Blue Angels Return Home Ending 2024 Airshow Season at Pensacola NAS 

Blue Angels Return Home Ending 2024 Airshow Season at Pensacola NAS 

The Blue Angels fly over boaters in the crowded Pensacola Bay as well as spectator watching from Fort Pickens as they thrill fans who packed the Naval Air Station for the two-day homecoming shows. Image: Richard P Gallagher/FMN
The Blue Angels fly over boaters in the crowded Pensacola Bay as well as spectator watching from Fort Pickens as they thrill fans who packed the Naval Air Station for the two-day homecoming shows. Image: Richard P Gallagher/FMN

The Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola hosted its annual Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show on November 1 and 2, 2024, drawing an estimated 150,000 to 180,000 spectators over the two-day event. This year’s show, themed “Celebrating One Small Step,” honored the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, a milestone in both aviation and space exploration history. 

In the Eye of the Storm: Lakeland-Based NOAA Team Gears Up For Hurricane Helene

In the Eye of the Storm: Lakeland-Based NOAA Team Gears Up For Hurricane Helene

NOAA Gulfstream IV sits on the ramp at Florida's Kennedy Space Center  Photo: Eric Moore/FMN
NOAA Gulfstream IV “Gonzo” sits on the ramp at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center Photo: Eric Moore/FMN

Lakeland, Florida – As Hurricane Helene barrels towards the Florida coast, a specialized team of hurricane chasers stationed in Lakeland, Florida, are taking to the skies. These experts, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), play a crucial role in tracking and studying hurricanes to provide real-time data that is crucial to both weather predictions and emergency responses.

The Need for Speed: Photographing Air Shows

Air Show
1/2500, f/4.8, ISO 100 | Photo: TJ Waller

The NAS JAX Air Show (Naval Air Station Jacksonville) featuring the Blue Angels is on the horizon! Air shows are always exciting and fast-paced; blink and you’re guaranteed to miss something. The NAS JAX Air Show is no exception and will take place October 19 & 20, 2024.

Apollo 8 Astronaut William Anders Dies in Plane Crash at 90

Apollo 8 Astronaut William Anders Dies in Plane Crash at 90

USAF General (Ret) William "Bill" Anders pilots a T-34 Mentor in 2017 Photo: KOMO News
USAF Maj. General (Ret) William “Bill” Anders pilots a T-34 Mentor in 2017 Photo: KOMO News

Maj. General (Ret.) William Anders, a celebrated NASA astronaut and a pivotal figure in the historic Apollo 8 mission, tragically lost his life on June 7th at the age of 90 in a plane crash off the coast of Jones Island, Washington. The incident, witnessed by several bystanders, brought a somber end to the life of a man who had spent much of it reaching for the skies.

Scales and Tailwinds: Alligator Mistakes Air Base for Swamp Resort

Scales and Tailwinds: Alligator Mistakes Air Base for Swamp Resort

A large alligator rests near the landing gear of a KC-135 at Macdill AFB, Florida on Monday.
A large alligator rests near the landing gear of a KC-135 at MacDill AFB, Florida on Monday. Photo: MacDill AFB

TAMPA, Fla. – An unexpected visitor found his way onto the tarmac at MacDill Air Force Base yesterday, prompting a swift response from Florida Fish and Wildlife authorities. After crawling out of a nearby marsh, the nearly 10-foot alligator promptly did what gators do…. found a nice cool spot to get out of the hot Florida sun. Unfortunately for the busy airmen at the base, the gator apparently claimed “squatter’s rights” in front of the landing gear of a huge KC-135 tanker aircraft.

NASA and Lockheed Resurrect Supersonic Commercial Flight … Maybe

NASA’s X-59 aircraft was rolled out on January 12, 2024 at 4 PM EST as part of NASA’s Quesst mission. The X-59 is an experimental aircraft designed to reduce the sonic boom to a small thump. It’s hoped that the X-59 could fly at 1.4 times the speed of sound, or 925 miles per hour. Photo: NASA

It’s been a quarter of a century since commercial passengers could fly to American destinations at beyond the speed of sound.  That was on the iconic Concorde, a joint French and English venture initiated in 1954 with first commercial flight in 1976.

NASA Unveils the X-59 Supersonic Test Aircraft

NASA unveiled America’s new X-59 aircraft today at LMs Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California. The experimental aircraft is designed as an experimental test-bed for “quiet supersonic” air travel and it is hoped that it will serve as a serious starting point for commercial aircraft that can travel faster than the speed of sound, this time in a quieter, more efficient manner than previous airplanes like the Concorde.

SpaceX Alumni Have Collectively Formed More Than 100 New Startups

Falcon 9 lifiting off from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center in 2023.
SpaceX Falcon Heavy carrying the NASA Psyche mission to orbit in 2023.
Photo: ©2023 TJ Waller / Florida Media Now.

Innovation is foundational at SpaceX, the California-based company founded by Elon Musk in 2002. Not only has the company written a veritable laundry list of firsts, bests and mosts, it has also served as a cradle for former employees to start their own high-tech firms. Several SpaceX alumni startups are prospering, while others are still developing products and preparing to enter the marketplace.

B-21 Raider, The U.S. Air Force’s Newest Bomber. What do we know so far?

Artist's Rendering B-21
Developed with the next generation of stealth technology and an open systems architecture, the B-21 Raider will serve as the backbone of America’s bomber fleet. (Photo Credit: Northrop Grumman)

The first test flight of the Air Force’s newest bomber, the B-21 Raider, took place on Friday November 10, 2023, and was witnessed by a group of amatuer photographers, according to a story carried by Reuters News Service.