An Oak Harbor teacher’s wild ride on ‘Fat Albert’

On Friday, Olympic View Elementary School Principal Martha Adams got a chance to fly inside the Blue Angels’ giant C-130 Hercules aircraft, “Fat Albert” during a rehearsal for the weekend’s Seafair event which took place in Seattle.

On Friday, Olympic View Elementary School Principal Martha Adams got a chance to fly inside the Blue Angels’ giant C-130 Hercules aircraft, “Fat Albert” during a rehearsal for the weekend’s Seafair event which took place in Seattle.

Adams was nominated by Oak Harbor’s Assistant Superintendent Lance Gibbon as part of the Key Influencers program. Each performance season, the Blue Angels take “key influencers” on demonstration flights to reward them for their dedication to youth education.

On Friday, Adams said she was in the aircraft to experience 45-degree angle-climbs — flying 300-plus miles per hour just 60 feet above the Interstate 90 bridge — and the sensation of zero gravity.

She said the pilot even opened the cargo hatch while they were in flight to give the passengers a view of the Seattle skyline.

“It was most exciting and quite an honor to be able to represent the school district this way,” Adams said. “It was quite an experience.”