2006 Jones Beach Airshow

We went to the airshow at Jones Beach today. It was awesome. The highlights were an F-15 Eagle and an F-16 Falcon flying in from the land side (to most people's backs), directly overhead. Some poor guy flipping burgers at a food stand wasn't expecting the bone-numbing roar of sound, and I'm told that the look on his face as he reflexively ducked was priceless. (My eyes were glued to the aircraft. They were so cool.) I loved the Heritage Flight, toward the end: the F-15 and F-16, an A-10 Thunderbolt, and a P-15 Mustang; there are beautiful pictures (though not actually from the airshow itself) here and here.

My favorite aircraft was the ponderous, stately HC-130P Hercules, and the coolest demonstration (although there were some fantastic aerobatics, of course) was a practice offshore rescue by the local 106th Rescue Wing of the New York Air National Guard, after which they showed a mock aerial refueling of the helicopter. We weren't allowed to go aboard the helicopter that was on display on the ground, but we came up close enough to poke our heads inside and look around, and I enjoyed listening to the crew answer questions. Their admiration for each other and their pride in what they do was impressive and infectious.

Normally I don't like being in the thick of a crowd, but the narration was informative and entertaining, and in this case it was worth it to hang out in the center of the observation area. By the time the Blue Angels came out, though--they were the last event--we'd moved to a parking lot closer to our exit. They were still very cool to watch from that vantage point, and it was kind of like peeking backstage, because we were closer to where they turned around after each pass in front of the bleachers.

Tomorrow we have a birthday party to attend, but next year I might go both days.