military planes this year?

[RC Gregg]

Is there any word on what military planes will be showing up at Airventure this year? Think I read that the Osprey will be there, but I hope we get to see other modern military. Feeling the rumble of a fighter on a low pass with afterburners on is like nothing else!

[FlyingRon]

Well, while they aren't in sequestration, the budgets are not real high for show and tell activities. My wife used to be able to count on a decent number of military stuff at her Smithsonian fly-in (next Saturday by the way) but I don't think she's getting much this year. United is sending a 777 and there should be a recently restored DC-3 among 50 or so other hand selected airplanes and their pilots.

[RC Gregg]

Thanks FlyingRon. I really like to see the more unusual aircraft like the Caribou last year. Very cool. Looking forward to OSH14!

[Joe Delene]

Back when I was flying in the Navy we got a list of air show requests for the season, all over the country. The list was there to look over, if one was interested the procedure was to accomplish some training enroute then float the idea to the ops officer and C.O.. For the most part those hours would of been flown anyway. We usually had a free room and maybe a car.

Compared to last year this Airventure should be much better, with the military displays. I think it's minimal extra expense to fly in a plane for static display.

[FlyingRon]

That's how Margy wrangled her military stuff at the Smithsonian as well. Even this year, nobody has money for this sort of thing. Oshkosh may be a bigger draw but don't expect things to be as free as they were a few years ago.

[Roger Janssens]

Over at fencecheck.com, one of the organisers of the Rockford Airfest that has just taken place has said that 'no US military aircraft [are] allowed for static display for the remainder of 2014'. I therefore don't expect anything, just like last year. (There probably won't be anywhere to park them anyway.)

[FlyingRon]

Over at fencecheck.com, one of the organisers of the Rockford Airfest that has just taken place has said that 'no US military aircraft [are] allowed for static display for the remainder of 2014'. I therefore don't expect anything, just like last year. (There probably won't be anywhere to park them anyway.)

The west ramp always seems to make room for whatever neat stuff shows up. Things move in and out of display there to accommodate what comes. I've helped move stuff from vintage in and out of there when they only were invited up for a day or so of exhibit and we had to put them back where they were afterwards.

[Mayhemxpc]

That's how Margy wrangled her military stuff at the Smithsonian as well. Even this year, nobody has money for this sort of thing. Oshkosh may be a bigger draw but don't expect things to be as free as they were a few years ago.

I was at Udvar-Hazy this year. No active duty military planes. My O-2A and an L-4 were the only military aircraft at all. (And I got LOTS of attention.) Best USAF could do for representation was the Civil Air Patrol (and their G-1000 C-182 was another huge draw.) Substantial crowds, outstanding weather -- but no USAF, USA, or USMC. One of the staff told me that the request from the Smithsonian had bee specifically denied due to budget limitations.

Sad.

Chris Mayer
www.o2cricket.org

[FlyingRon]

I was there two, I was the Blue Navion with the big teddy bear over in the corner. I taxied out right behind you.

As I said, my wife was the one who made the request for the military stuff and roundly got told by every group she approached that there was no funding for this kind of stuff. That's even with the director of the museum being the former commandant of the Marines. It was his pulling strings that got the HMX-1 guys a few years ago.

[Mayhemxpc]

That was you?! Very impressive. I was wondering how that Teddy Bear was going to handle taxiing with the cockpit slid back. That looked bigger than many of the student pilots I have had. (I clocked it at 42 minutes of taxi time.) All in all I had a great time. The event is super well organized (although there was that bit about having to cut trees to get the 777 in -- but that just made for a great story.) Even the experience of watching my oil temps go up to redline while Dulles tries to handle all of those GA aircraft departing at the same time is really part of the fun.

But the public wants to see THEIR military aircraft!

Chris Mayer
www.o2cricket.com.

[FlyingRon]

He's Bob HooBear. He's a great copilot. If you didn't catch it he wears a "Bears Fly" shirt (patterned after the Women Fly shirts). A while back someone gave him some "Smokey Bear" pilot wings as well. The 777 was a big hit this year to the detriment of us small guys I think. Usually, I give out about 250 or so of the postcards with a picture of my plane and frequently asked questions (How did the plane get here, where do you fly, how far can it go, ....). This year I only gave out about 150 I think. As soon as people saw that big plane they headed straight for it.

There are people who come to see Bob every year (or his predecessor Piper who was only about half his size).

They measured the clear area weeks ago but this one tree was now leaning over at about a 30 degree angle from vertical. Fortunately MWAA had a chain saw handy and was able to get rid of it, but it delayed us about 45 minutes.


Yeah the taxi is rough. We really wish they could give us 1R/19L-intersection departures which they managed one year, but it really puts a kink into Dulles's system.
Since I have to go back and cook dinner (well this year just ordered pizza) for the ramp workers who come in from out of town after the event, I just taxi up to Landmark.

Fortunately this year my wife got one of her workers to yank people out of line if they got to the gate without their clearance in order which meant there wasn't a backlog just getting out of the Hazy ramp.

[Mayhemxpc]

They tried to yank me out, too even though I had a clearance. (I actually read and complied with the pilot instructions.) To be fair, they probably had no way of telling who had a clearance and who didn't.

But to get this thread back on track… What does it say when United Airlines is willing to absorb the not inconsiderable costs of taking a 777 out of the line, run the GPU and let thousands of people trudge through the plane while out government decides it is not within budget to send an Osprey up from Quantico? Heaven forbid they send an OA-10. Why people might think that they are useful, and find out that they are not "single mission" aircraft. I am glad that the Thunderbirds will be at AirVenture. Do we know if there will be any other military aircraft?

In my mind it is not an issue of cost-benefit for recruiting. It is relations with the public (not "public relations.") These aircraft belong to "We the People" and we should be able to see what OUR military has and talk to the airmen/soldiers/marines/sailors. I am not saying that there is no cost to this or that they should go wherever, whenever asked…but hi-payoff events like AirVenture (with, for the ground-pounders, the Oshkosh truck factory on the other side of the airport) should definitely be high on the priority list.