(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Thursday is the first of two practice days ahead of the Air and Water show this weekend.
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels were at the Gary Airport, the staging area for the show, before heading out to the skies above Chicago for practice.
The Blue Angels are headlining the show with the U.S. Army Golden Knights this year.
Captain Samuel Petko, a pilot of the C-130J supply plane known as “Fat Albert”, grew up near South Bend. He’ll have some family at the show.
“The show here in Chicago it's, like I said, it's really close to my hometown. So I've got friends that live here now that I went to high school with, family is really close by,” Petko said.
“So being able to come back near my hometown and fly a flight demonstration and show not only them but America what we do, it's a blast.”
One civilian pilot told us, it feels illegal flying so close to the buildings.
“The cool thing about this venue is literally just getting to fly right in front of the city, right in front of the buildings. You know, we don't always get to do that,” said pilot Kevin Coleman, who flies the Red Bull plane.
“You know, most of the shows that we do are either at an airport or over a beach and kind of away from the city. But being right in front of the skyline is just a magical experience that we don't get to do very often.”
Sgt. First Class Marcus Denniston, a member of the Golden Knights demonstration team, also finds the unique backdrop of the Chicago Air and Water Show exciting.
“It's really cool coming in, and free fall over those buildings and then on to the beach with all the people. And then afterwards, being able to talk to the people on the beach and bring kids along with us to help pack parachutes.
“It’s a really cool experience.”
For everything you need to know about the show before you go, check out our guide here.
(WBBM Newsradio’s Sara Dingmann contributed to this report.)
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