There is an airshow in town and I live close to the airport. It is practice day today.

Earlier it was a WWII vintage airplane buzzing my house.

I was hearing the jets all day but never saw them. Finally went out just a bit ago and saw the Thunderbirds do bunch of passes around my home. It was very cool!

This is a stock photo for those not familiar withe the Thunderbirds

 

And there's me thinking you meant these guys

 

I thought you meant these guys !

 

I'm visiting my son and his wife and my granddaughters up here in Cranberry, and a couple of them came roaring up this way. Loud!!!!

 

Every year the Claveland Air Show runs the 3 day Labor Day Weekend and the Air Force Thunderbirds alternate years with the Navy Blue Angels. Love the air shows, especially when they have the old WW II vintage planes flying. The classics restored by the Commemorative Air Force formerly the Confederate Air Force. I love the classic old bombers and fighters. Normally flight teams arrive around Tuesday or Wednesday and practice till the show Sat, Sun & Mon. Hopefully again this year we will get the grand kids up as they love the air show. The $8.00 draft beer at 12 Oz is also a treat.

Ron

 

And there's me thinking you meant these guys

Hola Alec

Just a blank screen is all I get.

 

You should get this:

 

Bad news is it is very overcast today. Very low ceiling. They won't perform in this. Best that will happen is a few low passes. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow, it is when I planned on going to the show anyway.

 

Bad news is it is very overcast today. Very low ceiling. They won't perform in this. Best that will happen is a few low passes. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow, it is when I planned on going to the show anyway.

Oh man, that sucks as here in Cleveland it is gorgeous out there. Hell I finished yard work and feel the need to take the bike out and ride. I do know the Blue Angels as well as the Thunderbirds has at least three routines for various ceilings but if you have cloud cover at 1,000 feet it is a wash. I forget the minimum ceiling they fly in.

Ron

 

I drove from Cranberry down to Louisville, KY today. Bright, sunny and warm here!

 

Oh man, that sucks as here in Cleveland it is gorgeous out there. Hell I finished yard work and feel the need to take the bike out and ride. I do know the Blue Angels as well as the Thunderbirds has at least three routines for various ceilings but if you have cloud cover at 1,000 feet it is a wash. I forget the minimum ceiling they fly in.

Ron

The sky cleared toward the afternoon. They actually put on a pretty good show. I think it may have been better if there was a higher ceiling but still pretty decent.

I plan on going back tomorrow. I will bet it will be clearer and then maybe a slightly better show. When saw the Blue Angels in Annapolis, the ceiling was so, low all they did was some passes. This was way better than that.

Two things that were disappointing.

1. They didn't do the show till the end of the day. I ducked out of the show early (I had a front row seat) to see some of the static displays as they were all so crowded earlier. But they were already shutting down the displays so I missed some of the show for nothing. Plus since the whole airshow was shutting down after the Thunderbirds ended their show, everyone had to leave at once. Had the Thunderbirds performed earlier, some people could have stuck around for the static displays.

This event seemed to be more well attended than past airshows but there hasn't been one in Pittsburgh for 6 years so that could be part of the reason. While it was a bit annoying getting out of there with everyone else, I have to say they did an excellent job at traffic control considering the number of people.


2. They didn't do the legend of the Thunderbird! In previous shows they did a story about the Thunderbird narrated by a native American. It was chilling. Probably dropped it to be more PC Funny I can't even find it online.

 

Enjoy the show tomorrow and let's hope for great weather. The Thunderbirds or Blue Angels always are the finale here and about any show I have been to. Here in Cleveland the Thunderbirds actually fly in and out of Cleveland Hopkins, the Cleveland Airport but the actual show is at Burke Lakefront Airport downtown right on the lake. Years ago they would takeoff in front of the crowd until they had a bad accident. Fortunately it was after the show and during the fly out. Burke Lakefront is just that, lakefront and with the lake go seagulls. During their departure fly out one aircraft took a bird strike just after leaving the runway. They lost aircraft and pilot into Lake Erie. Following that mishap they will not fly the Thunderbirds in or out of Burks Lakefront.

