Ex-NASM pilot may rejoin Blues

The Navy’s Blue Angels flight demonstration team may be bringing back a 2009 opposing solo pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Frank Weisser, to fly that position – and return to its traditional six-jet performances again before the end of the current air show season. Weisser may be joining the Blues next week. He is tentatively scheduled to begin flying sorties with the team following the Seattle, Wash., air show in early August. The Blue Angels are expected to be ready for the return of its six-jet shows by the Sept. 3-5 Cleveland (Ohio) National Airshow. Weisser is tentatively coming back to fill a void of the team following the death of opposing solo pilot Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss, who was killed during a June 2 training flight in Tennessee. Weisser, an Atlanta native, is a 2000 Naval Academy graduate. He went through aviation indoctrination an primary aviation training at NAS Pensacola – home of the Blue Angels. He completed intermediate and advanced flight training at NAS Meridian, Miss., and earned his Wings of Gold in November 2002. Operationally, Weisser deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005 and flew 34 combat missions from aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt. The naval aviation joined the Blues in September 2007. He served as the narrator and VIP Pilot in 2008, and opposing solo and NATOPS officer in 2009. (Source: IN Weekly blog 07/07/16)