JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As the nation prepares to bid its final farewell to former President Jimmy Carter, some Navy pilots tasked with performing a flyover as part of the state funeral shared what he meant to them.
The group of F/A-18 Super Hornets arrived at Naval Air Station Jacksonville Tuesday and will take off for Georgia on Thursday.
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News4JAX spoke with several of the pilots, three of whom are from Georgia. For Lieutenant Commander Brandon Allgood, the mission is extra special.
Allgood is the grandson of former Georgia State Senator Thomas Allgood, who, along with his wife, Thelma, died in a plane crash in 2000.
“He actually got elected the same year President Carter went to the presidency in 1976,” Allgood recounted. “It’s been 24 years since my grandpa passed away, but today is an emotional day for me.”
He continued, “How many times in your life can you say that you executed a flyover anybody, but especially for a former president? Being from Georgia, it’s just amazing to honor him and my grandpa, who was a friend of his.”
Allgood explains the crew will perform several Diamond formations, plus the traditional missing man formation.
“My aircraft, as we go over, planes will pitch up aggressively out of the formation, to symbolize that our four-ship formation is now missing an integral member,” Allgood said, alluding to President Carter.
Lt. Commander Charity Somma, another native Georgian, will be part of the Diamond formation. She also feels a special connection to the former president.
“My personal connection is, is the legacy of that Georgian,” Somma said. “I remember going to the state capitol as a child. We were driving by the Carter estate and being told the stories and the history of what that man had accomplished, and being so proud that I, too, was a Georgian.”
The crew will be practicing hard to make sure everything runs smoothly. Most of all, these men and women are grateful to be here.
“Getting to be part of this is just such a great honor and an amazing experience and something that’s only once in a lifetime,” Allgood said.
“Of all the things in my bingo card of what I aspire to be as a Navy pilot, what I thought my career might entail, being able to be a part of a flyover to honor President Jimmy Carter was certainly not one of the things I would have picked,” Lt. Somma said. “But that far supersedes anything I could have wished would have been on that bingo card.”
The aircraft are scheduled to depart NAS Jacksonville for the funeral Thursday afternoon. NAS Jacksonville officials say residents in surrounding neighborhoods will notice an increase in aircraft activity and noise during the ceremony.
