This is what it’s like to fly with the Blue Angels

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Ever wonder what it’s like to fly in one of those U.S. Navy Blue Angels jets you see at the Great State of Maine Air Show in Brunswick? Tim Gagnon, assistant principal at Brunswick High School, had that chance last Friday — one he described as more than a chance in a lifetime.

“You couldn’t get this chance in 10 lifetimes. You can’t buy your way onto this plane,” he said in this video by Roger S. Duncan. Gagnon is shot into the air, takes a trip to Rangeley and gets flipped upside down — when he discovers an unfastened sharpie. Watch the footage here:

Navy and U.S. Marine Corps pilots make up the Blue Angels, one of the best military display teams on earth. In their aerial performances across the country, they fly their planes as close as 18 inches from one another and travel at speeds of up to 700 miles per hour.

Someone else had a different kind of once-in-a-lifetime chance this year. Or perhaps it’s better described as the chance of several generations. U.S. Marine Corps Captain Katie Higgins made history by becoming the first female pilot to join the Blue Angels.

You can see her in this short Twitter video before a practice run for the Maine show. (Fat Albert is the name of the Blue Angels’ aircraft.)

 You can also see her journey in this longer CBS video:

 Front page photo is courtesy of Facebook.