Navy’s Blue Angels begin flying into La Crosse on Tuesday

Just days away now from the Deke Slayton Airfest in La Crosse and people in the Coulee Region can expect to see some activity in the skies.

Jet No. 7 of the Navy’s Blue Angels flying team will be landing at the La Crosse Regional Airport on Tuesday morning and taking influential community members for a ride. The rest of the Blue Angels team flies in around 10 a.m. Thursday.

Airfest is scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday and tickets must be purchased online.

Other flying teams, like the brand new F22 Raptors and Apache helicopter, will also be making their way to the area throughout the week.

Airfest’s Dave Larsen and Bruce Mathew were recently on La Crosse Talk PM discussing the upcoming show and some of the acts, as well as telling some other stories.

A couple pilots from both Madison and Minneapolis are expected to be part of the Blue Angels team in La Crosse and are planning on joining La Crosse Talk PM later this week.

The last Airfest took place in 2021, which included the Air Force’s trillion-dollar jet, the F35 Lightning.

That show, however, took place during the pandemic and was drive-in only. This year’s Airfest will have more more activity on the ground for people to enjoy.

Before 2020, Airfest hadn’t been to town since 2014 due to the inability to get a military flying team, plus constructions projects shutting down I-90 and the French Island bridge.

The airshow only happens now when there is a military flying team. The first Airfest happened in 1998.

La Crosse Talk PM airs weekdays at 5:06 p.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk PM wherever you get your podcasts.