Blue Angels lose their wings, Fleet Week lost at sea

Cuts to the federal budget are starting to hurt the US tourist trade.

New York yesterday grieved the loss of Fleet Week, the traditional summer season kickoff at the South Street Seaport, which brings tall ships, hundreds of men and women in white uniform, and thousands of tourists to downtown Manhattan.

Last year’s Fleet Week featured nine tall ships and nine aircraft carriers, plus ships and sailors just returning from combat in Afghanistan.

The show has been canceled in keeping with the federal cost-cutting program known as sequestration. Navy weeks in San Antonio, Indianapolis, and Salt Lake City also have been canceled.

East of Manhattan, Jones Beach on New York’s Long Island will not see the annual fly-by the Navy’s Blue Angels aerial acrobats, whose 30 remaining shows this year have been canceled, the Navy announced on Tuesday.

Grounding the Blue Angels will save the Department of Defense almost $25 million, but it has not been done since the Korean War.

 "Recognizing budget realities, current Defense policy states that outreach events can only be supported with local assets at no cost to the government," the Navy said.

The Air Force last month canceled all remaining shows by its Thunderbirds stunt team, and the Army has canceled those by its skydiving team, the Golden Knights.

At the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, meanwhile, canoe owners called a meeting to complain that the closing of two river access points will change the very character of recreation on the Delaware River.

The shortest possible trip now will be 10 miles long instead of six. That will add two hours of paddling time to the trip and eliminate inner-tube floaters and inflatable rafting, making it difficult for families to use the river.

In California the Navy’s annual Ventura County Air Show, a two-day event expected to attract 2,000 people, also has been canceled.

"This is kind of unprecedented," Blue Angels pilot Cmdr. Thomas Frosch told the local news. "This is the first time I think the team has been grounded for this amount of time."

Organizers of the Seafair summer festival in Seattle said of the cancellation, "The Blue Angels have flown at Seafair for over 40 years and are an important part of our history. The team will be deeply missed by Seattleites."

By Cheryl Rosen