Flyover salutes US healthcare workers fighting COVID-1

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels and U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds conducted a flyover on Saturday in Washington D.C., Northern Virginia and Prince George’s County in Maryland in support of the frontline healthcare workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

The show is one of a series of flyovers the squadrons have been making around the country.

The 20-minute Washington D.C. flyover, which followed one in Baltimore of Maryland earlier in the day, started at 11:45 a.m. Eastern Time in Prince George’s County of Maryland. The planes then hovered around Montgomery County of Maryland and headed into Northern Virginia via Arlington.

After passing over Fairfax City, the planes looped back in Prince William County, and then flew toward the National Mall in the downtown D.C. area, where the flyover was brought to an end at around 12:05 p.m.

Saturday’s flyover was part of the “America Strong” tour, which President Donald Trump announced at a recent news conference.

“What we are doing is paying tribute to our front-line health care workers confronting COVID, and it’s really a signal to all Americans to remain vigilant during the outbreak,” Trump said at an April 22 news briefing.

“Operation America Strong was the idea of our great military men and women – the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels crews who wanted to show support to the American medical workers who, just like military members in a time of war, are fiercely running toward the fight,” said the president.

source: Xinhua/UNB