NAS Oceana Air Show 2023

[TherealJerseyviper_]

Anyone got info on the beach blast on Saturday evening?

LiveAirshowTV just confirmed that The Raptor will be flying at Beach Blast

Raptor was never at beach blast lol but razz was there got to meet him and the rest of the blues

[runningmovies]

Went to the show Saturday and it was such a nice day, not too hot, no clouds, couldn't have asked for a better. To me it seemed a little lacking something I couldn't put my finger on but still had fun.

Full Album - https://www.shawnharrisondesigns.com/Oc ... show-2023/

[jpujol]

How about those High Tech scanners at the entrance? The lines were nice and short to get in.

[jpujol]

Nice show weekend.

Special thank you to RAZZ for bringing the F-22 jets to Oceana. That was the highlight for me.

I spoke to RAZZ and told him I was the guy that had been bugging him all season about bringing the jets to Oceana for the show. He said it was not problem.

Noticed RAZZ flew the jet on the left on Saturday. One of the crew chiefs did an engine run Sunday morning with the jet on the right.

Looks like the jet on the right was no good and RAZZ flew the jet on the left again on Sunday.

Raptor did the demo before Rhino on Saturday. On Sunday, the Rhino did the demo first.

[IDF783]

Caught some of the live stream. Great show. I went to Oceana in '04 when the air power demo consisted of Tomcats and Hornets. Have F-35s not been deployed to that base yet?

[awal2049]

Caught some of the live stream. Great show. I went to Oceana in '04 when the air power demo consisted of Tomcats and Hornets. Have F-35s not been deployed to that base yet?

They won’t be from what I hear. Lemoore will be the only NAS that has them.

[MattEv14]

A prior post mentioned something lacking this year. I honestly couldn't agree more. I attended Saturday and watched off base and from the beach Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. To me the biggest thing is how the Fleet Air Power Demo has deteriorated over the years. It used to be so interesting not just with the variety of the demo, but also the aggressiveness of the passes. Honestly, while it was nice to see the E-2 in the mix this year the passes from the hornets were super tame. They barely lit the AB's with most of the passes in military power well away from the crowd except the double sneak pass. Same goes with the beach blast passes on Saturday night. It was great to see a two ship instead of the usual single, but it's supposed to be an afterburner flyover and they literally barely had the burners lit at all.

Then you added the lost performers over the last month. In addition to the F-35C demo, The Red Bull Airforce sky divers didn't show up, nor did the Corsair for the legacy flight. That reduced the lineup by nearly 45 minutes, which resulted in gaps and the show broken into stages. What flew was solid with the F-22 demo team stealing the show yet again and the Rhino demo and Blues closely behind. Also, a shout out to Razz for the amazing arrival passes out to the oceanfront Friday night at sunset. Absolutely awesome!

I will continue to attend as it's a long standing tradition with my family, but maybe I need to just realize that while the line-up is still usually decent, the best days are behind us with this show as it seems they are just going through the motions the last several years.

Matt

[Airplanefreak2000]

A prior post mentioned something lacking this year. I honestly couldn't agree more. I attended Saturday and watched off base and from the beach Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. To me the biggest thing is how the Fleet Air Power Demo has deteriorated over the years. It used to be so interesting not just with the variety of the demo, but also the aggressiveness of the passes. Honestly, while it was nice to see the E-2 in the mix this year the passes from the hornets were super tame. They barely lit the AB's with most of the passes in military power well away from the crowd except the double sneak pass. Same goes with the beach blast passes on Saturday night. It was great to see a two ship instead of the usual single, but it's supposed to be an afterburner flyover and they literally barely had the burners lit at all.

This just doesn’t apply to the fleet power, this seems to be a super hornet thing for sure. This rant does not include the F-35 and growler teams as they kill it. I’ve seen both the super East and west demos this year and both have deteriorated rapidly. It’s not the jet. It’s loud, fast and can maneuver. It’s how the demo is orchestrated. It’s become lackluster because it isn’t in your face as every other demo team is. Lots of high away from the crowd maneuvers. Yea the high speed passes and dirty roll on takeoff are cool but what else? The high alpha is flown very high, the mrt looks like a like a weak carrier break, the inverted whisper pass needs gone asap, square loop can stay. the demo needs to be in front of the crowd more. For all the good Top Gun: Maverick did for the super hornet, the demo unfortunately lets it down. It’s not the crews fault or the jets fault. It’s just a performance that keeps the crowd from really engaging in it. I think they need to take a look at that demo and create a new profile.

[MattEv14]

Couldn't have said it any better. I don't want to come off as one of those people that reminisces constantly about "the good old days", but in this case when you compare the Rhino demo to the Raptor, F-35A, F-35C, and Growler demo teams it's literally like checkers to chess at this point.

Matt

[passedgas46]

A prior post mentioned something lacking this year. I honestly couldn't agree more. I attended Saturday and watched off base and from the beach Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. To me the biggest thing is how the Fleet Air Power Demo has deteriorated over the years. It used to be so interesting not just with the variety of the demo, but also the aggressiveness of the passes. Honestly, while it was nice to see the E-2 in the mix this year the passes from the hornets were super tame. They barely lit the AB's with most of the passes in military power well away from the crowd except the double sneak pass. Same goes with the beach blast passes on Saturday night. It was great to see a two ship instead of the usual single, but it's supposed to be an afterburner flyover and they literally barely had the burners lit at all.

This just doesn’t apply to the fleet power, this seems to be a super hornet thing for sure. This rant does not include the F-35 and growler teams as they kill it. I’ve seen both the super East and west demos this year and both have deteriorated rapidly. It’s not the jet. It’s loud, fast and can maneuver. It’s how the demo is orchestrated. It’s become lackluster because it isn’t in your face as every other demo team is. Lots of high away from the crowd maneuvers. Yea the high speed passes and dirty roll on takeoff are cool but what else? The high alpha is flown very high, the mrt looks like a like a weak carrier break, the inverted whisper pass needs gone asap, square loop can stay. the demo needs to be in front of the crowd more. For all the good Top Gun: Maverick did for the super hornet, the demo unfortunately lets it down. It’s not the crews fault or the jets fault. It’s just a performance that keeps the crowd from really engaging in it. I think they need to take a look at that demo and create a new profile.

I've yet to see an F-35C or Growler fly at an airshow so I can't give a fair opinion on those jets.

What I will say is that I agree with Airplanefreak2000 on the quality of Super Hornet demos. Like all of you, I've seen my fair share of them over the years, most recently at Atlantic City last year. That demo was flown by an Oceana crew and what struck me on practice day was seeing only the pilot in the jet, no one in the back seat. I learned later that evening that the demo team only brought one airplane to AC citing a major issue with aircraft availability and maintenance. They were also told "don't break the jet" and thankfully they didn't and it flew on show day. Those demos were tame compared to pre-Covid times.

From articles I recall reading earlier this year, the Navy has an issue with Super Hornets aging rapidly along with being able to get jets up and running without constantly breaking. This might be a telltale sign why you describe the demo as being weak. I'd agree with you there. Super Hornet pilots, from my understanding, learn to fly the jet in hand-me-down aircraft that may still have some life left in the airframe along with some traps. Could we be at a tipping point where in the future there's going to be fewer and fewer Super Hornet demonstrations? Could this also affect having individual aircraft being flown to airshows for static display? Could the only times we see Super Hornets flying in an airshow be at Naval Air Stations where they are based and when we see Blue Angels performances? I hope not.