Lt. Clay Martin is still enthusiastic about the Air Expo at Patuxent River Naval Air Station this month, despite the fact that the Blue Angels flying team had to drop out of the show. There are still about 20 performers scheduled to appear at the Air Expo on Saturday, Oct. 29, and Sunday, Oct. 30. Gates 1 and 2 at Pax River will be open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both days, and admission is free. “It’s going to be a fantastic event,” Patrick Gordon, public affairs officer for Patuxent River NAS, said last week. “It’s really a dynamic lineup,” Martin said of the performers even with the absence of the Blue Angels who were scheduled to fly at Pax River. Following a fatal crash in June in Tennessee, the Blue Angels were mandated to take a break on every eighth weekend of their performance schedule to combat fatigue. “That window of rest fell on our air show,” Martin said, who has spent the last year and half preparing for Pax River’s Air Expo. “We were just the unfortunate victims of that.” With the Blue Angels scheduled to perform, Pax River officials were expecting 70,000 [...]