Author Topic: Anyone ever been to an airshow?  (Read 18598 times)

Offline tyketto

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Anyone ever been to an airshow?
« on: March 17, 2006, 04:27:40 PM »
Subject says it all! :)

Reason I'm asking is this.

It's less than 2 miles from me, so I'm heading out to see it. There's a huge TFR set up for it too, which will affect departures out of KSMF. As I'm closer to KMHR and NCT, I'm debating spending the money to get a scanner and set up that feed I keep wanting to do.

Question is, would everyone benefit from a quick airshow, and what happens with ATC comms when you're literally in the middle of a 5nm TFR from 0 - 15000ft MSL?

BL.



Offline PIT

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Anyone ever been to an airshow?
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2006, 04:32:39 PM »
Yes, for 5 years now the 911th aibase at PIT has hosted a airshow. its in july and last year i had the ops freqs on the PIT ops feed. very interseting stuff

Offline digger

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Anyone ever been to an airshow?
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2006, 04:50:20 PM »
Quote
what happens with ATC comms when you're literally in the middle of a 5nm TFR from 0 - 15000ft MSL?


From my experience, one of the regular airport frequencies is used as show control. The AirBoss tells the acts when to take off and land, and during the acts that employ multiple aircraft, they will coordinate on that frequency. For example, "Smoke on"...."Roll".... "Smoke off".  The airport is usually closed for the duration of the "show", so there's little, if any, other radio traffic besides the show communications. It certainly adds to the show experience to be able to hear the communications while watching tha acts!

The interesting thing about the Wings Over Pittsburgh show that PIT mentions is that it takes place at Pittsburgh International. Regular commercial traffic schedules are adjusted to accomodate the airshow acts. Several time during the course of the show there may be an interval when the regular commercial traffic arrives and departs, on the other runways.

Offline lpower

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Anyone ever been to an airshow?
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2006, 08:35:15 PM »
I wen t to a blue angels airshow in Point Magu when i was on holiday in Los Angeles a few months ago, but unfortunately the clouds were too low and all i got to see was "Fat Albert" (C-130 Hercules) doing a rocket assisted takeoff which was worth going just to see that. WOuld have liked to see them though :cry:

Offline Biff

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Anyone ever been to an airshow?
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2006, 09:58:59 PM »
I shoot at least 4 or 5 airshows a year (TICO was last weekend :) ).  The Blues put on great show.  Gotta love Fat Albert.   8)

Here's one of my favorite images I got a few years back.



It would have been a great shot if someone wasn't having gear issues....   :roll:

A scanner is invaluable when shooting airshows BTW.  And it's great to have just to watch too.  They generally don't publish the discreet freqs they'll be using, so you need to scan for them.  Sometimes the tower controller will give out the airboss freq if you're lucky.

Offline w0x0f

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Anyone ever been to an airshow?
« Reply #5 on: March 18, 2006, 12:26:15 PM »
digger,

Actually the schedules for commercial traffic are not changed during the Wings Over Pittsburgh airshow.  The weekends usually have less traffic and we coordinate the acts which require more airspace to go during the lulls.  It doesn't always work that the acts are completed when traffic shows up, so we'll go into holds at CUTTA, GRACE, NESTO, & WISKE until the airspace is no longer hot.  That's generally within 5 miles of PIT up to 14,000 feet.  

We can still use 28 Right for arrivals and departures while the smaller aircraft are performing in the box on the south side of the airport.  Even under normal circumstances, we basically treat 28 Right as a separate "airport" from 28 Center, 28 Left, and 32.

When the big acts go out, like the Thunderbirds in the past, everything on the airport stops.  No aircraft are even allowed to taxi except the T-Birds.  We're pretty excited to have the Blue Angels this year  http://www.wingsoverpittsburgh.com/

It takes a lot of coordination between the airboss, tower, TRACON, and Cleveland Center, but we're very proud to host this airshow and still operate commercial arrivals and departures simultaneously.  I'm not positive, but I don't know of any other airports that are able to do it this way.  

w0x0f

Offline digger

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Anyone ever been to an airshow?
« Reply #6 on: March 18, 2006, 12:52:12 PM »
Quote
Actually the schedules for commercial traffic are not changed during the Wings Over Pittsburgh airshow. The weekends usually have less traffic and we coordinate the acts which require more airspace to go during the lulls.


I stand corrected.  :)

I knew there had to be some sort of adjustment to accomodate the performances vs the regular traffic though... Oughta be even easier this year, shouldn't it?

