I liked the showcases, but they've been gone for a decade no replaced with a feeble "review" for which the vintage one was pretty much rained out anyhow. This brings up the stupidity of the departure briefing folks. Back when the flyby pattern was in effect pre-airshow on 18-36 they served a useful purpose. Now they add to the confusion and all they do is hand out what's already in the notam'd departure procedures.

Frankly, I liked this years airshow line up. To me it was much fresher than the ho-hum stuff that they've been showing for years. Yeah, Otto is corny but some of the younger acro guys are pretty neat to watch.

Frankly, I didn't see the "disaster" predicted with the T-birds. The crowds nicely kept back to the modified line. Things weren't unwieldy and in fact I aw MANY MORE children than I've seen in the airventure crowd in years. An added bonus was watching a dozen kids take their induction oath in the AF prior to Saturday's show. Even the Sunday show (despite the torrential rain) was pretty well attended.