Aviation Geeks Rejoice

Allegedly, there's some sort of game going on today.  Supposedly, it's a big deal.  Perhaps more significant for me, this game will kick off with a flyover from "these guys":

Now, if I were running the show, we'd go low and slow to show center, then light the burners on the Bone and do a max climb out of the formation.  This, however, will probably be more fun that the powers-that-be will allow.  Having never witnessed a space launch (still on the "bucket list"), the Bone is single loudest human creation I've ever encountered.   In the end, I'll settle for a big smokey cloud from the B52 and the Bone and B2 whistling away as they barely hover above a stall.  

I'm almost looking forward to this more than the game . . . 

Should be interesting.  If it where my choice, I would float in the B2 first, nice and quite, lul them.... then do a nice slow Buff pass at full throttle and rattle the place a bit, let the smoke show settle a little bit then bring the B1 in a bit faster and light the burners as it passes over... bam! wake up time!

Buffs are not exactly known for their environmental friendliness (this is of course with the original engines):

NAH !  They will just do a slow pass at just above stall speed at a safe altitude and maybe not directly over the stadium.  Boring.

The above suggestions would be more fun.

Can they bring a F111 out of retirement for a dump and burn?

I saw a B-one go full burners at an airshow in Dayton in the early 90's.  It was amazing and well worth the what felt like to 10 YO me 8 mile walk in the 130* heat to get to the showgrounds.

Gonna be the one to say it. What a waste of time and money.

nocones said:

Can they bring a F111 out of retirement for a dump and burn?

 

I saw a B-one go full burners at an airshow in Dayton in the early 90's.  It was amazing and well worth the what felt like to 10 YO me 8 mile walk in the 130* heat to get to the showgrounds.

I saw the Bone full burner at an airshow at Selfridge about 15-20 years ago.  It was the sort of noise that overwhelms your hearing and you end up basically feeling the noise in your chest.  

Other highlights of that show: Collings Foundation's F-4 flew a demo with a MiG 17 (suddenly the problems the USAF/USN had in Vietnam made A LOT more sense); an Air Cav assault simulation, supported by an A-1 Sandy  (A couple UH-1's each carrying an infantry squad, a Cobra, the A-1, lots of pyrotechnics); a multi-ship C-130 troop drop and a P-51 demo that ended with Vlado Lenoch dead stick landing the Mustang after it blew out all it coolant.  Other than being "surface of the sun" hot (Michigan in July), it was pretty much a perfect day.  

I went to a ton of air shows at Willow Run back in the 90s and early 2000s, and the B-1 is the single loudest plane I've ever heard. I remember one setting off a bunch of car alarms when it went over the parking lot.

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

Ever see an AV-8B do a demo? Theres a reason they end the airshow with the Harrier.

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:

Gonna be the one to say it. What a waste of time and money.

Recruitment tool. Kids see that and it makes an impression. The same reason the Navy assisted with Top Gun. They've been milking that movie for 35 years.

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:

Gonna be the one to say it. What a waste of time and money.

We pay for them either way.  At least we get some entertainment out of them this way.  Pretty much the same with air shows.  The pilots are required to have a certain amount of flying time to stay current, might as well let people see them.  You can S on the demo teams (Blue Angels, Thunderbirds) as a waste if you want, but they are clearly pretty much pure marketing / recruiting, and we, unfortunately, do need a military.

E.g. it costs almost as much (likely the same) NOT to do this. 

I am assuming that the military takes full advantage of flyby opportunities to maintain qualifications and treat them as general training.  I have always figured they just did that pilots weekly/monthly checkout flight on Sunday with a bit unusual flight pattern.  

I also got to see the F-117A that had the American flag painted on its belly do a demonstration.  It was doing a fly by at the airshow.  We knew there was going to be a stealth fighter flyby but didn't know anything else.  It was really cool when it flew down the flight line and banked into what seemed like a knife edge and the crowd got to see the American flag for the first time.   Everyone lost their collective mind with national pride. 

I always wanted to see a Avro Vulcan fly to hear the noise but never got to being a continent removed from where they lived and born about the time all but the demonstration one was removed from service.  

Appleseed said:

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

Ever see an AV-8B do a demo? Theres a reason they end the airshow with the Harrier.

WHAT?!??!?

I've seen both.  I'd have to say the Bone is louder, but on burner it's about a 3 second flyby.  The Harrier just hangs there pumping out the noise.  

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:

Gonna be the one to say it. What a waste of time and money.

I get emotional at the Indy 500 held on the Memorial Day weekend with taps and the tribute to our military.  Throw in the National anthem with a flyover and I'm crying and trying to convince my high school senior she needs to join the military.  

Yeah, I agree it's a bucket of money but man it hits me pretty hard when I'm there.  
 

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:

Gonna be the one to say it. What a waste of time and money.

Eh

Pilots have to get a certain amount of hours in the seat in order to stay qualified.  Its a small thing to schedule them to fly at the same time.

One of my favorite parts when I used to nascar races!

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:

Gonna be the one to say it. What a waste of time and money.

