Just got back from a very enjoyable trip to the Florida Panhandle. I attended the Friday show; haven't started editing photos yet, but wanted to share some thoughts.
The weather was sublime; a little chilly in the morning, but that turned out to be to my benefit, as the pockets in my jacket compensated for not being able to take a backpack. And I'd take 55 degrees in the morning and a dry 75-ish at midday over already breaking a sweat at 9:30 am any day!
I have mixed feelings on the two twenty-minute or so intermissions built into the show. On the one hand, they turned out to be a blessing for the solo traveler (e.g., myself), for whom every food run, trash dash, bathroom break, and static display jaunt essentially requires packing up everything and inevitably missing some part of the flying display. On the other, they did make the show feel a little dragged out, especially combined with the gaps between many of the civilian acts that were staging from KPNS.
The flying display itself was outstanding, very well-balanced, though if I had to make one suggestion, it could've done with a bit of high-performance warbird action. The fact that the CAF Airbase Georgia's Corsair was on hand for the Legacy Flight only felt like a bit of a missed opportunity, as its full routine is superb and would've been a great addition. But that's a minor gripe, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Most of the performers were firsts for me; the only aerial acts I'd seen before were the Blue Angels, Rob Holland, and the Viper Demo Team (flying a standard squadron jet on the Friday rather than Venom). Technically I've seen the Misty Blues before, but it's been a good twenty-plus years, so for all intents and purposes, a fresh one for me. The F-35C has got some serious stage presence, though I still think of one of those Styrofoam gliders I used to play with as a kid every time I see that enormous wing!
The trainer parade in particular was a real treat. I was really hoping to see a little of the "other" home team - the one whose aircraft are painted orange-and-white instead of blue-and-yellow - especially since the show's official website said nothing about any modern military training participation. I would've been happy with a couple Texans or Goshawks. Well, all we got instead were two each of TH-57Cs and TH-73As, eight Texan IIs (4x from Whiting Field, 3x USN and 1x USAF from Pensacola), T-1A, T-44C, and four Goshawks in a nice banking pass. That's in addition to the Stearman Flight Team and civvie trio of Navion, T-34B, and T-28.
Traffic was...frustrating. I know that's always going to be an issue when massive amounts of civilian vehicles are moving around a facility that wasn't designed for such traffic, and base security did their best, but it seemed glacial even by typical air show standards. Security was quick and efficient, though, so even though it was close to the published 9:30 am start by the time I got parked up, I had just enough time to sprint around the small but quality static display before the Stearmans (Stearmen?) went up. I had another, more leisurely gander before leaving...and still got stuck in gridlock. Eh, sitting in traffic is all part of the experience, right?
Blue Angel #5's smoke system went out a few minutes into Friday's display. Hopefully they got it fixed for Saturday.
All right, now to go through a couple hundred images...
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