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The Blue Angels landed exclusively on Prime Video today, offering folks the perfect Memorial Day movie for the upcoming holiday weekend. The film — produced by the likes of Glen Powell and J.J. Abrams — uses cutting edge technology to take viewers into the cockpits of the iconic Blue Angels, an elite flight demonstration squad known for their heart-pounding aerial displays. Instead of watching the Blues’ outrageous maneuvers from the ground, the new Blue Angels movie lets us experience it for ourselves.
The Blue Angels isn’t all thrills, chills, and chatter about the immense pressure flying puts on the human body, however. The movie also follows the pilots and ground crew of the 2022 Blue Angels as they train as a unit, traverse the country, and perform death-defying skills for adoring crowds. We get to know folks like Captain Brian “Boss” Kesselring, the Blue Angels’ #1, and Amanda Lee, the first woman ever tapped to fly with the Blues.
If you stick around to the end of The Blue Angels movie on Prime Video, you’ll find out what happened next to the pilots we met in the film. At least…what they were up to in 2023. But it’s now 2024 and the Blue Angels lineup has once again shuffled.
Who from The Blue Angels movie is still flying with the iconic squadron? Who’s moved on? And who are you really watching when you show up to one of the Blue Angels 2024 shows? Here’s everything you need know about what happened next to the Blue Angels from The Blue Angels movie on Prime Video…
The Blue Angels Movie Ending Explained: Where are the Pilots Now? Is Amanda Lee Still a Blue Angel?
For the pilots flying their last year with the Blues in The Blue Angels movie, it’s rather straightforward what happened to them next.
Major Frank “Chomps” Zastoupil (BA #4) moved to North Carolina with his family where he flies with the Tigers of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 542. Lieutenant Commander Cary “Chewy” Rickoff (BA #5) left the Blue Angels, but stayed local in Pensacola to work as a flight instructor. And Captain Brian “Boss” Kesserling (BA #1) is now stationed with his wife in Japan, where he’s Deputy Commander of a Carrier Air Wing.
The end of The Blue Angels movie reveals what happened to the pilots profiled immediately after the film wrapped, but doesn’t keep updated on the current Blue Angels line up.
For instance, we learn that Lieutenant Commander Chris “Cheese” Kapuschansky (BA #2) married his wife Allison before the start of the 2023 season and that they soon learned they were expecting their first child. However, a quick look at the current Blue Angels roster reveals Cheese left after the season ended. He’s no longer flying with the Blues.
Similarly, we’re told that Cheese’s fellow newbie in the film, Lieutenant Commander Scott “Jamammy” Goossens (BA #3) became Blue Angel #4 in 2023. He, too, is no longer flying with the Blues.
Lieutenant Commander Julius “Whiskers” Bratton (BA #6) became the Lead Solo, Blue Angel #5 in 2023. However, he’s since been replaced by another 2023 newbie we didn’t meet in the movie, Lieutenant Commander Griffin Stangel, whose full bio reveals he’s been a member of the Blue Angels since 2021, even if he only joined the six-pilot flying unit in 2023. Some internet sleuthing suggests that one of the new Blue Angels we see recruited in the film, Commander Thomas Zimmerman, spent 2023 on the sidelines and only became Blue Angel #6, aka Opposing Solo, this year.
What about the two most prominent new members of the team? Commander Alexander “Boss” Armatas and Lieutenant Commander Amanda Lee? They’re both still flying with the Blue Angels! As of 2024, Armatas is still “Boss,” flying #1, but Lee has move from the #3 position to the coveted #4 slot. That means if you go to a Blue Angels show in 2024…you will see them both in the skies!
Where Are the Blue Angels Flying? Annapolis, New York, and Beyond!
If The Blue Angels movie isn’t enough for you and you simply must see them fly in person during Memorial Day Weekend 2024, you’re in luck!
The Blue Angels are scheduled to fly in Annapolis, Maryland for a U.S. Naval Academy Graduation Flyover on Friday, May 24.
More of a New York-based aviation nerd? On both Saturday, May 25 and Sunday, May 26, the Blue Angels are flying over Jones Beach as part of the Bethpage Air Show.
Midwesterners can get their taste of the Blues when the Blue Angels spend weekends in June traveling to Terre Haute, Indiana (June 1-2), Chesterfield, Missouri (June 8-9), La Crosse, Wisconsin (June 15-16), Dayton, Ohio (June 22-23), and Traverse City, Michigan (June 29-30.)
The Blue Angels will be performing all over the United States between now and November 2. For full details of the Blue Angels’ 2024 and 2025 Show Schedules, you can visit their official show schedule page.