Now they have a new routine which is really pretty cool. Their spokesperson starts narrating the Thunderbird Legend and has the crowd attention with everyone looking North across the runways out over the lake. Right about when you haven't a clue one solo bird comes up from behind the crowd really moving to where you hear the rushing air followed by the sound. Then a straight vertical climb and in a few seconds he is a spot in the sky. People unfamiliar with the routine about freak out and crap themselves. From there they begin their routine. Really neat how they recovered from the mishap and even though the crowd doesn't see them take off in formation and land in formation they give a hell of a performance.

Prior to my involvement with Navy Nuclear program I was Marine Air and NAVAIR so needless to say I am big on the Blue Angels.

My wife was talking to her aunt in Brownsville today and her aunt told her the weather looked to be getting better. Kathy's family background is Brownsville (her mother) and McKeysport (her father). During my Navy Nuclear days I got to Bechtel Bettis quite a bit. But yeah, my wife is a PA girl.

Enjoy the show tomorrow and lets hope for good weather.

Ron

 

Now they have a new routine which is really pretty cool. Their spokesperson starts narrating the Thunderbird Legend and has the crowd attention with everyone looking North across the runways out over the lake. Right about when you haven't a clue one solo bird comes up from behind the crowd really moving to where you hear the rushing air followed by the sound. Then a straight vertical climb and in a few seconds he is a spot in the sky. People unfamiliar with the routine about freak out and crap themselves. From there they begin their routine. Really neat how they recovered from the mishap and even though the crowd doesn't see them take off in formation and land in formation they give a hell of a performance.


Ron

Maybe I missed the Thunderbird Legend then? I did see the lone flight going over the crowd but I was well away of the speakers by then. I will have to stick around for the whole thing tomorrow. I wish they had PA throughout the display are because just about anyplace is a great view.

I thought they did the story before they departed when I saw them last.

When I saw them 6 years ago, I could not have been standing in a better place for that pass. Pretty much directly overhead. You didn't hear the roar of the engine till he was long gone. They played a song as he went over head. I know I have heard it before. "You didn't see me now" or something like that. I think it was an old funk song.

 

My daughter used to live a few miles from the airport. We were having a cookout at her place one day and could hear the jets from the airshow going on. It's always hard to hear the sound and then spot the fighter plane, since it's always so far in front of the sound.

Anyway, we heard the sound especially loud and looked up to see a formation of fighters that looked to be under 100 feet above us, banked at 90° in a tight turn. We could easily see the pilots and look through their windows and out the other side. Thrilling and mind-blowing to say the least.

 

Back, October 7th 2011, I was lucky to experience part of the Blue Angels show both from a ferry heading into San Francisco Harbor and later from the dock.

In fact, it was not planned to end our tour of Western United States National Parks to experience a part of Fleet Week.

 

Went again today. It was more overcast than yesterday plus way more crowded than yesterday.

I was hoping to post some photos but nothing came out well. Pretty much everything is out of focus. I never used the camera in the multiple photo mode before. I guess I assumed it would auto focus as I clicked.

 

The Thunderbirds were incredible once again. It really is an emotional experience to watch one of their shows.

But what was really fascinating was the F22 demo. What an amazing feat of engineering. Unbelievable what hat aircraft can do.

Also speaking of engineering, I toured a B52. An aircraft still in service today and designed in the days of the slide rule. Just amazing.

 

Also speaking of engineering, I toured a B52. An aircraft still in service today and designed in the days of the slide rule. Just amazing.

Been around since the mid 50s along with the C 130 another classic workhorse. Bummer as to the overcast and learning curve with the camera. Next year!

Ron

 

. Bummer as to the overcast and learning curve with the camera. Next year!

Ron

Thing is I have had the camera for eons. You would think I would have earned to use it by now.

It might have been just my movement and the planes movement that was the issues. I had the lens on 4x . It is a cheap point an shoot with no stabilization.

 

The first year I took my then new camera to the air show I was trying to lead the aircraft because early digital cameras had delay. About 90% of my pictures were of aircraft noses as I was leading too much. I even had a few of empty sky. Figure it this way, you have mental images in your mind of the show.

Ron