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A pair of Blue Angels flies past Alcatraz Island as the Navy’s precision fliers practice for their Fleet Week air show this weekend.
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - The familiar roar of the Blue Angels will once again boom through The City this weekend as the 27th annual Fleet Week celebration rolls, floats and zooms into town.
The event, highlighted by the sometimes-controversial aerial show by the Navy’s precision fliers, will be smaller this year than last, due to the active deployments of naval ships. This year will see a total of eight ships, including two from the U.S. Navy, two from the U.S. Coast Guard and four from the Canadian navy.
Fleet Week Vice Chairman Dwayne Osland said the decline in the size of the parade is normal and that previous years have been even smaller.
“We’re not reading anything into it,” he said.
This year’s celebration comes on the heels of an effort by some in City Hall to ban the Blue Angels from flying over San Francisco. Supervisor Chris Daly introduced a resolution that cited safety reasons in calling for the ban, but the resolution was defeated by a 7-3 vote on Sept. 11.
“Not only is [Fleet Week] a great event for the public to observe, it benefits the community economically,” Osland said. “There’s a long-standing tradition and the Blue Angels, in particular are an important part of that.”
It is also a recruiting event for the Navy.
“We do see somewhat of a surge in young men and women that will walk into recruiting stations [after Fleet Week],” Chief Petty Officer Jim Keys, a local recruiter, said. “But really, our primary focus is just to bring the Blue Angels and Navy sailors to the city of San Francisco and showcase the superb job that they do.”
Keys speculated that “a couple hundred” people would request more information from recruitment booths.
Fleet Week organizers estimate an average crowd size of about 1.2 million on and around the Bay, Osland said. That includes those in small boats, those watching from the Golden Gate Bridge and other vantage points, and the crowd at the San Francisco waterfront.
The San Francisco Police Department will be providing security on land, while the U.S. Coast Guard will patrol the Bay. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition will provide valet parking for those who ride bicycles to the event.
In addition to the smaller parade of ships, this year’s air show will be somewhat smaller because of the lack of the Red Bull Air Race. That traveling event took place in San Francisco last year and in 2005 but has since moved on. Osland said organizers would try to bring the race back in future years.
Two father-son duos will be part of the aerial shows this year. Stunt pilot John Piggott will control the Sukhoi aerobatic plane just before his son, Capt. Russ Piggott, flies with a team of Air Force F-16s. Also, longtime Fleet Week staple Sean Tucker will fly the Oracle biplane solo, then again with a team that will include his son, Eric Tucker. There will also be a fly-by with an F-16 cruising on the wing of a World-War II-era P-51 Mustang fighter.
Fleet Week schedule
Today
» 1-4:30 p.m.: Aerial demonstrations; Blue Angels practice
» 6-7 p.m.: First Marine Division band concert. Marines’ Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter St.
» 8:30 p.m.: Fireworks at Pier 3
Saturday
» Noon-1 p.m.: Parade of Fleet Week ships
» 1-4:30 p.m.: Aerial demonstrations with Blue Angels
» 4-7 p.m.: Pier 39 Fleet Week celebration
» 7:30 p.m.:Meet the Blue Angels, Pier 39
» 8:30 p.m.: Fireworks at Pier 3
Sunday
» 1-5 p.m.: Aerial demonstrations with Blue Angels
» Noon-4 p.m.: Tour of naval ships
» 12:30-3:30 p.m.: Italian Heritage Day parade from Fisherman’s Wharf to North Beach
» 4-7 p.m.: Fleet Week celebration at Pier 39
Monday
» Noon-4 p.m.: Tour of naval ships
Voice your opinion and vote in our poll at examiNation SF: What will you do to celebrate Fleet Week?
Comments from Examiner Readers
3:36 PM MST on Tue., Oct. 9, 2007 re: "Fleet Week flies on, thousands turn up"
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Examiner Reader said:
Daly is bad people. Just like a gun man who like to spoil the fun.
91 agree | 72 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Aren't there term limits?
87 agree | 66 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Chris Daly will lose supporters and will not sit in office again. I will support myself for not voting him.
67 agree | 66 disagree
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SF Native said:
Despite Daly and his protests, all you have to do is see how many people show up to Fleet Week and watch the Blue Angels perform. The vast majority of the bay area like the performance. Daly gives the city a bad name.
88 agree | 80 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I moved to San Francisco in 1979. I can speak to the fact each year since and long before Supervisor Daly came along, there have been protests regarding the appearances of the Blue Angels in San Francisco. Our former Mayor and now Senator, Dianne Feinstein, one year, made calls to the Feds regarding their fly overs. The Feds response? You have no jurisdiction in this area, but, if you'd like to fly along, we'd be glad to have you and the now Senator took them up on their offer. I believe the Senator was a changed person when she touched down on the tarmac at the Alameda Airfield after the flight.
65 agree | 56 disagree
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Was that the Blue Angels I heard said:
Or the sounds of Chris Daly shrieking in rage all day Sunday?
100 agree | 72 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I love Fleet Week and support the men & women of our armed forces. Chris Daly and his ilk give our beautiful SF a black eye. Those anti-American radicals are not representative of our Bay Area. But they make a lot of noise and influence those outside our area that "San Francisco Values" means radical leftist pap. Chris, Code Pinko, and others are so determined to undermine us that they force their opinions on us. They've even banned the military recruiters from college campuses and the ROTC from high schools in SF. Even as they complain that the military is disproportionately made up of lower educated people from minorities. They aren't happy to allow us to make our own choices, they want to control our lives with their own values. I say no thanks to them. And thank you to Fleet Week organizers, and our armed forces who fight to keep us ALL free.
98 agree | 59 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
There's always that Oct 27 anti-war demonstration (part of a monthly series it seems) to go to balance things out for those so inclined.
94 agree | 88 disagree
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Examiner Reader in SF said:
I am thankful for Supervisor Chris Daly for being so concerned about my safety and the safety of my fellow San Franciscans. It's so hard to see so many hundered of thousands of people place themselves in harms way to enjoy the Blue Angels. Maybe they didn't get the memo. Anyway, Chris, how was the view of the Blue Angels from Marin County ??
100 agree | 63 disagree
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Alarm Dude said:
Sunday's air show, attended by many thousands of patriotic people, should be seen as a slap in the face to Chris Daly and his anti-American ilk. He should resign in disgrace and never be seen in public again.
98 agree | 75 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Unfortunately the Blue Angels have left but that minion Chris WHO is still here.
89 agree | 71 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I hope Chris Daly was penned up in his house eating birthday cake and celebrating his son's birthday while so many of us were in the warm sunshine enjoying Fleet Week. How awesome it was to feel such pride in our beautiful city by the bay and thoroughly the air show. I am so proud of the Blue Angels and their talent and bravery,as were those many people who came out to enjoy this special event.
86 agree | 61 disagree
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