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Kevin flies with the Blue Angels
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Date: Aug 03, 2099 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.
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!"
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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!"
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