capital Airport Director Kevin Klein says sharing the airport for a few days with the Blue Angels takes careful coordination. \u201cWe make small adjustments so there is virtually no disruption to the commercial flights in and out of <\/span>Traverse City<\/span>. It\u2019s fun because people fly here in airplanes to see the Blue Angels airplanes.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re dreaming of a supersonic ride in a high-performance Blue Angels jetfighter, search \u201cBlue Angels Media Ride Along\u201d on YouTube.com where you\u2019ll see almost every media person onboard either passes out or loses their lunch! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Michigan-based travel writer Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at <\/span>InviteYourself@aol.com<\/span><\/a> or via <\/span>www.TravelTattler.com<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>He may be heard and seen weekday mornings in <\/span>Lansing<\/span> on<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>92.1 FM and Fox 47 TV.<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lt. Commander John Hiltz flew to Traverse City for his first visit last week. But before the 34-year old Notre… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":1859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[2986,555234,976744,976745,2246,976747,2834],"class_list":["post-1858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-lake-michigan","tag-traverse-city","tag-blue-angels","tag-cherry-festival","tag-fourth-of-july","tag-independance-day","tag-michigan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2014\/07\/blue-angels.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1858"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1861,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1858\/revisions\/1861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}