Sun ‘n Fun 2009 was especially poignant for air show performer Peter Jacobs.
After 12 years on the circuit, the 72-year-old Daytona Beach resident said it’s time to retire.
“You can’t keep doing everything,” he said with a laugh as he wiped down the skin of his Czech-built L-39, dubbed “Angel 7.”
The airplane bears the colors of the Blue Angels, the Navy’s precision flight team.
“It is painted in honor of the Blues, because it looks so much like the A-4 that they flew in the 1970s and 1980s,” he explained.
Jacobs has been flying the L-39 for six years. Before that he flew a T-38.
Jacobs calls his air show performance “a modest program.”
“There is a high speed double roll pass on the initial go and then a high speed flat pass at low altitude at about 450 knots,” he explained. “Then we do a slow and dirty pass, wheels down, flaps out, speed brakes out, at about 125 knots waving the wings at the crowd, saying hello. We finish it up with a slow roll pass and then do two dedication passes saluting the armed forces.”
Saturday, April 25, was his last performance.
“I’ve had a wonderful time doing it!” he crowed.