So on saturday, me, my dad, my bro, and my bro’s roommate all went out to the Airshow. In a word: Awesome. We were there pretty much all day long, from around 9 am to around 4 pm.
One of the cool demonstrations they had right off the bat was of the AV-8 Harrier–All I have to say is those things are really, really loud. They did all the usual show-off moves: Vertical take off/landing, hovering, spinning a 360, sidestepping, you know–all the good stuff.
Also at the show they had the ubiquitous stunt/prop planes entertaining as always.
Then a while later they had a really awesome fly-over by the B2 Stealth Bomber. It’s just amazing how quiet those things are, it flew right overhead and we could just talk in our normal voices. Sure you could still hear it, but man was it quiet! He flew over 3 passes and then left.
Later in the show they showed one of the newest Cargo planes (I forget which one). It was cool though, it had an amazingly short takeoff and then they did a really cool landing. They brought the plane in for a simulated hostile landing in I think it was like around 1500 feet or so. Basically the plane landed and they slammed the engines in reverse and the plane just glided to a stop. Pure Coolidge.
The final act of the show was the one that most people came to see, The Blue Angels. And as it was the first time I had ever seen them in person (minus their practicing the couple days before), I have to say it was really cool. There was a nice clear sky so they could do their full high ceiling show. What can I say about them really that hasn’t been said already, they’re frickin amazing. oh, and before they started their main show, they had their maintenance plane “Fat Albert” do a little showing-off with a JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off), which is just freaking insanely cool to see.
That’s about it for the show. I ended up getting a (not-so) nice sunburn on my face, neck, and both arms due to the genius of not wearing any sunscreen the entire day I was out there. and So I turned really red, and started peeling (on my neck and cheeks). But at least my arms are better and haven’t started to peel (which makes me wonder if they will or not).