WITH FIVE MILITARY JET PERFORMERS, IT’S SURE TO BE A VETERANS DAY WEEKEND TO REMEMBER

The Stuart Air Show is returning to the skies Nov. 7 and 8. Celebrating our delayed 30th anniversary, the beloved regional event—sidelined last year by heavy flooding, which preceded the tragic pre-show crash of a performer—will highlight performances from more elite military fighter jets than ever before.

Not all the action will take place exclusively in the air. The event will debut a freestyle motocross performance in which one-rider jumps over a biplane—in flight! And one of the static aircraft gives festival goers the chance to sit in the replica cockpit of the Top Gun Maverick F-18 Hornet popularized by Tom Cruise in the famous film.

This year we will be assembling aerial military performers generally so in-demand they’ve not appeared together in North America in nearly a decade; crafting and coordinating with leading health professionals comprehensive COVID-19 safety and sanitization protocols; and honoring the memory of Dr. Joseph Masessa, the pilot set to perform last year, who died Nov. 1 when his plane crashed at Witham Field hours before the show was set to start. The Stuart Air Show is also paying homage to Masessa through our logo, which was redesigned to include his 1968 Grumman OV-1 Mohawk.

As the scope of the COVID-19 virus threat emerged, air-show leadership consulted closely with other event organizers. Incorporating multiple safety measures—including encouraging pre-event ticket sales, going cashless, installing numerous personal sanitization stations, requiring masks in select covered areas, frequent cleaning of key high-touch areas and regular temperature and wellness checks for volunteers—the Stuart Air Show team also met with health professionals from the Martin County Health Department and other health-industry experts to review the protocol which can be viewed here: stuartairshow.com/safety.