The game?  I know, right?  All I've heard for the last few weeks is Bucs this Bucs that, blah blah blah. I'd rather spend the day down the street at McDill AFB watching the tankers.

A B-52, B-1, and B-2 add up to 55, the number of the Super Bowl.  And planes came from bases in Missouri and Florida (the states with teams represented in said sports endeavor).

My son just graduated Air Force basic and is at Wichita Falls Texas to learn how to fix all manner of military aircraft.  It's all pretty cool.

(And loud is cool, but watching several hundred planes suddenly switch off their beacons as they go "feet wet" into hostile territory is pretty nifty.)

I've heard the bone and the concord both and I think they're pretty close in terms of raw screw your ears you're now deaf. I watched the concord shake people out of their lawn chairs at Oshkosh back in the 90's. 

kazoospec said

I've seen both.  I'd have to say the Bone is louder, but on burner it's about a 3 second flyby.  The Harrier just hangs there pumping out the noise.  

I was working at a place where some Harrier guys were doing currency work (I assume) on fly, transition, hover, land, take off, repeat.  All. Day. Long.  We were in a structure maybe 400 meters away, trying to give a presentation and do some training.  It was a long day.

When I was a kid, I went to an event at the arsenal where my dad was an engineer.  Highlight of the day was going to be the F4 fly-over.  It was insane.  Announcer:  "and here come the". BOOOOM!   They were going fast enough that we didn't hear them coming.  100 feet off the deck and moving.  Everyone instinctively ducked.

My dad told me that in future years, the flyover was higher and slower.  :)

I went to Oshkosh when I was 16 (been a while...).  One of the coolest things was standing behind the Bone, just outside the roped area, when they ran the engines up.  It was the loudest, coolest thing ever...for about three days, until I saw the Harrier demo.  The Harrier was louder, arguably not cooler.

I grew up about 20 miles from Whiteman AFB so the stealth is actually old news to me.  It's neat, but it doesn't have the same impact as it does for people who've only seen it occasionally.

The flyover was definitely the best part about that game yesterday.

aircooled said:

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:

Gonna be the one to say it. What a waste of time and money.

We pay for them either way.  At least we get some entertainment out of them this way.  Pretty much the same with air shows.  The pilots are required to have a certain amount of flying time to stay current, might as well let people see them.  You can S on the demo teams (Blue Angels, Thunderbirds) as a waste if you want, but they are clearly pretty much pure marketing / recruiting, and we, unfortunately, do need a military.

E.g. it costs almost as much (likely the same) NOT to do this. 

The demo teams don't have the draw they once did, and the accident rate is nutty high.  I've seen all three (The Thunderbirds/Angels/Snowbirds) and they're really neat, but I can't help but think the returns aren't worth it.  

I haven't been to an airshow in decades, but I did see some good ones. A few highlights:

- Went to a show at the McDonnell-Douglas Long Beach plant - can't recall the year, but they rolled out the Douglas Historical Foundation DC-2 restoration, which was pretty advanced by that time. Anyway, after the show closed I was hanging out with some of the MD guys toward the end of the runway as some of the planes were leaving. The A-4 (I think is was a USMC airframe, but I could be wrong) didn't climb at all for most of the length of the runway and went howling past us at basically 0ft AGL before pulling up. A little while later the B-1 positioned at the far end. It was dusk and you could see the heat when he ran up the burners and rolled. Went past us at maybe 100ft on his way maybe 500ft, at which altitude he buzzed the entire city of Long Beach. I was told later that he set off basically every car alarm in the city.

- Saw the Thunderbirds soon after they transitioned into F-16s. They did a show not far from here (NY) and included their "tactical surprise" bit where one plane peels off, runs around the field, and then pops back in from behind the crowd. He came over at about 200ft, tops. There was much ducking. The USAF static display at that show was really good - they even brought in one of the SAC BUFFs from Griffiss AFB upstate.

- Another notable show was at Pratt-Whitney in CT. Highlights were a full Bob Hoover routine in his Shrike Commander, which I don't think I quite fully appreciated until I started flying myself, and the closing flyover of every WW2 Grumman Cat - F4F, F6F, F7F, and F8F - plus a Tomcat flying #2. Halfway along the Tomcat pulled up and the rest carried on in the missing man across the field.

KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) said:

My son just graduated Air Force basic and is at Wichita Falls Texas to learn how to fix all manner of military aircraft.  It's all pretty cool.

My mother was an Air Force civilian instructor for Basic Aircraft Maintenance at Sheppard AFB (Wichita Falls, TX).  

Yeah, my mother wore combat boots. 

I used to live out in the woods, which was on a bombing run flight plan. It was not often, but occasionally you're outside doing stuff and RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA right over head. Never heard them coming. Always made me E36 M3 my pants too.

psteav (Forum Supporter) said:

 The Harrier was louder, arguably not cooler.

 

I grew up close to Atlantic City international and the Airforce Base attached to it.  For years they had the airshow on the base.  I thought the Harrier was the coolest thing there until they brought out the Osprey the last year they held the show where you could actually go and see and touch the planes.  Now they just do a flyby over the beach.