Went to Sun & Fun today...

gismo

Touchdown! Greaser!
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iGismo
For the first time. It seemed a lot less crowded than Oshkosh, but I'm told things were busier before today (fine by me). I bought a few odds and ends including new tiedown anchors ("The Claw"), some tools, and a Lightspeed Mach 1 headset (they had a show special that gives you custom fitted earpieces that are supposed to improve the noise attenuation). I won't get the headset until I get home next week and then I have to go see an audiolgist to fit the ear pieces so the report will have to wait.

The best part of the airshow came at the end when two F-22s and a P-51 flew around together. I got a few (low quality) pictures from that:
 

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wesleyj said:
Looks more like an F-22 and an F-15 to me

It is indeed an F-22, F-15, and P-51. I have a long write-up that I'm working on that talks about my 2 1/2 or so days at Sun-'n-fun.

It was a blast (literally as well...that F22 is LOUD!)

Jason
 
I was there all week myself. If you were there you probably saw me running around in one of the warbird line crew vehicles. My green and silver IAR was parked on the WB line in front of emergency aircraft repair (just in case :) ).

I got to meet the ground support crew for the F-15C demo team during the week. Some funny stories to tell about that at Gaston's when we get there.

The F-22 did an extended demo on Sunday waiting for the F-15 to park. Those that kept an eye on him loitering south of the field with the -51 instead of watching the -15 demo the previous days got see some inkling of his maneuvering capabilities. When asked by one of our line crew after he landed what he was doing out there he said "about 65 knots"...

It seems the -22 has limited fresh air to the cockpit and they carry a LOX cart with them to recharge the breathing air system after every flight. Watching the -22 go through its pre-flight systems check it appeared that whole aft end of the plane moves in all directions, very organic compared to "conventional" jets.

We had a fewer WB's in overall numbers this year, but there were more -34's than in recent years as they recover from their spar AD. 14 active military aircraft were on the field, a high for recent shows. 6 DC-3/C-47's, 2 HU-16 Albatrosses, an E2-C Hawkeye, and a PBY made for interesting aircraft movements in the limited parking space. And it seemed to me we had more flights in and out of the field during the week than average, a lot of rides to sponsors and VIPs and what not. I flew our WB registrar up to Leeward Skyranch ~70nm north of LAL on Friday for a WB picnic. Fun flight up and back and I got to fly the south WB arrival on the return to make the NOTAM'd close time for the daily airshow with 10 minutes to spare.
 
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wesleyj said:
Looks more like an F-22 and an F-15 to me.

An F-15 with a propeller? Oh, you mean the other jet! And yea, I think it is an F-15.
 
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