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Blue Angels prep for the Westmoreland County Airshow

Jeff Himler
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Blue Angels Cmdr. Ryan Bernacchi, 43, participates in a media meet and greet Thursday, June 22, 2017, at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity before this weekend's air show.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
The Blue Angels' F-18 Hornets are lined up as a plane departs the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity on Thursday, June 22, 2017.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
A member of the Blue Angels flight team waits for Cmdr. Ryan Bernacchi to prepare to taxi during a pre-air show flight Thursday, June 22, 2017, at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity. The air show will take place Saturday and Sunday.

A squadron of 60 personnel will be on hand this weekend to get the U.S. Navy Blue Angels ' six jets and pilots off the ground for the Shop 'n Save Westmoreland County Airshow.

During the aerobatics demonstrations, set for about 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, the pilots will be assisted by safety observers on the ground and in the airport control tower.

Cmdr. Ryan Bernacchi, who flies the lead F/A-18 jet, pointed out the traveling Blue Angels team also includes medical, administrative, media staff and, most prominently, aircraft mechanics.

“That's what it takes to move around the country, putting on our demonstration and maintaining our wonderful airplanes,” he said Thursday at the Unity airport.

A native of Los Altos, Calif., Bernacchi, 43, has racked up more than 3,500 flight hours and completed 600 landings on carriers since joining the Navy in 1996. He's been deployed to the Western Pacific and Arabian Gulf, flown in support of Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom and served as executive officer of the “World Famous Golden Dragons” Super Hornet fighter squadron based in Lemoore, Calif.

In his second season with the Blue Angels, Bernacchi spends 300 days a year away from the team base in Pensacola, Fla., preparing for and appearing in airshows.

He began training for this season's shows in November.

“By the time we get to March, we've flown somewhere between 120 and 140 practice demonstrations,” Bernacchi said, “It's a very focused training period. We fly, study, eat, sleep and work out.

“We're always chasing perfection.”

Bernacchi noted the Blue Angels' precision flying maneuvers involve top speeds of 500 to 700 mph and require “a very high level of teamwork and trust.”

In one segment of the show, four jets fly in a “diamond” formation spaced as little as 18 inches apart. In another, two pilots fly toward each other from opposing directions.

As flight leader, Bernacchi said, “There's a cadence I'm calling through each maneuver — every stick or throttle movement, any change of configuration of the aircraft.”

Spectators can look to the skies for the eye-catching “loop break cross,” Bernacchi said. While performing a loop, pilots break away in different directions.

“All six pilots will extend outbound to about 3 nautical miles, then we pull up into individual half Cuban eights (involving loops and rolls) and meet back in the center,” he said. “That's pretty dynamic.”

Among team members the Blue Angels rely on to keep their wings in top shape is Sarah Schenk, one of two crew chiefs assigned to the No. 2 jet.

Schenk, 23, a second class petty officer born in East Stroudsburg, said she applied for the elite Blue Angels team to progress in her naval career.

“I thought, ‘I don't want to see myself sitting on a ship doing the same thing in 10 years,' ” she said.

Schenk is responsible for pre- and post-flight inspections at shows but most enjoys interacting with the pilots and with children during visits to schools.

“We all love the work,” she said. “We want to get these jets up in the air, and we want to inspire kids.”

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-836-6622, jhimler@tribweb.com or via Twitter @jhimler_news.