Jones Beach Airshow 2009

[ch2tdriver]

Looks like I will have to make it down on Sunday. Hope the rain just disappears.

OK...I'm thinking Sat is the day to go. If another front is moving in Saturday night, then that can throw a new wrench in the works. This cold front coming in today seems pretty dry. If it stalls out and mixes with all that wet weather down in FL right now?

(This is me using my pilot/dispatcher Av weather knowledge...I'm not Jim Cantore or anybody. :D )

quote "After a very warm Thursday, a cold front will push into the Northeast today.

Parts of New England and the Atlantic Coast, ahead of the front, will still have a very warm Friday before cooling off by evening.

A few isolated thunderstorms may be associated with the front.

Areas of the Northeast, just south of the Canadian border will have a much cooler day behind the front.

Another front will move into the region by Saturday night.

Scattered thunderstorms could develop each day across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and southeast New York over the upcoming holiday weekend but conditions will probably be OK most of the time."

[Sm0otHockeySpeeD]

Well I would prefer to go tomorrow but I have work at 3:30pm in Manhattan.

Unless I go and leave early...but I'd rather not because more than likely I will miss the T-Birds.

This sucks...

[SPEEED]

Anyone knows the radio frequencies used in the show? I'd like to bring the scanner.

[ch2tdriver]

Latest ISP and JFK Aviation Terminal Forecasts are up that run through tomorrow a.m.

Looks like between 900 am thru 100 pm we will see ceilings between 3,000' to 5000' broken with ths vis at 5-6 miles in haze. As far as rain it just mentions 'showers vicinity'. It looks VFR but what is considered a LOW show or a HI - LOW show??

Pete

[MORS-AB-ALTO]

Just got back from Republic to sum it up briefly the Thunderbirds DID practice today, Hornet went up twice and the Horsemen & B-17 arrived. Pretty much the whole practice line-up went as scheduled an hour early. 14/32 was only used by the F-18 and T-birds with everthing else operating on 19/1.

[Big Tim #70]

Great practice today.

The T-Birds looked great. They spent some time after the routine practicing some of the Low Show moves just in case.

Horseman & Super Hornet Demo's looked sick.

[Matt Molnar]

Nobody got any shots of practice, eh?

Just found this, from Jones Beach...


Alex Kotlick, Flickr

[Fly2e]

I posted my practice shots from KFRG in the other thread. I thought I was posting them in this thread..
Anyway, here are shots from yesterday. 1/2 way down the page and onto the next...
today-at-farmingdale-2008-2009-t9652s630.html

[fk6065]

Over 3000 shots from today and yesterdays practices, will post some soon. Thunderbirds were a great surprise!

[Gerard]

Wow what a beautiful day of Babes and Birds, Sun and Nuns.
Uh yes I said nuns. I parked at Lot 6 then cruised down to the shoreline getting there just as the Golden Knights
jumped. The beach was pretty empty at that time (9:15) but filled up especially in the main area.As I was watching
the show a whole group of nuns camped down not far from me. They had guitars, set up a volley ball net and a number
of them sat on portable stools by the waterline and looked to be meditating even with the aircraft buzzing around. Thought that was pretty cool.
Really enjoyed the Red Bull Mig. As he was flying I kept hearing a helicopter above. With the bright sun and blue skies it was hard to pick it out then I saw the MBB a few thousand feet up. Didnt know they were going to drop divers and that was neat.Then he performed his amazing acrobatics and when finished landed on the golf course right on the 14th
hole. That was a surprise and I ran over to get a close look. Picked up the skydivers and two good looking ladies and out they went as the Hornet roared over the shoreline.
The Snowbirds were a nice addition to the show but I wish their engine sound was louder!! LOL
I ran to the restroom as the Oracle bi-plane wowed the crowd and when I came back and settled in I got the best surprise of the day.......THE THUNDERBIRDS WERE PERFORMING!!!!!!
:D :D :D :D :D
I was totally at peace that they would not be there :lol: so this was awesome!! They flew a powerful set that seemed to be a little loser than a regular performance. They did two over-the-beach-from -behind-low-and-fast screaming flybys one which literally had my left eardum rockin and rollin!! I think even that one got the nuns attention. When they finished it was kinda like they were gone, not a big finale though one TBird circled around 3X over the water and shoreline. A guy next to me commented maybe he was lost and I thought maybe he messed up and had to stay after class!! LOL!!
Just a fantastic beautiful day and now that I got to see the TBirds I can relax Sunday morning and hang out at FRG!!

[moose135]

OK, I'm done for the weekend, I don't need to shoot any more after this one...

[Gerard]

OK, I'm done for the weekend...

Oh man you are so right. I was watching with my binocs at the beach and I saw that a number of times.
Absolutely breathtaking!!

[lijk604]

Great catch Moose! Timing is everything.

[pgengler]

It was a great day to be watching the show on the beach. Lots of vapor on the Super Hornet demos (they did two, one for each crew).

I got the beach around 8:45 and it was basically empty, so I parked myself in front of the taped-off area for the jumpers to land. Managed to get some shots of the Golden Knights parachutists landing since there wasn't a huge crowd like on the "real" days, though the beach really filled up as the day went on, mostly with people who didn't seem too interested in the air show.

I was glad to hear the T-birds would be coming; since they did a practice on Thursday I figured they might have taken today off but we lucked out. After their normal routine they stuck around and did a couple of more maneuvers; I was heading out while they were doing this but I saw at two echelon passes and a couple of loud & fast over the beach moves.

Very cool to see the Snowbirds. I think it's interesting that both the Snowbirds and the Red Arrows have 9-ship demo teams, while the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels are both 6-ship.

I liked the earlier start time; it gave a bit of extra time before the light sucked. I haven't even looked at my photos yet (I'm on a laptop without Photoshop) but I imagine that I probably came away with some decent shots.

I should have started going to the Friday practices years ago! No fee for parking, less crowded beaches and no major traffic jams leaving--it's like air show heaven! Depending on whether I feel like enduring another day in the sun (however much of it we end up with tomorrow) I might head over to FRG along the fence there.

[Gerard]

>the beach really filled up as the day went on, mostly with people who didn't seem too interested in the air show.<

Like my nuns!! LOL but yeah it seemed like it was an intrusion on their day at the beach.

>I should have started going to the Friday practices years ago! No fee for parking, less crowded beaches and no major traffic jams leaving--it's like air show heaven!<

It really is. I had no idea they did rehearsals until 2005 when I was out on disability after surgery and was hanging out at FRG
when I heard on Tower freq. of what was going on there. Sped over to the Beach and caught a few hours of the show. The worst
part of the real day shows is the traffic in and out.

> Depending on whether I feel like enduring another day in the sun (however much of it we end up with tomorrow) I might head over to FRG along the fence there.[/quote]<

As soon as the TBirds appeared today my decision was made, FRG Sunday.