Annual Event Frees Airshows To Commit To Event Dates

Ask any show organizer, and they'll tell you the United States Navy's Flight Demonstration Squadron, also known as the Blue Angels, is the top air show ticket seller in the US. Each year, show organizers compete for a limited number of schedule dates, many waiting to announce the scheduled dates of the shows until after the annual ICAS convention, going on this week, until they determine whether they have a shot at booking the Blue Angels.

The 2012 airshow calendar will start to fall into place quickly now. The Navy has published the Blue Angels final schedule for the upcoming season, and it includes 36 stops, most of them civilian airshows, between March 10 and November 3, 2012. The Navy's website says applicants to host the team are evaluated on a number of criteria, including their potential value to recruitment, but some smaller markets do make the cut. Appearing on the 2012 schedule are St. George, Utah; Latrobe, Pennsylvania; and Twin Falls, Idaho.

So, why do the Blue Angels generate more ticket sales than the US Air Force Thunderbirds, especially when some spectators actually prefer the demo flown by the Thunderbirds? Certainly part of it is the name. The FAQ on the official team website reveals that in the team's first season, in 1946, members were preparing for a show in New York City when one of them saw the name of the Blue Angles nightclub in the New Yorker magazine, and the rest is history.

Find the full 2012 schedule at the FMI link below.

FMI: www.blueangels.navy.mil/show