2012 Oregon International Air Show

2012 Oregon Air ShowEver since I finished flight school, I’ve been more interested in airshows and fly-ins. Sadly, I attended the air show solo this year since the Fuss Nugget was just too fussy to stick around. Between the bright sun and uncomfortable shoes she didn’t have much of a chance. Speaking of sun, it was a hot one this year! Temperatures rose to about 104 deg Fahrenheit with only a small breeze keeping the event on the edge of bearable. The organizers of the show failed miserably on the availability of water, with only a few stations scattered in inconvenient locations, all ahead of long lines. A few vendors sold ice cold water at $3.00 per bottle, a price I was more than willing to pay. Another annoyance was the fact that many of the food vendors were located in the VIP area of the air show, requiring ticket upgrades. The air show nazis held the checkpoint steadfastly, refusing to allow anyone in for a temporary visit to the “restricted” food vendors. The combined lameness of these two annoyances, along with a lack of interesting exhibits will probably drive me to watch the show from across the airport with an air band radio next year. I’m sure that listening to the CTAF/tower frequency will be far more interesting than listening to the announcers. [Read more…]

The Blue Angels are in Seattle

This morning I woke up to the roar of several jet engines only to find out that the Blue Angels were practicing right above my house. They are set to perform their show over Lake Washington on Saturday and Sunday but I’ll miss it since I’m going to be camping this weekend . At least I get to watch them practice today and tomorrow. Since I live on Mercer Island I had a great view of the action but the practice sessions required the closure of the I-90 bridge so I was stuck there until noon.