Offline davolijj

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Anyone ever been to an airshow?
« Reply #7 on: March 18, 2006, 01:02:55 PM »
...I was gonna say, I can't really see them closing down the whole airport while that little "clown-helicopter" flies around backwards. :lol:

Offline w0x0f

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« Reply #8 on: March 18, 2006, 01:23:17 PM »
Quote from: digger
Oughta be even easier this year, shouldn't it?


The traffic numbers have been holding over the past few months.  Looks like the USAir effect has bottomed out and true competition is taking over.  The addition of Jet Blue yesterday is very welcome.  Southwest continues to expand.  

PIT set records for originating passengers last year.  The parking lots are full.  We just have to come to the realization that PIT isn't a hub anymore and people don't have to drive to Cleveland to get a fair price to fly to PHL and other USAir stranglehold cities.  

To answer your question, it should be the same as the last airshow, possibly a little more difficult as summer traffic grows.  We'll see.

w0x0f

Offline w0x0f

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« Reply #9 on: March 18, 2006, 01:27:08 PM »
"Location: Oklahoma City, OK (for now)"

Hey JD, how's that non-radar junk?  Do you have paper airplanes flying through your head yet?  You guys have it easy, they beat that stuff into our heads for 4 months back in the dark ages.

w0x0f

Offline davolijj

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Anyone ever been to an airshow?
« Reply #10 on: March 18, 2006, 02:20:29 PM »
Quote from: w0x0f
You guys have it easy, they beat that stuff into our heads for 4 months back in the dark ages.
w0x0f


Non-radar is evil....you should see the map we have to memorize...not fun.  We need to know every fix, every airway, every distance...everything.  It makes what I had to learn in school look easy...and we haven't even gotten to the separation standards yet. :?

http://www.atccti.com/document/nonradar.jpg

Offline Cessna172

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Anyone ever been to an airshow?
« Reply #11 on: March 21, 2006, 12:12:47 AM »
Hi tyketto,

If you are interested in airshows, I can tell you what ever you need to know about the Wings Over Houston Airshow which is held at Ellington Field (KEFD) in October. The 2005 show was excellent. It had a wonderful static aircraft display which included a C-5A Galaxy, a KC-10 Extender, a T-38 Talon (from 87FTS Laughlin AFB, TX), a F-117 Nighthawk (probably from Holloman AFB, NM), a F-16 Falcon (from the 147FW ANG based at EFD), and a F/A-18 Hornet. They also had a HUGE static warbird display. They flying demos were great too. They had the Canadian Armed Forces Snowbirds Flight Demonstration Team (they fly the CT-114), numerous aerobatic displays from single props, Tora Tora Tora (a Pearl Harbor re-enactment with pyrotechnics), and the BEST F/A-18F Super Hornet demo. They also (supposedly) had a A-10 Warthog demo and a B-1B fly-by. However, I cannot say if either of these two demos took place because I didn't go to the show on Sunday. Anyway, this year, for WOH 2006, the USAF Thunderbirds Flight Demostration Team based at Nellis AFB, Nevada will be performing, as they did two years ago at WOH 2004.

In reference to the USN Blue Angels, I absolutely love them. I try to learn everything about them that I can. I watched a 4 hour, 4 part series on the Blues on the Military channel, and I've read up a lot about them. I've also visited Pensacola, FL, the town where the Blues are based during the show season. During the Winter training season, the Blues are based out of NAS El Campo. In ref to Fat Albert, the JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off) preformance is awesome. The C-130's crew pulls negative G's while pulling up into a 45 degree climb. If you have any questions about the Blues, including when and where they will be putting on shows or any other question for that matter, just ask me, and I'll try to help you out.

In sum, whenever you get a chance to attend an airshow, jump at it!!

Cessna172
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Offline Kevin Ho

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Anyone ever been to an airshow?
« Reply #12 on: March 21, 2006, 01:00:41 AM »
Hello tyketto, do you live in Sacramento?  I'll move to there by the end of this year, maybe we can meet up and do some plane spotting?

Shame I can make it, I'm sure its fun...!

EDITED:  By the way, is this airshow held yearly at KSMF?

Offline stealth71

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« Reply #13 on: March 21, 2006, 02:13:20 AM »
I worked ours at MSO a few years ago. We had about 50 planes and choppers, the Thunderbirds, the usual mix of fighters and tankers, a B52 bomber, and an air temperature of 104 degrees F mixed in with a lot of heavy physical activity. Lot's of fun, but man was I glad to get home and take a cold shower that night after it was all over.

