6 Tools That Make The Blue Angels Soar
- John Foley
- Apr 1, 2013
- 2 min read
The Blue Angels are one of the world’s premiere High Performance teams, but not a lot of people realize the incredible tools that they leverage in order to perform at that level. My time as the lead solo pilot of the Blues has given me a unique insight into the Blue Angel’s toolkit. Here’s a few of the big ones!
#1 The FA/18 Hornet
The FA/18 is a twin engine, precision engineered, supersonic masterpiece. It’s got a top speed of mach 1.8, and it is HIGHLY maneuverable. The Blue Angels adopted the FA/18 1986 and they haven’t looked back. It’s the workhorse that makes a flight of a very high level possible, and the Blues owe much of their ability to innovate to this particular piece of machinery. Often times, we need to be appropriately equipped in order to achieve success. And if you’re wondering, yes, it is SUPER fun to fly!
#2 Refined Recruitment
The Blue Angels are a true all-star team. The US Navy is known for producing some of the worlds best pilots; if you’ve ever seen a jet land on an aircraft carrier, you’ll see how naturally challenging environments have a way of shaping talent. The six pilots on the Blue Angels team are selected from the best of the best of that the US Navy has to offer. They are the top 1% of 1% of all pilots.
#3 The Support Crew
The Blue Angels are more that just the six pilots in the air—the title extends to the 100 plus people on the ground, an incredible support team that keeps those jets airborne. They’ve earned a high degree of trust from the pilots because of their regimented process, and because of their speed. If one of those jets has a problem during an airshow, the crew has another jet prepped and ready for takeoff before the pilot even touches down. They’re like a NASCAR pit crew for a $30 million flying machine!
#4 The Blue Angel Brief & Debrief
The Blue Angels aren’t out there to win games, or make a sale; the rigor of their process exists to ensure safety under inherently unforgiving conditions. The backbone of that process is the Blue Angel Brief and Debrief. It’s a common military construct, but the Blues operate a little differently. Here’s how I break down that process during my keynotes:
#5 The Glad To Be Here Mindset
High Performance is often a matter of activation. The Blue Angels have a powerful activator in one of their most famous sayings, “Glad To Be Here.” It’s a mindset that creates goodwill, and builds trust within the team. It acts as a reminder to express the gratitude for rare opportunities, and it fuels the Blue Angel culture of excellence that promotes continuous improvement.
A positive mindset that promotes gratitude is easy to adopt. Read my post on The Glad To Be Here Wakeup and get started tomorrow.
Glad To Be Here!
~Gucci
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