6. Eaa Airventure 2019
- You know, I honestly don’t know where to begin for this one. Airventure became a big opportunity for Airshow360 to show the airshow industry what we can offer. We had a great week with several on-board cameras, interviews, photos, videos, and just a complete coverage of the show. Oshkosh is the Disneyland of airshows, there is just nothing like. Every day is a new adventure. I actually arrived to Oshkosh the Thursday prior to setup my tent early then head on to Sheboygan. Well I lived in fear the whole weekend wondering if my tent would still be there after Oshkosh got hit with several rounds of intense wind squall lines. By some miracle, Camp Neat withstood Mother Nature and allowed me a great camping weekend. I’m lucky I even got in, it was so muddy and they had to stop campers from getting in because there was nowhere to put them. Luckily as I had checked in Thursday, my camp was already in so I was good. Every year I go to Oshkosh, it’s more about the friends than anything. It is the one place where you can throw a stone and probably hit an airshow friend. With large groups of nearly 20 people each day sitting together, there is always fun to be had. As always, Oshkosh has plenty of moments. There was no other jaw dropping moment for fans than the arrival of the F-35 team Monday evening. After their opening heritage fly-bys for the concert, the A-10 and P-51s landed and then it was on. An epic wagon wheel sound of freedom ensued with Dojo, Loco, and Lawless just ripping the sky apart trying to one up each other with each low approach. No rules, just pure flying and noise. It was only the opening Monday and Oshkosh had been made. Other highlights include, seeing the XP-82 fly multiple times again, Rod Lewis Mosquito, Capt Eddies Firefly, the Firebombers act each day with a crazy flying CL-215. Probably one of the most gorgeous back drops you’ll ever see for a heritage flight with the Saturday night thunderstorm light show, being told over and over and OVER again that I have a headlight out, the fun nights at budday house, getting a $30 parking ticket, standing at a culvers counter for no reason at all while waiting on ice cream, working with my Tora friends providing pyro for the Wednesday day and night show and also Friday, the incredible nuke bomb during the fireworks displays, an unfortunate butt pocket incident, having to get my car jumped by the paradigm team when it was dead one morning, seeing the black knight t-33 in person finally, seeing the USN F-35C in person, and having the snowbirds jump in on our group photo while taking it in front of their “vintage jet”. There were several other highlights but this list is long enough already!
7. St. Louis Stem airshow
-The sole reason I put this show on my schedule was to see the red arrows. Several other good things came of it at the show though. The Reds were fantastic. They used very intricate formations with dynamic maneuvering that created an energetic performance. I really enjoyed their show and I was very happy to see them! Several other highlights include an incredibly fun time throwing the ole pigskin around while watching arrivals, two Alabama (ROLL TIDE!) vipers who knew how to party, an A400 literally almost causing a power outage with the craziest wake I’ve ever seen. It literally ripped the tops of trees off. I got to interview Blue Angel #4, seeing Special K for the first time actually up close, some insanely low passes by both the spitfire and the b-17, a hotel room bounce house, a pretty strong thunderstorm that almost ruined the Sunday show but created the setting for some insane vapor, and just a great time with several budday’s with our dinners and fantastic comradery.
8. NAS Oceana
- I almost decided not to attend this year, there wasn’t anything new I hadn’t seen before and it was stated earlier in the summer that the USN TACDEMO would not be flying. Well of course that changed and so did my mind. I took the kiddos and per usual we had a fantastic time. Weather was absolutely perfect. The highlight for this show was actually seeing the Thunderbirds perform at a naval base. Normally the blue angels are here but NAS Lemoore had scheduled them and so that left Oceana to get the Thunderbirds. That didn’t make a lot of naval folk happy but as a dedicated airshow fan, I was happy. They put on a great show each day even though they were down a pilot as #6 could not attend. Other highlights include the team Oceana fleet demos, a great cookout at a friend’s house, biplane mania with the Sheltons, Skip, and the Jet Waco sasquatch, the insane smoke ring that the firewalkers created that skip had a party in, door-dashing hooters wings at 11pm, and getting to see the super hornet demo for the only time this year.
9. Warbirds over Monroe
- This show, while not the biggest, is by far my favorite show each year. I’m a warbirds guy so it just appeals to me. It’s small, low key, and it gets to go BOOM with all of my favorite Tora friends. It was freezing each morning this year with doing briefs on the frosty ground. But we warmed it up real quick by bringing the heat to the field. The highlight for this show for me was seeing the JU-52 again. I hadn’t seen it in years and it was great to see the old bird fly. It has such a unique sound. Other highlights include greg Koontz yelling HELP! During his comedy routine at us in the pyro field, getting insanely close to Matt Younkin’s photo pass, have 5 WWII fighters(3 P-51s, corsair, and a P-40) strafe the field over your head, the Dave bombs, all of the fun times and shenanigans with my pyro buddies, and getting to see the Class of 45 up close and personal in the box.
10. Nellis AFB airshow
- This was our chance to really shine. Nellis had our team at Airshow360 live stream the whole show weekend. Team Nellis went all out creating a fantastic show. The obvious highlight was the CAD demo (for me in general was seeing wraith and blizzard). It was an intense battle that brought the sound of freedom over and over again of which you’ve all already seen plenty of photos of that. I cannot wait until their next show. However, there was one highlight that superseded the CAD demo, one 41 years in the making. The final demonstration of Julie Clark’s career. I’ve seen Julie many times over the years and it was a great honor to shoot her final performance ever. I wish her all the best! Other highlights include my first EVER commercial flight and boy did I go everywhere. I got to visit LA and NYC in the same weekend. Had a sweet flight to NYC on a Delta 737-900, going to the strip two nights in a row, a ridiculous 4-Loko party, bouncing glasses, NO QF-16 PAINTS MAJOR, actually winning money in vegas then blowing it on a Nellis Swag run, Getting to hang out with the rest of the Airshow360 crew, no cody you’re not funny and I do hate airshows
, a locked bathroom door that I got open with my hotel key and a screwdriver, a questionable decision loading a truck, a super fun dinner at Bdubs with several runtime errors, Dojos water and champagne bath, and a safe flight back to charlotte that wrapped up my 2019 airshow season!
I am sorry this year in review was so long but understand that airshows are the most fun hobby I have with some of the most fun people in the world. 2020 is shaping up to be an awesome year. I’ve put together a pre-emptive 2020 schedule that I’ll post after ICAS because it may change on different schedules. Next year is the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII. I can’t wait to see what kind of warbird shows or acts happen! See you all next year!