7 replies to this topic

[The Average Joe]

Took the opportunity to see the French Air Force team perform at Mather today. Very cool to watch another nation's team perform. I really liked the colored smoke.  They used it to great effect. (Take a hint USAF). They fly large formations like the Canadian team which performed a few years ago at Mather. They used the extra planes (all 8) well for some unique formations. 

 

Prior to the team performing, The Airbus A400 did a short show. The coolest part was watching this huge plane back up on the runway. A large STOL type aircraft moving backwards is pretty neat.

 

Here is a link to a news station that livestreamed the event. (Team starts at 28 minute mark) The camera work was, um, not outstanding, and you miss a lot of perspective, but it also had a nice write up on the event.

 

I highly recommend the Sept Capital Airshow.  The VIP ticket is (IMHO) worth the money for the parking, viewing location, vip bathrooms and free drinks. The free food is catered and only mediocre though.

 

http://www.sacbee.co...e144851274.html

 

[john]

they buzzed our house... it was pretty cool!

[Carl G]

I liked how they handled smoke.  I wonder if each plan could do red, blue, and white smoke, or was each plane capable of only two colors, one per engine.

[The Average Joe]

I know they each did at least 2. They did an "American flag" tribute where they flew for a bit striped red and white, and then a couple planes switched to blue.

While parafin (biodegradable, non-toxic) oil is pumped directly to the exhaust, I don't think they necessarily need an engine per smoke color. Might just be multi color pump units.

I would guess they do all three.

The huge red heart with arrow through it was much better live than on the video.  They did formations that mimicked the Apollo capsule, the Concorde and others as well as your "standard" diamonds, lines and echelons. One pretty neat thing was the corkscrew formation. Two planes in a line (one inverted) with two to the sides doing barrel rolls around them. They also did a "dna" fromation where they did a double helix with smoke.  Very creative, although not quite as visceral as the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels. That is probably due to the plane variant used. Heck, we didn't even need earplugs. When the F18s of the Blue Angels roar by, it will shake your innards.

[HarryM]

they buzzed our house... it was pretty cool!

 

They went over ours too. Was cool to see.

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

The air show itself was fantastic. The traffic control getting in to the parking area was a nightmare. What should have taken three minutes took an hour. It was a pared-down show, so they lacked sufficient staff as well as vendors. It was no where as organized as other, traditional air shows at Mather. However, as I said, the show itself was very good.

[Carl G]

I took my kids down to the terminal after the show to look around.  Many of the French pilots were sitting in a side room eating and walking around.  One walked by us carrying a shopping bag of, wait for it... baguettes.  I laughed.  As you would imagine, the pilots seemed very friendly.

[Howdy]

The air show itself was fantastic. The traffic control getting in to the parking area was a nightmare. What should have taken three minutes took an hour. It was a pared-down show, so they lacked sufficient staff as well as vendors. It was no where as organized as other, traditional air shows at Mather. However, as I said, the show itself was very good.

I guess we lucked out by coming late. Since the static displays were going to be few and most likely the same stuff at every airshow we decided to show up at noon. No traffic coming in off Douglas and we arrived just as they were starting the first engine on the Atlas. 5 minute walk and popped our chairs out. Was there just over an hour and back to the truck. Since we were last in, we were first out. We were only gone from home for two ours. My son was excited as I stood up and packed up my chair. "Thats it?"   I know now airshows are boring to him, so I won't drag him to anymore. He was in a much better mood as we were driving home...LOL