McChord AFB Air Expo 2008

If you've read previous posts, you know I was waiting a long time for this show. Unfortunately, at the last minute many changes were made to the show, some major. For example, the MiG Fury Fighters team that flys a MiG-15 and MiG-17 against a FJ-4 Fury canceled a week before the event due to fuel costs. Later all of the other warbird jets backed out as well. For a show that was going to be mainly a jet warbird show, it ended up not having ANY jet warbirds. :( Bummer. But maybe in 2010 it'll work out.

Also, the event brought in record crowds! On Saturday the record was broken as 150,000 people attended the airshow. The next day 227,000 people showed up!

The linuep included the US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet demo, USAF F-15 Demo, USAF Thunderbirds, a B-2 Sprit flyby on Saturday, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Bud and Ross Granley, Tim Webber (I love your flying, but do you honestly have to sing about being high?), Air Force Reserve Jet Car, MiG-17 from Classic Aviation in Oregon, the C-17 single ship demo, Wings of Blue jump team, and the McChord Airfield assault with three C-17's.

Great show, everyone! There were no awkward pauses, except for the usual 45 minutes it takes the Thunderbirds to taxi out to the runway, twiddle their thumbs, then take off. But that's just how the Thunderbirds roll.

The next posts will feature photos from Fridays practice and arrival day, and the show on Saturday and Sunday, July 19th and 20th.

Arlington Fly-In and Airshow 2008

Instead of posting a bunch of pictures from this event, I decided to record some video. I hung out with the friendly folks at the IAC Chapter 67 tent for most of the time throughout the week and for the airshow made it out to the front of the crowdline.

First up is a video I put together of a friend and fellow IAC 67 member, Terry Burch! He always puts on an incredible airshow routine in his beautiful Zlin 50LA. Sit back and enjoy:



Next up is a video showcasing all of the acts that participated in this years 2008 Arlington Fly-In and Airshow! Celebrating the 40th annual Arlington Fly-In! The Arlington Fly-In takes place at Arlington Municipal Airport in Arlington, Washington.
Enjoy:



Performers Shown In Video:
Kent Pietsch - Interstate Kadet
Ken Fowler / Eric Hansen - Rocket Aerobatics - Harmon Rocket
Renny Price - Su-29
Bud & Ross Granley T-6 Texan/ Yak-18/ Yak-55
Frank Donnely - Dr. D's Old time Aerobatics
Red Eagle Air Sports - Christen Eagle II
John Mrazek - Harvard Mk IV
Dan Buchanan - Hang Glider
Terry Burch - Zlin 50 LA
Kathy Hirtz - Wolf Pitts
Julie Clark - T-34 mentor

P.S. Youtube left out the last 6 seconds of the video, which provided time to pause and read the performers list. It's originally 4:08