Got the Blues?

Jay Honeck said:
[FONT=verdana, arial]If not, they'll be here: http://www.swairfest.org/default.aspx [/FONT]

[FONT=verdana, arial]Any Midwestern PofA-ers planning to attend? Mary and I are taking that weekend off, and plan to fly-in both days... [/FONT]
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Jay, I'm working security at Janesville on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of the airshow. I'm not sure what my station will be, but I'm hoping flight line or near the Blues.

If anyone is going, PM me and hopefully we can connect.
 
I was going to go with a friend from out of town, but now she's not coming. So I dunno, haven't decided yet. I went there a few years ago though, it's a good show. :yes:
 
The Blues looked GREAT this afternoon! I worked the airshow today (Friday), and look forward to Saturday and Sunday.

Today I was providing security at a particular gate, and got word that we would have a couple dozen cars with "Make a Wish" kids. They came a little before 3:00 and received a front and center seat for the Blue Angels' practice show. Immediately after they landed, the pilots came directly to and interacted with the Make a Wish kids, provided autographs, etc. Class acts as always.

For anyone flying in, the airport will be closed between 1000 and 1700 local on Saturday and Sunday, and also between 1800 and 1930 local on Saturday. here's the NOTAM:

9/0010 - WI.. FLIGHT RESTRICTION. SOUTHERN WISCONSIN REGIONAL AIRPORT, JANESVILLE, WI. DUE TO HIGH PERFORMANCE AERIAL DEMONSTRATIONS DURING THE 2009 SOUTHERN WISCONSIN AIRFEST, EFFECTIVE 0905281600 UTC UNTIL 0905282200 UTC, 0905291700 UTC UNTIL 0905292200 UTC, 0905292300 UTC UNTIL 0905300300 UTC, 0905301500 UTC UNTIL 0905302200 UTC, 0905302300 UTC UNTIL 0905310030 UTC, AND 0905311500 UTC UNTIL 0905312200 UTC. PURSUANT TO 14 CFR SECTION 91.145, MANAGEMENT OF AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS IN THE VICINITY OF AERIAL DEMONSTRATIONS AND MAJOR SPORTING EVENTS, AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS ARE PROHIBITED WITHIN A 5 NMR OF 423713N/0890229W OR THE JANESVILLE /JVL/ VOR/DME 034 DEGREE RADIAL AT 4.7 NM, AT AND BELOW 16000 FT MSL UNLESS AUTHORIZED BY ATC. DAVID SCHULTZ, PHONE 610-724-3300, IS THE POINT OF CONTACT. THE SOUTHERN WISCONSIN REGIONAL /JVL/ ATCT, PHONE 608-754-2611, IS THE COORDINATION FACILITY. WIE UNTIL UFN. CREATED: 21 MAY 11:25 2009
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I'll be wearing a nifty red Southern Wisconsin Airfest Security t-shirt, and an AOPA baseball cap (only because I was never lucky enough to secure a PoA cap.) Stop by and say hi!
 
Jay, did you happen to attend? Sat. was questionable in the AM, but the show went off as planned. Sunday was beautiful. Planes were arriving all the way up to the TFR going into effect.

All performers did great. I met Susan Dacy and her Super Stearman from nearby Harvard, Illinois. She might be the friendliest person I've ever met at an airshow. Patty Wagstaff did a great job, as did the Blues. On Friday afternoon's practice Blue Angel #3 may have injested a bird (unconfirmed), requiring Fat Albert to fly down to Pensacola overnight to get another engine. On Sunday, Blue Angel #4 landed mid-show with mechanical problems, and 2 minutes later another Blue Angel Pilot (I think it was #8 LT Amy Tomlinson) jumped in Aircraft #7 to rejoin the show and the diamond formation. Pretty impressive improvisation!

Oh, and the Budweiser Clydsdales! Bud brought their gentle giants to the airshow on both Saturday and Sunday. (Apparently they have 5 teams of 8 horses around the country, with three semi trailers for each team.) It was awesome to see how they set up and polished the wagon, groom and bridle the horses, and get them ready for a trot around the grounds.

Most impressive to me was talking to the military. The Canadians brought down a twin turbo-prop navigator trainer from Winnipeg. The Netherland Air Force (who knew?) brought down a big business jet, making the Canadian pilots wonder if they also brought some pretty Dutch flight attendants. And then there were the two Marine pilots hoping to fly their T-34 back to Florida, only to be grounded by a faulty annunciator panel. While they were waiting to hear whether they needed to be tugged back to the hangar (they did), it was fun talking about instrument training quite literally under the hood, as in a complete hood. Good guys.

The only thing I could do without is the Shockwave Jet Truck. If you've seen them, they belch more smoke than anything else at an airshow. Anyway, it wasn't good enough to surge the engines and generate heat and smoke on the runway. He had to do it on Taxiway Alpha as well, which meant that nearly the entire crowd was enveloped in that stuff, given the wind direction at that time. I feel for anyone that had a lung condition.

