Aviation Nation 2003 Nellis AFB Las Vegas Air Show

[AAFO_WSagar]

Sean is an ANIMAL in the air!

I'm not sure it was from his practice during the week, but when I first saw Sean on Friday, he looked like he'd been in a fight! He pulls MASSIVE neg G's in his performance!

[AAFO_WSagar]

Yet another Sean from the ground shot

and another...

[AAFO_WSagar]

More yet...

Tired of this yet??

[AAFO_WSagar]

Howzbout one more?

Hey... Why not...

[AAFO_WSagar]

One last shot before bedtime...

Last Sean pix for now..

[AAFO_WSagar]

Originally posted by Race 29
If you get the chance, let us know who all showed up. And also, if you get the chance, get some sleep!!

Bah.. sleep is for dead people Seriously, I'm not only overtired from the week, I'm now getting the same revenge from my aging body that I always seem to get after a marathon show schedule.. I'm gettin sick on top of it all!

Lessee.... Who was there.. ??

It was a dramatic few days while we watched the weather and our rather large list of scheduled Unlimited's dwindling daily... Tom and Ken Dwelle got very sick and were unable to make it, tough for them and us, because I know they really wanted to make it and to be sick and not there at the same time would have been a real bummer!

John Penney didn't like the weather on his first attempt and turned back about half way there. John Parker, who had been flying with John but slightly behind him, decided to press on and we were all going nuts about the time we thought his fuel should be gone and he was not yet there. I was about two minute away from calling Jan and asking if he'd actually turned back at some point, when he appeared in the pattern. He'd been held overhead for 45 minutes by the AF ATC guys! (note: I love John and Jan Parker like family and the LAST thing I wanted to do was make THAT call!)

On his second attempt, after the cell phone "brief" the day before by Col Hertberg, John detected a blip in the fuel pressure and, once again, about half way out, decided to go for the home base to be on the safe side.. Funny story.. someone was overheard in the pits to say "gee, if he made it half way twice, doesn't that mean that he's here??" She was asked if her hair color was natural and no, it was NOT Beer Nazi!

Ike Enns, same story. Weather was lousy, he was a no show... Doc Hisey never launched, lousy weather hit him also. Czech Mate had thought they would not be able to fly, so they began doing mods/repairs to the airplane. By the time it was worked out that, indeed, they would fly if they showed up, they already had the airplane apart and were scrubbed from the list... (who am I forgetting?) Hollbroolk Maslin was scheduled to bring his Yak, also weather got him...

So... we were left with.... Precious Metal, because Ron, not about to miss the show again, left Reno early and beat the bad weather by a day... Chris Rounds in the FABLOUS Red Knight T-33 Pace Plane, Dan Martin in Ridge Runner, and Skip in Dago Red... It was decided that John Parker could fly with the "big boys" but, alas for John, after having his baggage door pop open during Saturday's event, he pushed a bit to hard trying to keep up (doing a darn fine job of it he was at that!) and toasted, at least, one piston or cylinder or both, on Sunday....

HIGH point of the weekend, or one of them... Col. Hertberg came up to the Thunder Mustang crew and said... "anything I can do for you, just ask".... they replied.. "how about strapping the airplane in the cargo bay of the C-17?"... doing his usual "click the hard drive" side glance while he thought it through, in about a tenth of a second (this guy can think faster than anyone I've ever encountered!) he whipped out his cell phone and tried to make it happen... AMAZING! No quick NO WE CAN'T DO THAT!.....

He actually tried to make it happen! Turned out, the big cargo plane had already cranked and was taxxing out to leave.. that one was a no-go but stand by on this one... it *could* just be that there will be a very special delivery of one broken TM out at Stead over the next few days... Local photogs should keep their scanners on for a slightly different call on the freq... ain't sayin it could happen or, if it did, that it actually *did* happen...

Cause maybe it can't really happen, even though it might happen because it might be against the rules, so even if it did happen, it didn't happen....

IF1's... I think all that were scheduled to show did show, including four of five that set up downtown for several days...

Don't have the name list in front of me and I'm about to hit the sack.. I'll get the list of names ready before I do a "formal" update on the show with a lot more pix and info and maybe a bit more of what it's like being part of the gang that actually WORKS at an air show.. to make it happen.. Trust me, there's a lot more to it than you'd ever imagine! Especially if you throw the first ever party in the T-Bird hangar!... but we'll save that for later!

