September 13, 2007
Blue Angels Flight Simulator Visits Rachel

By Dave Maxwell

Somewhere in the world of popular music is a lyric “Take a ride with an angel.” A lot of people did that this past weekend at the Little Alé Inn in Rachel. The U.S. Navy’s precision flying team, the Blue Angels, had their flight simulator on display for visitors to inspect and catch a ride. That five-minute ride was just like being in the cockpit with one of the Angels. You experienced the sensation and the jolts and jerks of making high-speed banks to the left and right, of racing over the beach at about 500 miles per hour, and of making a take-off that suddenly goes to being straight up. One had to hang on tight, too, because the turns really did tip you to one side or the other.

Mike Cravey, U.S. Air Force (ret), now with the Navy’s Blue Angels, said he brought the simulator to Rachel to fulfill a promise made last year to Little Alé Inn owners, Pat and Bill Laudenklos. He said that in 2006 when at Nellis Air Force Base for a Blue Angels Show, he and one of the pilots, both UFO enthusiasts, rented a car and drove to Rachel for a visit. They met Bill and Pat and Cravey promised them that he would bring the simulator to Rachel on his next trip through Nevada.

Three weeks ago when he knew he had an open weekend on his way to Reno for the air races, he said he would stop by with the simulator. On Friday he said they had about 200 people take rides in the simulator, including Air Force personnel heading back to Nellis from leave time. Cravey said he is on a tour that will take him to San Francisco, south along the coast and over to Phoenix, then through the south on the way back to home base in Pensacola, Florida by early November to conclude this seasons tour.