Blue Angels Headline a Packed Fort Lauderdale Beach

Four cobalt-and-gold F/A-18 Hornets came in low over the surf line shortly after noon Saturday, pulled into a tight diamond, and brought what felt like every set of eyes between the Sunrise Boulevard pier and the Bahia Mar marina up toward the same patch of sky. The U.S. Navy Blue Angels were back at Fort Lauderdale Beach, headlining the 12th annual McDonald's Air & Sea Show.

The free, two-day event stretched along several miles of A1A, with the main demonstration box set just offshore between Las Olas and Sunrise boulevards. Beachgoers staked out spots before sunrise with coolers, low chairs and umbrellas; latecomers parked west of Federal Highway and walked in. The Broward Sheriff's Office and Fort Lauderdale Police closed sections of A1A and routed traffic onto side streets that, by Saturday afternoon, were as packed as the sand.

The Blue Angels' Saturday demonstration ran through the team's standard repertoire — the diamond formation roll, the sneak pass that arrives from behind the crowd at near-transonic speed, and the four-jet break out of a high-G loop. The two solo pilots took the lower altitudes, with their trademark opposing pass leaving a single shock thump rolling north along the dunes. Narration over the public-address system was timed to match each pass, but for most of the crowd the engines arrived before the words did.

The Navy fliers were one piece of a wider military lineup. Air Force, Army and Coast Guard elements all contributed to the weekend, with maritime demonstrations including search-and-rescue scenarios played out within a few hundred yards of the beach. Static displays at War Memorial Auditorium gave families a chance to walk past parked aircraft up close before driving over to A1A.

For students at Piper, Plantation, South Plantation, Western and the rest of central and west Broward's high schools, the Air & Sea Show is the kind of event that does not require a ticket or a plan — just a willingness to sit in traffic on State Road 84 or East Sunrise Boulevard for as long as it takes. The flyovers can be heard from inland neighborhoods miles from the beach, and the Blue Angels' afternoon slot has, for years now, become the unofficial signal that the Broward school year is heading into its last stretch.

The Blue Angels are scheduled to fly the closing demonstration Sunday afternoon before the team continues its 2006 tour. Sunday's flying program begins at 10 a.m. with the Coast Guard's search-and-rescue demonstration; the Navy team is set to take off shortly after 3 p.m.