Parks Bonifay and the 2007 Double Or Nothing Double Up Contest Winners hit Forrest Sherman Field, Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida last week to experience the Biggest Air and Best Trick award of a lifetime: flying with the Blue Angels.
Red Bull out did itself once again by organizing a “priceless” experience with the Blue Angels for Parks, Shaun Murray (the 2007 Big Air Champion) and Shane Bonifay (2007 Best Trick Champion) as a bonus for winning this year’s Double or Nothing Double Up Contest. “This was the most insane thing I have or will ever experience in my life. All I know is that I finally broke the speed of sound,” exclaimed test pilot Parks Bonifay. “I hit 7.4 G’s for 9 seconds before my eyes rolled in the back of my head and my body went limp.”
With a wake up call at 0600 and a flight briefing at 0700 Parks and the boys all knew they were in for some serious action. Learning everything from breathing techniques to how to actually fly an F/A-18 was enough to build up an appetite. “I purposely went on an empty stomach so I wouldn’t end up with a souvenir bag like my brother and Murray,” said Parks. The boys one after another were all pushed beyond their threshold as each of them returned from their private flights piloted by the Blue Angels.
Major Nathan Miller not only piloted Parks, Shane and Murray all back to back before lunch but additionally joined the rest of his crew who had all been out wakeboarding behind the MasterCraft all day. Luckily Andrew Adkison was cruising to his hometown of Pensacola for the weekend and agreed to bring his X-Star up for the opportunity to take his childhood icons the Blue Angels crew wakeboarding. Murray even went out for a set with Miller to show him how his big air skills landed him in the cockpit earlier.
Parks, Shane and Murray’s flights were all documented with 8mm lipstick cameras equipped on the Blue Angels F/A-18’s, so expect to see some quality footage of all the boys somewhere soon. Special thanks to Amy Morris & Michael Ladinig from Red Bull for putting this once-in-a-lifetime experience together, Tony Smith for documenting the event and Andrew Adkison for once again doing what he does best by sharing his love for the sport of Wakeboarding with others.
