Mouths were agape, necks were craned, and eyes were wide as hundreds-of-thousands hit the beach to watch a variety of aircraft roar through a bright blue sky at the 2019 Fort Lauderdale Air Show, Saturday.
The U.S Navy Blue Angels stole the show, as expected.
“They’re the best in the world,” said Richard Wilkie, who came down from Palm Beach Gardens and was in awe of the aerobatics.
“I tell you, the whole show has been great,” said his son Sean Wilkie, 32, of West Palm Beach, who got his pilot’s license with his father nearly 20 years ago.
“We saw a little bit of the propeller plane action, a little C-17 [military cargo plane] action,” he said. “It’s been amazing.”
Until the Blue Angels’ grand finale, a screaming U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor jet fighter had gotten the biggest ‘oooohs’ and the loudest ‘aaahhhhhs’ from spectators straining to snap pictures and record video with their cellphones while trying to track subsonic fly-bys against the sunshine.
The air show started with the national anthem and flag-waving skydivers.
Among other acts, two GEICO Skytyper World War II era planes raced the 47-foot Miss GEICO catamaran speedboat, before the rest of the flight team joined the performance.
“There’s more camaraderie than competition,” said pilot Chris Thomas.
U.S. Army veteran Sandor Ribar, 55, of Coral Springs, brought his wife Maria for a Saturday getaway.
“Last year, the crowd was about the same, but maybe a few more boats on the water [this year],” he said, from the fifth floor pool deck of the Atlantic Resort and Spa.
The prime onshore viewing area was along State Road A1A between Sunrise Boulevard and about Northeast 14th Court opposite Hugh Taylor Birch State Park.
However, many pool decks and balconies of hotels and condominiums that face the Atlantic Ocean were full up, as well.
Someone on the beach appeared to be attempting to join the show by flying a kite an estimated 100 feet in the air. It stayed aloft through through the show.
Last year, Fort Lauderdale police confiscated four drones being flown on the beach, but there were no reported incidents Saturday.
The show ran from noon to about 4 p.m. Saturday and will repeat on Sunday.
State Road A1A will be closed to vehicular traffic between Sunrise Boulevard and Northeast 14th Court from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the Air Show. Expect traffic to move slower south of Sunrise Boulevard as the pilots perform.
There are roughly 40 public parking lots, garages and metered spaces near the beach between Oakland Park Boulevard and Southeast 17th Street, at $1-$3 per hour. To avoid all that, park at the Galleria Mall garage, at 2414 E. Sunrise Blvd., for a flat $20 fee.
Uber, Lyft and other ride shares will pick up and drop off passengers at the intersection of Sunrise Boulevard and Northeast 25th Avenue, one block west of the drawbridge.
Bicycles can park at the bike valet on the corner of Sunrise and A1A.
wkroustan@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4303 or Twitter @WayneRoustan