Lt. Col. Gianluigi Zanovello, 36, leader of the Italian Air Force precision flying team that will make its debut at the 34th annual Chicago Air and Water Show beginning Saturday, said that performing the aerial maneuvers that seem daunting to most people is ”the best thing you can do with your clothes on.”
”It is a feeling of big freedom and happiness. Something very strong comes up from the heart that almost takes your breath out,” Zanovello said.
”In the cockpit, I feel very comfortable, it is a great feeling. You can feel all the movements of the aircraft and feel one with the machine.”
Zanovello said he does not consider the stunts risky.
”Danger is everywhere,” he said. ”In fact, there`s more danger just being downtown, if you are not cautious.”
Zanovello said that when he enters the cockpit, he tries not to concentrate on the responsibility of leading the nine planes.
”The moment I jump into the cockpit, I just concentrate on flying,” he said.
Maj. Gen. Riccardo Tonini, who is the senior national representative for the Italian delegation, commented, ”You have to love the machine very much, and if you study it well and play it well, then it will answer in the way you want it to do.”
Tonini heads the flying team known as Italian Mission Columbus `92.
Returning to the air show after four years` absence, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. John Downs, who will pilot a C-130 Hercules, said he no longer feels frightened by performing.
”Maybe I felt threatened when I was learning to fly,” he said, ”but now I don`t feel threatened at all. It is another environment up there. I am used to it and enjoy it. We always strive for perfection, and we try to make our maneuvers the way they are designed. That`s the challenge, given the kinds of factors we have to deal with, like weather, winds and different runways.” Jamie Cayado, a member of the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team that will leap from a plane when it is 2 miles above the crowd, said he is anything but scared.
”Parachuting is a very strong passion with me,” he said, ”and at least for the next three years, this is all that I want to do, and hopefully a lot longer than that.”
Cayado said he believes parachuting is fundamentally safe.
”Actually, now the way parachutes are designed and the way the training is received, it is a relatively safe sport, only it requires complete concentration when you are at it,” he said. ”When I jump out, the feeling is just that of flying. It`s fun.”
Al Benedict, the founder and director of the air show, said the Chicago event is the oldest, largest air show in the United States. This year`s show honors World War II black Navy veterans.
”It captures everything that Chicago is about,” Benedict said.
