It's been my experience that the practice day is a great time for the
photographer. There are no crowds. Every airshow I've been to has had the
Blues starting at 1400 local. Fat Albert does his show for about ten
minutes and then the Blues take off. I'd ask your airshow organizers for a
program of events. Whatever is supposed to take place on the 12th and 13th
should also take place on the 11th. Depending on the orientation of the
field it's best to be on the right hand side of the airfield so you can get
good shots of the Blues coming around in echelon formation, etc. The sneak
pass comes from the left hand side of the airfield. At about fourteen
minutes into the show the diamond will come from eleven o'clock to the
center of the airfield with their smoke on. The will do a high arch over
the field leaving a faint trail of smoke. The sneak pass will then zoom
from left to right. Immediately after that the opposing solo will come from
behind the crowd and cut across the axis that the sneak pass flew. The
opposing solo goes into a really steep climb and it's usually a great vapor
shot!!

Good luck and post some of your photos after the show, Tom


"dabears525" wrote in message
. ..
Hello Tom,
I always look forward to your great pictures.

I am wondering about the Blues practice schedule before a show. They are
coming up to our area, Smyrna TN
on April 12 & 13. I was hoping to catch their practice on the 11th and
beat
the crowds! Do they typically go out around their show time to practice,
(around 4PM here) or is there a set routine?

Ironically, they were scheduled to do a show here in September 2001 and we
all remember why that was cancelled. So we are lucky to get them back.

Thanks,
Ron Anderson



"Pensacola Beachcomber" wrote
in message ...
If you look at this photo you will see that the back half of the cockpit,
where the co-pilot normally sits, has a hood blocking the view. The hood
is pulled forward and makes it very dark inside the cockpit. The pilot
in the back then flies the aircraft on instruments even though it's not
night time. The guy in front is probably an instructor or flight
inspector making sure the flight is being conducted safely and within the
parameters of the mission. We see different types of trainers (T-34
Mentor, T-6 Texan) with the same type of hood installed. It's better
than training in a simulator because the aircraft is moving and subject
to all of the normal buffeting, crosswinds, etc. I don't know if a
simulator flight is as realistic. Probably not or they wouldn't spend the
money to do it in a real aircraft.

Hope that explained it, Tom in Pensacola


"Mike Barnard" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 29 Mar 2008 08:56:15 -0500, "Pensacola Beachcomber"
wrote:

It's great when I can just stand in the yard and catch'em flying by.
This
guy/gal made a number of approaches under the hood. Guess the have more
fun
here than at Eglin AFB.


For those of us who don't live aircraft, unfortunately, what is "under
the hood"? No comments on big block chevvies please!

Lower than normal?