Wayne

Oh yea.. included the pic below because I saw one elsewhere that had to have been taken within about a half second of this one, and I know it was from within a few feet away from where I was, atop the Dago trailer.. funny.... not bad for a 2.73mp digital body, if I do say so myself...

[rwflyboy]

Dude, Awesome picture!!!

Man, you got some hot shots that week. Definitely doing the guys proud on showing us what we missed much less your view of things. Back to the salt mines......oweeooo!

[Kilo Hotel]

More great shots!

Thanks for all the news and the great photos, Wayne. What '2.73 megapixel digital body' are you talking about?


SteveZ

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: More great shots!

Originally posted by Kilo Hotel
Thanks for all the news and the great photos, Wayne. What '2.73 megapixel digital body' are you talking about?


SteveZ

Thanks Steve and Randy... The 2.73mp body is the original Nikon D1, which sold for... are you ready for this.... $5,000. (body only) in the year 2000.

Right now, you can get the 6mp Nikon D1X for about $3,500, and the 4mp Nikon D2H and 4mp Canon EOS 1D for around $3,000 each...

Prices have gone down, mp's have gone up!

2.73 *sounds* weenie when compared to even some of the "point and shoot's" available today but there are mp's and there are mp's.. the chip in the D1 is almost as big as a 35mm slide... the chips in the P&S's are much smaller.... the mp's are achieved by playing with numbers and interpolation... so 2.73 is not *really* that small when compaired... However, it is less than I'd like to be shooting with.

Great camera but three year + old technology..

Wayne

[mayday51]

Re: Re: More great shots!

Great .........but three year + old technology..

.....and to think Wayne is 52yo technology !

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Re: Re: More great shots!

Originally posted by mayday51
Great .........but three year + old technology..

.....and to think Wayne is 52yo technology !

HAH!!! LOL....

but...

As my 63 year old brother says (and believe it or not, he looks younger than I do!)....

"I may be old, but I'm immature for my age!"

Seriously, I'm truly a kid at heart. I'm blessed with looking like I'm probably in my early 40's, have all my hair, still mostly same color (we'll see how this lasts after the stress of last week ) never had any kids... frankly, I never had to grow up, so, I didn't!!



I might die tomorrow but, I'm gonna try to go down having fun, no matter what I am doing... (helping put on part of an airshow may never be something I'll put on my plate again )

Now... I guess nap time is over (just was taking one and got a phone call from one of my Nellis compatriots) so I'll get back to digging through the images...

Thanks for the support guys and gals!

Wayne

[T. Adams]

Ridge Runner

That is an awesome shot Ridge Runner. Not many people get to be eye level just after takeoff. A unique, and not seen very often angle.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Ridge Runner

Originally posted by T. Adams
That is an awesome shot Ridge Runner. Not many people get to be eye level just after takeoff. A unique, and not seen very often angle.

Thanks Tim, thanks to Dago Red Air Racing for allowing me to be one of the many who crowded the top of their trailer at Nellis for this session.

Bout the only time you'll get that angle at Reno is if you get up in home pylon. VERY rare to get up there during the races, more often available during PRS.

Wayne

[Howard]

Thanks!!!

From those of us who did not make the scene.... thanks for sharing all the good stuff with us!!! It really makes my day!!

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Oooohh!

Originally posted by tvrphoto
Great shots Wayne! Careful, you may be mistaken for a photographer!

LOL... that has happened a time or two actually.

<patting self on back> I'm lucky enough to have about 12 pages of images, some with my words, the rest with Connie Pardew's writings, within the very well done Aviation Nation program.. yikes, they even did a page on your's truly.. (hides embarrassed face)... </patting>

Let's say, I do the best I can with what I have. The Nikon D1 was/is a very good camera, given the right conditions. In the light we were "blessed" with last week, it has its issues, to say the least.

Having enough resolution to get to 300dpi magazine size images is the biggest challenge. It can be done, and can be done with pretty good quality, if the original image is spot on focus, no heat wave distortion, they come out pretty well. (the opening image for the Unlimited section in the program, unfortunately, featured a shot taken from a long way out on a hot Nevada day and there is significant "wiggle" in the final output..)

Anyway... how bout less talk and more action??? Here's one of Skip strutting his stuff! One lap on Sunday, he gave us all a really nice photo pass.. I was not quite ready for him, but managed a good shot out of it..

Wayne