Author Topic: Kern County Air Show (Read 560 times)

Sandman · « **on:** September 29, 2003, 12:32:18 AM »

http://kerncountyairshow.com/

Can't understand the logic of making it on a weekday, but what the heck... it's fifteen miles away and the Snowbirds will be there.

Octavius · « **Reply #1 on:** September 29, 2003, 12:36:12 AM »

"... featuring the Canadian Snowbirds"

Booooring..

They make formation passes for about 20 minutes and thats it.

The Thunderbirds aren't much ahead of them either, but somewhat entertaining.

Only formation flyers I've seen and would like to see again were the Blue Angels and the four AT6 Texan guys (forget their names).

All four of these groups were at Dayton during the con.

Sandman · « **Reply #2 on:** September 29, 2003, 12:38:40 AM »

Well... we haven't had the Blue Angels here in China Lake since 1992.

The last show I went to was at Edwards AFB about three years ago. It was practically unbearable.

Chairboy · « **Reply #3 on:** September 29, 2003, 12:43:47 AM »

It looks RV friendly and my wife seems interested, so I might go.

Strange · « **Reply #4 on:** September 29, 2003, 07:38:33 AM »

I think the AT-6 guy's your talking about are the Aeroshell Texans.. White with Red wings?

I know they put on a good show.

Octavius · « **Reply #5 on:** September 29, 2003, 11:24:28 AM »

Yeah, that be them, Strange, thanks

Golfer · « **Reply #6 on:** September 29, 2003, 02:42:03 PM »

Anyone who thinks airshows are boring...

Wasn't in Dayton in July. Tops the list for airshows I've been to...and its a fair number.

And now for a shameless plug...

Come to the Wings of Victory Airshow, Lancaster, OH 2004. The last 2 years have been great successes and August '04...Mark your calendars! Presented by the Historical Aircraft Squadron...

HAS

Octavius · « **Reply #7 on:** September 29, 2003, 03:04:17 PM »

Hey, I love airshows. They're the greatest thing since sliced bread. It's the Canadian Snowbirds that bore me

slimm50 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 29, 2003, 03:20:26 PM »

Another cool airshow is put on by the Lonestar Museum of Flight, in Galveston every Fall. They have some great planes, and you can get up and personal with 'em. But the best thing is the crowds aren't nearly as crushing as the Wings Over Houston air show.
Slim03

KanadianKrusty · « **Reply #9 on:** September 29, 2003, 07:01:03 PM »

Having seen them at the Quebec City Air Show in 97, 99, and 2001, the Snowbirds are indeed boring, and I'm glad they weren't there this year, intsead we got one more CF-18 demo w/ cpt. Dan Belanger (he's AWESOME), and as far as canadian teams go the Northern Lights were FAR superior to anyone else, but 2 years ago they got jets and started sucking.

Chairboy · « **Reply #10 on:** September 30, 2003, 10:37:55 PM »

I'm going. Not going to take the RV after all, just gonna drive up in the morning with a friend and his friend's kid. If any of y'all see a fat guy with a skinny beard & mustache, frameless glasses, and a hat that says 'The Onion', that's me.

Sandman · « **Reply #11 on:** October 01, 2003, 10:50:59 PM »

I have to admit... typical of this type of bush league event around here. The small scale only marred by the poor planning.

Still... There was one highlight... the SnowBirds. They're not as loud nor as fast as the T-Birds or Blue Angels, but I definitely admired their precision.

Chairboy · « **Reply #12 on:** October 01, 2003, 11:04:24 PM »

My beef with the planning was this:

1. Waiting until one act until starting the next. At Chino and Van Nuys, when one act is 1/2 way done, the next one taxis out and takes off to get some altitude. The pause between acts is a couple minutes if anything at all.

At Kern, one act would finish. They would fly a couple passes to get applause, then set up, land, and taxi off the runway. Then the next act would walk out to their plane, get in, taxi out, and take off. Easily 10 minutes between some of the acts.

2. They didn't deal with problems well. When the Zlin 50 "Tumbling Bear" had an instrumentation problem and decided to prudently resolve it before doing his thing, they decided to just stop the whole show. Eventually, the next act did their thing, but there was a 15-25 minute delay before it got started. They should have told the other acts to be ready to go on.

Nobody said hi, guess I need to wear a bigger hat next time.

Sandman · « **Reply #13 on:** October 01, 2003, 11:07:52 PM »

In a town this small, I couldn't walk 20 feet without bumping into someone that I knew...

Had my eye out for an "Onion" cap... didn't see it... but then again, it got a little congested after 3PM.

Sikboy · « **Reply #14 on:** October 02, 2003, 08:50:33 AM »

I always wanted that godawful balloon show to work (I take it the Air Show replaced the Balloon thing?). But it was allways ****ed up. For starters the first week of October is ALWAYS windy. Secondly, the price was always ludicrous. I would drive out to Inyokern just to ask how much it cost to get in, so that I could laugh and walk away.

how's the restoration on "Doc" going? That's a pretty cool story.

-Sik