Air show in San Antonio this weekend

[tinplas]

For those who may want to make a trip out

JBSA AIRSHOW

 

[kbaxter60]

We may meet up some family after church and see if we can still get in. (They say the close the gates once the base is "at capacity")

 

[DaBull]

We went yesterday. Fewer static displays than in the past, and the food wasn't great. Weather started out poor (low clouds, misty rain) which lead to a two hour delay in the flying program, but it was great once it cleared up. The AF volunteers working crowd control and parking were very inefficient, but they should have learned their lesson for Sun.

 

[Southpaw]

Skipped it this year. Even though I'm about 7 minutes away from the gate, I just have no tolerance for the traffic anymore. I'm pretty much in the flight path of the show and the only thing that I really wanted to see last year was the F35's. I'll watch them pass over from my yard this year.

 

[majormadmax]

We went yesterday. Fewer static displays than in the past, and the food wasn't great. Weather started out poor (low clouds, misty rain) which lead to a two hour delay in the flying program, but it was great once it cleared up. The AF volunteers working crowd control and parking were very inefficient, but they should have learned their lesson for Sun.

Concur, we where there as well and it was quite the cluster! Luckily, we had VIP tent access thanks to Thunderbird ϛ, who is a bud of my nephew.

It took us an hour to get on base, and there were a lot of people people trying to cut into the line, I wasn't having any of that!

Once we got on base, they had a lot of roads closed and while some of the sky cops let us through as we had VIP passes, one had to be a real dick about it.

The food was badly overpriced, and we didn't get to the static displays as my wife wanted to watch all the flying events. I wasn't expecting the two A-10s from the 442 FW KC Hogs to be there (that was a pleasant surprise, as we missed the A-10 Demo Team at the Bluebonnet Air Show in Burnet this year!), and I have to say Capt. Melanie “MACH” Kluesner put on an impressive demo in the F-35! My nephew knew her at Kunsan when she was still flying F-16s.

We were also able to meet MAJ Eric "Miami" Tise (Thunderbird ϛ) after the show as we spent the T-bird portion of it hanging out with his wife.

By the way, if anyone is wondering why I am using the upside down number 5 for Miami, that is the way it is depicted on his jet as he usually flies like this!

That modification was added in 1986, four years after the team adopted the F-16, after members of the maintenance team convinced leadership the 5 on the jet should be inverted to match the upside down maneuvers flown by the lead solo pilot. It's been a Thunderbirds staple ever since!

 

[DaBull]

Luckily, we had VIP tent access...

I wasn't expecting the two A-10s from the 442 FW KC Hogs to be there...

I was not so lucky. I arrived early and got to the statics very quickly, but decided to use hour long rain delay to retrieve an umbrella from the car. An hour and a half later, I got back in after only missing a couple of flight demos.

I have no problem with VIPs, but the VIP security mostly sat around until a VIP showed up. During the interim, they could have been assisting with the public. Just move VIPs to the head of the line when they arrive.

A10s were a pleasant surprise which made up for the B-1B on the schedule that never showed. Thunderbird show was better than I remember it...I tend to skip having seen it every year for a decade in CO Springs. Really hate the recent trend in "heritage" flights where an F-35 crawls alongside a WWII fighter. The pics don't even look good when the modern fighter is flaps down and pitched up to remain in formation with the prop job at full throttle.

 

[DaBull]

The food was badly overpriced

The BBQ trailer between the statics and the tower was good and better priced. Two brisket sandwich combo with chips and cookies for $17 (most alternatives were $12 for an entree).

Concur, we where there as well and it was quite the cluster!

My favorite: the parking marshals directed the cars in a long line to park in a row in an open field...one next to the other. As I was shutting down the engine, one Sgt directed the Airmen to have me park closer to the car next to me. Like six inches closer. So, I did. Of course, that added six inches to the gap on my other side. So the Airmen asked the driver next to me to move closer to me. The driver complied, but we looked at each other like...does he realize he is going to have to do this to EVERY CAR IN THE ROW? The cars were parking faster than he could ask them to move, so he would never buy enough space to squeeze in another car.