had a family reunion picnic on Saturday and a wedding to shoot on Sunday. That left Monday for me to attend.The day started out great. My 2 oldest sons were going to man the Civil Air Patrol booth, so I needed to drop them off and park the car. Since we needed to be there early, my brother and I were third in line to enter. This always allows us to get our chairs in position for a good seat. On our way to "setup camp", we met a few friends along the way. It's great to see familiar faces at the show!
The morning weather was good, a little hazy, but not too bad. So off we went to shoot the statics. This year
the Cleveland Airshow static list was impressive! It beats the scores of F-18's we had hear a few years ago!! I was really excited to see the E-6B Mercury. I had hoped to see the Growler, but it didn't attend, hopefully next year!Be
fore you know it, the flying starts. I was glad to see many acts and aircraft that haven't been to Cleveland in years. Top of the list was the Harrier, it's last appearance was back in 1995. It was loooong overdue to be here! I was also glad to see an Apache flying this year. Usually they are on static and the only way to see them flying is to be here on arrival or departure day. And it brought back memories seeing Kyle Franklin flying in the familiar black and silver Waco.
This year's lineup d
id not disappoint! Skip Stewart is just amazing! I'm astounded at what he can do with an airplane. John Klatt never ceases to astound. His flying is as crisp as you can get, the ANG should be proud to have him flying for them!Of course the military lineup was awesome, Ritz and Gizmo never disappoint when doing their demo and this year was no exception. With all the moisture in the air it was vapor heaven! The A-10 demo was exceptional, again moisture + high-G turns = vapor!
The big downer was the rain. Just before the Thunderbirds were supposed to perform, the rain hit and hit HARD. The team tried to wait out the weather for as long as they could, but unfortunately they decided to cancel their act. I felt really bad for the people who came out to see them for their one and only time this year. Fortunately, I got to see them at Dayton this year, so I was only mildly disappointed.
The only good thing about the rain was the fact that it opened up a bunch of opportunities for shooting the statics. With puddles of water come reflections! :)All in all, this year's show was great - despite the rain. As I told my brother, a bad day at the airshow beats a great day anywhere else! This year's lineup was awesome! It's too bad that the Growler didn't show and the F-18 demo canceled earlier this year due to the Navy's budget constraints. As always, we'll be back again next year!
More photos from the airshow can be seen on the main AoA site here.
