When Commander Alex Armatas swings his 6'4" out of bed and looks at the clock, it is 5 a.m. in Pensacola, Florida, which means that six F/A-18 Super Hornet jets will have been run through their paces an hour earlier at Naval Air Station Pensacola. One of those jets literally has his name on it. After grabbing a quick shower, he puts on his blue flight suit, the famous uniform of all U.S. Navy Blue Angels pilots, and inserts two pens into a pocket on the right sleeve of the suit.
In the silence of the house, his thoughts drift to the fellow five demonstration pilots he will lead that day as the Blue Angels perform at one of their 32 two-day airshows for the 2024 season. Pilots Jack Keilty, Wes Perkins, Amanda Lee, Griffin Stangel and Thomas Zimmerman will be going through the same ritual, right down to the two pens—one a Sharpie for signing autographs, the other a ballpoint pen for taking notes before the show. They will also be placed, in exactly the same position, in the sleeve of their flight suits.
It is a sunny day in the Florida Panhandle, so Armatas dons his sunglasses for the drive to the airfield, where, parking his car, he sees the other pilots chatting in front of the hangar. Although none are wearing sunglasses, all reach into their pockets and put them on as Armatas greets them with a calm, deeply resonant voice that exudes leadership.
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