Oceana NAS 2009

[rcdude07]

Anyone else here planning on attending the airshow at Oceana this weekend?

I'll be there, even though the weather looks a little iffy. It's my first time attending this event and super bummed about no Friday night show this year. But instead a great opportunity to meet and greet with the Blue Angels and Snowbirds.

[rcdude07]

Arrive in Virginia Beach, VA Friday afternoon around 2:30pm. Stayed the night at Atlantic Sands. It's a basic motel. Got the job done. Decided to check out the Officer's Club (OC) just for something to do. My dad and I spent more time outside in the misty sprinkles looking at and taking pictures of the static planes as you enter the base. Went in the OC and it was crowded. Saw some of the performers walking around, but keeping to themselves. We watched the video being shown that captured the last F-14 flight over Iraq. We got tired of the loudness and left at 6:30pm. Didn't see the Snowbirds or Blue Angels while we were there.

Woke up Saturday morning and the weather hadn't improved. Cloud base was 900-1000 feet with some drizzle. Winds were 15-25 mph and temps were 45-50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Got to the base at 8:30am. This gave us plenty of time to check out the static displays. It actually gave us too much time as not much showed up. A P3 Orion, Delta's Pink Jet, Riverine Assault setup, some Hornets/Super Hornets, Sea Stallion, SNJ, T-38, T-34, T28, and C-130 were about all on display. Only the Delta Pink Jet, Riverine assault, and Sea Stallion were open for walking through.

I have to give a big thumbs up to the Air Boss and performers for literally winging it all day. Any time the cloud base was 1000 feet or more, something was quickly in the air.

Due to the clouds, all formation flying was canceled and everything that was in the air did a flat routine. The nice thing about this was all the close flying and the amount of vapor vertices off the wing tips and the number of vapor clouds on the F/A-18s, F-15, and E-2 Hawkeye that flew.

The best part was catching the afterburner on the F-15 at noon. We left early (tired of being cold) and had Fat Albert doing his JATO (the last one we'll get to see) routine. The pilot was racking it around at minimum altitude as we were driving off the base. It would have been a great shot, but my camera was packed and I was driving.

All in all it was good because the flights were low and close. It was a bummer because no formation flying (Snowbirds, Heritage Flight, Fleet fly-by, in air refueling demo, F/A-18 Super Hornet demo, F-15 Strike Eagle demo, etc...) happened due to the low clouds.

Below are some shots. Pardon the graininess of the shots. using an old Kodak EasyShare 3MP with 3x zoom, zoomed all the way in. I took over 100 shots, so PM me if you'd like more info or shots for doing a color scheme.

102_2264 is of the F-15 with afterburner pass.
102_2267 is of Dale Snodgrass doing a low pass in Glamorous Gal.
102_2298 is of Mr. Reinke and his Sukhoi SU-26.
102_2300 is a shot I got of an F/A-18 with some vapor cloud.
10_2305 is of the Corsair that was there.

[Radioflyer]

Too bad the weather wasn't better for you. It sounds like you made the most of it though.
Isn't Snodgrass nuts? I watched him do a pass down the runway here @ Battle Creek and the prop had to be 3' or less off of the ground. I used to be in awe when he did the F-14 demos back in the day. He's one heck of a pilot:cool:

Blessings,

Jay

[WJCJR1]

Very awesome yeah a bit of a bummer with the weather but still a few memorable moments worth being there for.

WOW I thought we only flew RC planes that close!

Good job with the pictures, know you're invited to post more if you care to!

Glad you hng in there and made the best of it.

Wayne

[ATIS]

RCDude,

You need to come down to the MCAS Cherry Point Show... lots of static displays and we normally have a great day on Saturday. This past year we had a little rain but it didnt prevent anything from flying and the year before it was sunny nad clear (but the temp was 104*...my wife and daughter wanted to kill me because I refused to leave till after the Blue Angles flew LOL)

[rcdude07]

RCDude,

You need to come down to the MCAS Cherry Point Show... lots of static displays and we normally have a great day on Saturday. This past year we had a little rain but it didnt prevent anything from flying and the year before it was sunny nad clear (but the temp was 104*...my wife and daughter wanted to kill me because I refused to leave till after the Blue Angles flew LOL)


This was my first time to NAS Oceana's annual airshow. My dad has attended several times in the past few years and said this was a huge disappointment compared to years past. It was a month later and with more being deployed, made it hard. Not to mention the weather forecast probably kept some away.

I've not checked out Cherry Point's show. Been to Seymour Johnson's a few times. I'll have to check the calendar next year for all the shows I want to check out.



I'll post more pics here later, but if you're on Facebook, I can send you the link to my album (most of the pics are there). Just PM for the link.

[rcdude07]

Posted the pictures that were post worthy.

http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/album.php?albumid=21

[ATIS]

when I find out the dates I will post them. Maybe Herk1 can come down to visit his sister and make the show with us...and get some flying in!!

[WJCJR1]

Nice pics RCDUDE07 I appreciated them.
Wayne