Kevin Flies With the Blue Angels
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Source: Teen People with Will Smith on the cover - August 1999
By: Linda Friedman Photographs by Jan Sonnenmair
This Backstreet's Boy dream was to fly with the Blue Angels. Fasten your seat belts as he shares the
ride of his life.
He has logged countless frequent flyer miles on your with the
Backstreet Boys, but Kevin Richardson had long fantasized
about taking off on his own - in a fighter plane. So when the U.S.
Navy invited one of the boys to take a flight with the Blue Angels, they
didn't draw straws. "The guys know about my flying dreams - eventually
I'm going to get my private license," says Kevin 28. "So they said, "You
go ahead." But when the big day came, the boys dared for their
eldest member. "Everybody asked, 'Is that dangerous?" he says. "I was
like, "They're trained military pilots. "I'm in the safest hands possible!"
Up, up and away
Still, nothing could have prepared Kevin for his briefing, when Pettey
Officer Ed primeau told him about the infamous "party bags." (They're
like airsickness bags on a commercial airliner, but there are eight of them - and after you've filled
them, the only place to stash them is in your pockets.) First - timers usually need the party bags
because their bodies aren't used to the gravitational pull, measured as G-forces encountered at high
speeds in the air. But Kevin didn't flinch at the prospect. "I'm a little nervous," he says "But I'm
excited."
There are some captions from the pictures:
Kevin has been waiting lifetime for this moment. His (and cousin Brian Littrell's) grandfather Harold
Littrell used to take him out to the airport in Lexington, Ky., when he was little. "We'd sit and watch
planes land," remembers Kevin. "He took me to my first air show."
Ed reminds Kevin of the three rules for flying with the Blue Angels: First don't bring any carry - on
baggage (such as sunglasses, cell phones or cameras); second, don't touch any controls unless the
pilot says its okay; finally, have fun!
Pulling Stunts: "On commercial flight, takeoff and landing are the most exciting things," says Kevin "I
did some rolls and loops. We went through canyons. We went on a high-speed run at 650 miles per
hour. We did a high speed turn at seven G's. There was a ton of pressure on my body - it felt like
elephant or a whale was sitting on me!"
The Roll: "When you do a quick roll, you don't even feel it," says Kevin "But we did a four - point
roll where you stop on the side and then stop upside down. The we did one where we went a long
way upside down, and I was just hanging there. That's when I started sweating!"
Back On Solid Ground: "I got a little queasy, and my vision got kind of gray, but I didn't pass out,"
says Kevin. And what about those party bags? "I broke them out," he confesses.
Graduation: Lt. Hoskins, who flew with Kevin, presents him with his flight certificate and a video so
that he can relive his hour in the air. Later, Kevin returned the favor by signing autographs for several
of the pilots' daughters.
Extra Credit: "Keith said, ' This is your flight. If there's something you want to you, I don't want you
to get on the ground wishing you had done it," Kevin says "There was one thing I wanted to do: A
simulation of a dog fight, which is when you have to get away from somebody on your tail. He
showed me a maneuver where you bank, turn pull up look and then get behind him."
Yessss!: So how does flying with the Blue Angels compare to flying on a commercial jet? Kevin's
report: "It's the difference between riding in a station wagon and riding in a Lamborghini!"
Email: backstreet5power@hotmail.com