Overall, a great volunteering experience.
 
Thanks for the report, Stan! Sounds like a good time. Unfortunately, some other stuff ended up getting scheduled and I was busy the whole weekend. :( Maybe next year... Sigh.

nddons said:
Oh, and the Budweiser Clydsdales! Bud brought their gentle giants to the airshow on both Saturday and Sunday.
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Who let THEM into the state? (They're the only major beer maker without a brewery in Wisconsin, so we're legally required to hate them. :rofl:)
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Thanks for the report, Stan! Sounds like a good time. Unfortunately, some other stuff ended up getting scheduled and I was busy the whole weekend. :( Maybe next year... Sigh.



Who let THEM into the state? (They're the only major beer maker without a brewery in Wisconsin, so we're legally required to hate them. :rofl:)
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Well, word has it that Anheuser-Busch's invention of Budweiser coincided with the 19th century reversal of the flow of the Chicago River, from flowing into Lake Michigan, to flowing downstream all the way into the Mississippi River, upriver from St. Louis, to prevent Chicago waste water from flowing into the Lake. St. Louis is the home of .....
 
nddons said:
Well, word has it that Anheuser-Busch's invention of Budweiser coincided with the 19th century reversal of the flow of the Chicago River, from flowing into Lake Michigan, to flowing downstream all the way into the Mississippi River, upriver from St. Louis, to prevent Chicago waste water from flowing into the Lake. St. Louis is the home of .....
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In Milwaukee, we used to say "It goes in Miller... It comes out Bud." :rofl:
 
"Yeah, I threw up, but that didn't detract from the experience one little bit."

I know that feeling. Even so, somehow, I don't think I'd want to pull 7.3 G in a turn...
 
nddons said:
Jay, did you happen to attend? Sat. was questionable in the AM, but the show went off as planned. Sunday was beautiful. Planes were arriving all the way up to the TFR going into effect.

All performers did great. I met Susan Dacy and her Super Stearman from nearby Harvard, Illinois. She might be the friendliest person I've ever met at an airshow. Patty Wagstaff did a great job, as did the Blues. On Friday afternoon's practice Blue Angel #3 may have injested a bird (unconfirmed), requiring Fat Albert to fly down to Pensacola overnight to get another engine. On Sunday, Blue Angel #4 landed mid-show with mechanical problems, and 2 minutes later another Blue Angel Pilot (I think it was #8 LT Amy Tomlinson) jumped in Aircraft #7 to rejoin the show and the diamond formation. Pretty impressive improvisation!

Oh, and the Budweiser Clydsdales! Bud brought their gentle giants to the airshow on both Saturday and Sunday. (Apparently they have 5 teams of 8 horses around the country, with three semi trailers for each team.) It was awesome to see how they set up and polished the wagon, groom and bridle the horses, and get them ready for a trot around the grounds.

Most impressive to me was talking to the military. The Canadians brought down a twin turbo-prop navigator trainer from Winnipeg. The Netherland Air Force (who knew?) brought down a big business jet, making the Canadian pilots wonder if they also brought some pretty Dutch flight attendants. And then there were the two Marine pilots hoping to fly their T-34 back to Florida, only to be grounded by a faulty annunciator panel. While they were waiting to hear whether they needed to be tugged back to the hangar (they did), it was fun talking about instrument training quite literally under the hood, as in a complete hood. Good guys.

The only thing I could do without is the Shockwave Jet Truck. If you've seen them, they belch more smoke than anything else at an airshow. Anyway, it wasn't good enough to surge the engines and generate heat and smoke on the runway. He had to do it on Taxiway Alpha as well, which meant that nearly the entire crowd was enveloped in that stuff, given the wind direction at that time. I feel for anyone that had a lung condition.

Overall, a great volunteering experience.
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Hi Stan,

Sorry I missed you (and your post here) -- we flew in to the show both Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday we met up with friends who flew their Aztec down from Stevens Point. It was a terrific airshow and a great weekend!

The only thing I hope they change next year is the parking/transportation situation for fly-in attendees. All of us were parked far from the show line, and it was really a mess trying to get in. Getting back to the plane(s) after the show was even worse, with only a single volunteer providing transportation. (Walking was not allowed due to having to cross active runways...) One round trip took that poor woman 45 minutes, thanks to having to wait for ATC clearance across those runways. By the time she got back, I'm afraid there were some angry people waiting. (Having been a volunteer at these sorts of things many times, I really felt for her. No good deed goes unpunished, and she took some heat for a situation that was obviously beyond her control.)

Still, that was a minor annoyance in an otherwise fantastic airshow. Here are some pix from the weekend: http://www.alexisparkinn.com/2009_janesville_airfest.htm
 
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