This weekend I kinda got a private demo by a f18 Blue Angle Hornets visit to our
airport. I'm based at Waukegan Airport (KUGN) in Waukegan Illinois. I didn't
see him land on Friday, 12/2 but here is an account from someone in the club
that was there: Ranger 4 (callsign used) reports field in site and request 360
break to land. Performs the coolest 360 degree circle mid field and land
perfectly. Longest runway is 600ft. Parks at DB aviation. Jet sits there
for the weekend. Plane is painted in Blue angles colors except no team number
on the tail.

Sunday, I just came in from flying around a bit and noticed the canopy was
opened on the f18. So a bunch of us watched, pulled out the binoculars and
checked out the pilot. Had Bright yellow helmet same color as Blue Angles trim.
Fires up the engines and taxis out. Taxied out to end of runway 23, and
receives clearance for 10,000 ft. Starts takeoff roll and is flying in ground
effect down the runway. Then near the end of the runway, he lights up the
afterbunners and goes vertical. Jet blast leaves a big swirlling cloud of snow
(we got 3 inches the night before). The runway was cleared to perfection too!
Buildings shook and windows rattled. A few students and instructors where in
the pattern when he took off. All they could say was wow!
Anway he put on a very nice show for us.

Just wanted to share this experience.

Kevin Kubiak - PP-ASEL
Stick & Rudder Flying Club

Just fixes a few typos. See I'm still excited about it.

Kevin Kubiak - PP-ASEL
Kevin Kubiak wrote:

> This weekend I kinda got a private demo by a f18 Blue Angle Hornets
> visit to our airport. I'm based at Waukegan Airport (KUGN) in Waukegan
> Illinois. I didn't > see him land on Friday, 12/2 but here is an account from someone in the
> club that was there: Ranger 4 (callsign used) reports field in site and
> request 360 break to land. Performs the coolest 360 degree circle mid
> field and lands perfectly. Longest runway is 6000ft. Parks at DB
> aviation. Jet sits there > for the weekend. Plane is painted in Blue angles colors except no team
> number on the tail.
>
> Sunday, I just came in from flying around a bit and noticed the canopy
> was opened on the f18. So a bunch of us watched, pulled out the
> binoculars and checked out the pilot. Had Bright yellow helmet same
> color as Blue Angles trim.
> Fires up the engines and taxis out. Taxied out to end of runway 23, and
> receives clearance for 10,000 ft. Starts takeoff roll and is flying in
> ground effect down the runway. Then near the end of the runway, he
> lights up the afterbunners and goes vertical. Jet blast leaves a big
> swirlling cloud of snow (we got 3 inches the night before). The runway
> was cleared to perfection too!
> Buildings shook and windows rattled. A few students and instructors
> where in the pattern when he took off. All they could say was wow!
> Anway he put on a very nice show for us.
>
> Just wanted to share this experience.
>
> Kevin Kubiak - PP-ASEL
> Stick & Rudder Flying Club

The Blue Angels park at my homebase whenever they do the Jones Beach, NY
show in May. They used to give a pretty extensive show but around 2001 or
so, they scared the bejesus out of the neighborhood because of a couple of
low-level, full afterburner maneuvers and less-than-widespread notification
(a debatable issue it seems). Living 1/4 mile from the longest runway, my
neighborhood was in the middle of the controversy. All this equates to no
more impromptu shows over the airport *sigh*.