Offline w0x0f

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« Reply #14 on: March 21, 2006, 10:38:20 AM »
This shot was taken from the tower cab during the 2004 Wings Over Pittsburgh airshow.  It's a great place to watch a show...except when they go vertical.  A convertible roof would be helpful then.  This F15 pilot buzzed us during one of the solo practice sessions.  Real close.  We had a chance to speak with him at one of the private socials and he felt that he got a little closer to the tower than he really wanted to.  Sorry, no pictures of that, but imagine a window full of afterburners.

Offline tyketto

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Anyone ever been to an airshow?
« Reply #15 on: March 21, 2006, 01:07:51 PM »
Quote from: Kevin Ho
Hello tyketto, do you live in Sacramento?  I'll move to there by the end of this year, maybe we can meet up and do some plane spotting?

Shame I can make it, I'm sure its fun...!

EDITED:  By the way, is this airshow held yearly at KSMF?


That, I do! and if you're moving from Sydney, bring a case full of Timtams! ;)

The airshow was 3 years in the making, and is will be annual. This was the first show. The reason I was asking about it, was as I live approx. 3nm from KMHR and the Norcal TRACON, would it have been worth it to put together a quick feed for the show.

I brought my scanner with me to the show, and everyone was right; there was a separate frequency being used for the show. I don't know if it was VHF or UHF though. If UHF, I definitely wasn't going to hear anything. Tower was still broadcasting on their normal freq, but I couldn't hear the pilot side.

Next time, I'll try to find out more on the frequencies and get it aired.

BL.

Offline Cessna172

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« Reply #16 on: March 21, 2006, 03:06:49 PM »
Quote from: w0x0f
This shot was taken from the tower cab during the 2004 Wings Over Pittsburgh airshow.  It's a great place to watch a show...except when they go vertical.  A convertible roof would be helpful then.  This F15 pilot buzzed us during one of the solo practice sessions.  Real close.  We had a chance to speak with him at one of the private socials and he felt that he got a little closer to the tower than he really wanted to.  Sorry, no pictures of that, but imagine a window full of afterburners.



w0x0f, did the F-15 pilot have to ask for clearance before droping in for a pass?

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Offline w0x0f

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Anyone ever been to an airshow?
« Reply #17 on: March 21, 2006, 06:34:13 PM »
You could say that we asked for it     :twisted:

He was more than happy to comply.

Offline davolijj

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Anyone ever been to an airshow?
« Reply #18 on: March 21, 2006, 08:26:23 PM »
Here are a few more from Wings over Pittsburgh...I'm going to miss going to that airshow.






Offline Cessna172

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« Reply #19 on: March 22, 2006, 01:27:12 PM »
w0x0f,

Hahaha...I'm sure he was.  :D

davolijj, nice pics of the WOP Airshow. I looks like you guys had some pretty good flying displays up there. Down here, in Houston, at the WOH airshow, we get some pretty good ones too. However, I've never seen a LifeFlight helicopter at any one of OUR airshows. What type is it? From the pic, it looks like an AgustaWestland (possibly a A-139??). That's a pretty neat display. In Houston, the Memorial Hermann LifeFlight flys Eurocopter EC-135's. Since the Coast Guard has a CGAS on field (at Ellington, where the airshow is held), we have HH-65A Dauphins show off their stuff. The B-2 fly-by pic was cool. We had a B-2 make a pass 2 years ago at WOH. Last year, we had a B-1B Lancer in lieu of a Spirit, just to mix things up a bit.

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Offline ups702

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Anyone ever been to an airshow?
« Reply #20 on: March 22, 2006, 02:24:58 PM »
Quote from: Kevin Ho
Hello tyketto, do you live in Sacramento?  I'll move to there by the end of this year, maybe we can meet up and do some plane spotting?

Shame I can make it, I'm sure its fun...!

EDITED:  By the way, is this airshow held yearly at KSMF?


When are you headed out here? This area gets somewhat of a variety for spotting, but you'llget real used to seeing Southwest 737's very quickly. I live about 4 miles from MHR and go there quite often to check out the traffic. It's mainly GA, but we get 6 UPS 757s daily in addition to ABX 767 and Dc-9. Recently Evergreen has been sending us a couple 747's/week too. I'd definately be up for some spotting time. I need to give my new digital SLR a workout.

As far as the airshow goes, this was the 1st year, but with the support it got, I can definately see it continuing. It better since it was the 1st airshow Sacramento has seen in over 15 years and I was in HNL when it happened!

Take care,

Alan

Offline Kevin Ho

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« Reply #21 on: March 25, 2006, 05:00:53 AM »
Very nice, I guess I can make the airshow next year...see you there!  :D