2023 Pensacola Ornament - Fat Albert

Every time the Pensacola-based Blue Angels perform as the U.S. Navy's precision aerobatic team, their support plane - a U.S. Marine Corps C-130J Super Hercules nicknamed "Fat Albert"- begins the show. Following take-off, Fat Albert does a "parade pass" (banking around the front of the crowd), then a "flat pass" and a "head-on pass," followed by a "short-field assault landing." Only then do the Blue Angels fire up their FA-18 engines and taxi onto the runway. In addition to being their opening attraction, Fat Albert's primary mission is to transport 35,000 pounds of cargo and roughly 60 Blue Angels team members to every show. In 1970, Fat Albert joined the Blue Angels team as their support aircraft. In 2014, Marine Corps pilot Capt. Katie Higgins, 27, became the first female pilot to join the Blue Angels, flying Fat Albert for the 2015-16 seasons. Today, they perform 60 shows annually at 30 locations throughout the U.S.