Marco Leon


"Kevin Kubiak" > wrote in message
...
> Just fixes a few typos. See I'm still excited about it.
>
> Kevin Kubiak - PP-ASEL
> Kevin Kubiak wrote:
>
> > This weekend I kinda got a private demo by a f18 Blue Angle Hornets
> > visit to our airport. I'm based at Waukegan Airport (KUGN) in Waukegan
> > Illinois. I didn't > see him land on Friday, 12/2 but here is an
account from someone in the
> > club that was there: Ranger 4 (callsign used) reports field in site and
> > request 360 break to land. Performs the coolest 360 degree circle mid
> > field and lands perfectly. Longest runway is 6000ft. Parks at DB
> > aviation. Jet sits there > for the weekend. Plane is painted in Blue
angles colors except no team
> > number on the tail.
> >
> > Sunday, I just came in from flying around a bit and noticed the canopy
> > was opened on the f18. So a bunch of us watched, pulled out the
> > binoculars and checked out the pilot. Had Bright yellow helmet same
> > color as Blue Angles trim.
> > Fires up the engines and taxis out. Taxied out to end of runway 23, and
> > receives clearance for 10,000 ft. Starts takeoff roll and is flying in
> > ground effect down the runway. Then near the end of the runway, he
> > lights up the afterbunners and goes vertical. Jet blast leaves a big
> > swirlling cloud of snow (we got 3 inches the night before). The runway
> > was cleared to perfection too!
> > Buildings shook and windows rattled. A few students and instructors
> > where in the pattern when he took off. All they could say was wow!
> > Anway he put on a very nice show for us.
> >
> > Just wanted to share this experience.
> >
> > Kevin Kubiak - PP-ASEL
> > Stick & Rudder Flying Club

On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 08:48:39 -0600, Kevin Kubiak > wrote in
>:

> ... Taxied out to end of runway 23, and
>receives clearance for 10,000 ft. Starts takeoff roll and is flying in ground
>effect down the runway. Then near the end of the runway, he lights up the
>afterbunners and goes vertical.
> ...

>Anway he put on a very nice show for us.

Cool story!

Thanks for sharing it.

Reminds me of a sad story about a military pilot trying to
do that kind of airshow takeoff with his mother watching
from the terminal. He must have gotten disoriented in
the clouds because he looped over and came straight
back down.

Marty

What was especially nice was it was crystal clear out so we actually saw him
leveling off once at 10000 ft. It didn't take him long to get there either
may a couple of seconds.

Kevin

Martin X. Moleski, SJ wrote:
> On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 08:48:39 -0600, Kevin Kubiak > wrote in
> >:
>
>
>>... Taxied out to end of runway 23, and
>>receives clearance for 10,000 ft. Starts takeoff roll and is flying in ground
>>effect down the runway. Then near the end of the runway, he lights up the
>>afterbunners and goes vertical.
>>...
>
>
>>Anway he put on a very nice show for us.
>
>
> Cool story!
>
> Thanks for sharing it.
>
> Reminds me of a sad story about a military pilot trying to
> do that kind of airshow takeoff with his mother watching
> from the terminal. He must have gotten disoriented in
> the clouds because he looped over and came straight
> back down.
>
> Marty

"Martin X. Moleski, SJ" > wrote:

> Reminds me of a sad story about a military pilot trying to
> do that kind of airshow takeoff with his mother watching
> from the terminal. He must have gotten disoriented in
> the clouds because he looped over and came straight
> back down.

This sounds like the F-14 crash in Nashville, TN, back in 1996. Killed
three on the ground and both the pilot and rio in the aircraft.

--
Peter

I've told this story before but it warrants retelling... Decades back,
the early 70's, the Thunderbirds were coming to Selfridge airbase for a
Sunday airshow... I was invited down to see them arrive on Firday
afternoon... Standing at the flight line the 'announcer' kept telling
everyone how they were so many minutes out over the lake and coming
from the east (over Lake St. Clair), then it was two minutes, then one
minute, "and keep a sharp eye out folks"... For whatever reason I got
suspicious and turned around and there they were coming from the west
in a battle line, tree top high and pedal to the metal... As they
flashed onto the airbase they lit the afterburners (F4 Phantom), and
went supersonic out over the lake, then stood on their tail and went up
out of sight through the cloud base... There were some really rattled
folks standing around and quivering for several minutes after their
pass... The concussion was strong enough it broke some windows on the
base, and you felt like someone had punched you in the chest... The
warm, kerosene wind blew paper and dirt all over the base... I loved
it..
That evening at the banquet the Major in charge of the base officially
welcomed them, said he had over 200 phone calls from Mt. Clemons
homeowners angry about their houses being rattled, " . . but it was
worth it! ." He got a standing ovation...

denny

My kinda dood!

Would liked to have been there, for the show AND the banquet!

:)

Dave


On 5 Dec 2005 14:14:14 -0800, "Denny" > wrote:

>I've told this story before but it warrants retelling... Decades back,
>the early 70's, the Thunderbirds were coming to Selfridge airbase for a
>Sunday airshow... I was invited down to see them arrive on Firday
>afternoon... Standing at the flight line the 'announcer' kept telling
>everyone how they were so many minutes out over the lake and coming
>from the east (over Lake St. Clair), then it was two minutes, then one
>minute, "and keep a sharp eye out folks"... For whatever reason I got
>suspicious and turned around and there they were coming from the west
>in a battle line, tree top high and pedal to the metal... As they
>flashed onto the airbase they lit the afterburners (F4 Phantom), and
>went supersonic out over the lake, then stood on their tail and went up
>out of sight through the cloud base... There were some really rattled
>folks standing around and quivering for several minutes after their
>pass... The concussion was strong enough it broke some windows on the
>base, and you felt like someone had punched you in the chest... The
>warm, kerosene wind blew paper and dirt all over the base... I loved
>it..
>That evening at the banquet the Major in charge of the base officially
>welcomed them, said he had over 200 phone calls from Mt. Clemons
>homeowners angry about their houses being rattled, " . . but it was
>worth it! ." He got a standing ovation...
>
>denny

I told this story before, but it's worth repeating.

The Thunderbirds were at Hansom Airforce base (BED, in MA) , in ythe
late 60's or early 70's. I had a handheld av band receiver with me, we
watched them do the walk, mount their airplanes, start up, and pull
out, all very impressive of course. Then I heard "Uh, Hanscom Ground,
Thunderbird One."

"This is Hanscom Ground, go ahead, Thunderbird One."

"Uh, Hanscom Ground, how do I get to Runway two three?"

"Left turn, Thunderbird One, then . . ." and he guided them to the
runway.

Of course, the best part was when they took position on the runway, and
we heard "Hanscom Ground, Thunderbirds are going to Tach 1 frequency
now."

"Frequency change approved," the tower said.

And then we learned again what precision flying was all about.

BTW, they did not need directions back to the tiedowns, either.


That was one of my two best airshow experiences.

>As they flashed onto the airbase they lit the afterburners (F4 Phantom)

Just saw a Discovery Channel's show about a company that's rebuilding
the F4 Phantoms back to flying cnodition and than installing autopilots
in them just so they can be used to test A toA and G toA missiles.
What a watse... I'd give my left b*lls (I mean my front tire off of my
car) to get that's been rebuilt.

I've wondered why there weren't any more flying F-4's out there in civilian
hands. An article I read a while back mentioned that they are apparently
maintenance hogs with a high maintenance-to-flying hour ratio. I would
imagine that there would not be many civilian Tomcats for the same reason.
Right behind that reason is the deep gov't red tape complicating the tack of
getting one in the first place.

Marco Leon



"Flyingmonk" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> >As they flashed onto the airbase they lit the afterburners (F4 Phantom)
>
> Just saw a Discovery Channel's show about a company that's rebuilding
> the F4 Phantoms back to flying cnodition and than installing autopilots
> in them just so they can be used to test A toA and G toA missiles.
> What a watse... I'd give my left b*lls (I mean my front tire off of my
> car) to get that's been rebuilt.
>



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In article >,
"Marco Leon" <mmleon(at)yahoo.com> wrote:

> I've wondered why there weren't any more flying F-4's out there in civilian
> hands. An article I read a while back mentioned that they are apparently
> maintenance hogs with a high maintenance-to-flying hour ratio. I would
> imagine that there would not be many civilian Tomcats for the same reason.
> Right behind that reason is the deep gov't red tape complicating the tack of
> getting one in the first place.
>
> Marco Leon

For openers: Their operating costs approximate that of a mid-size
twin-engined airliner!

--
Remve "_" from email to reply to me personally.

On 5 Dec 2005 14:14:14 -0800, "Denny" > wrote:

>...there they were coming from the west
>in a battle line, tree top high and pedal to the metal... As they
>flashed onto the airbase they lit the afterburners...

About 20 years ago I was working at NAS Lakehurst when the Blue Angels
arrived on a Friday for that weekend's airshow. We (everybody in the
engineering building) heard them coming first, roaring balls to the
wall maybe 50' over our roof. Sounded like the building was going to
come down! Everybody ran outside to watch a 10 minute impromptu
airshow they put on before they landed... much better than the
[public] airshow the next day.

-Dana


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