We went to Sky Fest 2006 in Jackson, TN on Saturday. It was a blast. The turnout was quite good. This is definitely one of the smaller shows I’ve been to, but it wasn’t bad in the slightest. There was a bit more of a carnival atmosphiere (ferris wheel, petting zoo, etc), but the show itself was top notch. There were a few more static displays at the Tunica Air Races last year. I think space may have had something to do with it, as the airport isn’t very large. I’m not complaining, though. The size also presented some more comforts I’m not used to from larger shows. The announcer stated that there had been a 3 year hiatus since the last show, so I hope this sticks around for the future. Check out the multitude of pics:

http://www.boontheekul.org/dustin/photogallery/?folder=Events/Airshows/Sky_Fest_2006

Sky Fest 2006 is next weekend.  I’m planning on going.  Hopefully this will help get the word out to make turn out great.  Here’s their site with plenty of info:

http://www.skyfest.us/

Found this posted on a forum.  Very cool.  Awesome piloting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ4EOtdZANQ

We went and purchased Great Planes RealFlight G3 from Hobbytown USA this weekend.  It’s really cool.  I was concerned that maybe my one machine with a 3D card in it might not have the power to run it, but I was wrong.  It is fast enough to run in “Photo field” mode.  I need something a little better to run in full 3D mode.  Compared to the old Dave Brown simulator we used to have (almost 10 years ago), it’s very advanced.  The physics feel pretty good to me, and the graphics are great.  Looks like I’ll get plenty of practice in before I start back flying again.

It seems the president is following me around. I kidd…I kidd… Still, President Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi are here (or very nearly here) now. Airspace has been shut down over the city, which I’m sure FedEx is quite unhappy about. There isn’t a time during the day you look up and don’t see a FedEx plane.

Here’s the TFR for the President’s flight: http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/notams.html#6/1294

Here’s a news story about the visit: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,201683,00.html

I’ve read the last several issues of World Airshow News. It’s quite a good magazine, but as I’ve read I keep finding out about my heros dying. A few months ago I found out Bobby Younkin and Jimmy Franklin had died in a midair collision. Having seen both of them perform many many times (I have some photos of them doing performances in my photogallery), it was something of a shock. Then I noticed that one of the rotating top pictures I did for this blog was Jimmy Franklin’s black and silver Waco. Well, “it happens” I tell myself. It’s not like I don’t know death. At least they died doing what they love.

Reading more issues of World Airshow News I discover a lot of famous airshow pilots are no longer living (and they didn’t exactly die in their sleep). Sort of scary considering these are the best pilots in the world at what they do. Well, today I’m reading the latest issue and find out that Eric Beard died in January. I’ve seen his Russian Thunder routine several times. He was a top notch flyer and I’ve always noted how difficult many of his routines were. It’s quite sad.

Well, I started thinking about it and it turns out that another picture I use in my rotating top pictures is of him. I’m 98% sure it’s him. I haven’t seen any Sukhoi’s or Yak’s done up like his, so I’m fairly sure it’s him. Maybe I’m bad luckfor these guys.

Here’s some more info for those intersted:

Jimmy Franklin’s Wikipedia entry
Jimmy Franklin Memorial page
News article on Jimmy and Bobby’s midair
Eric Beard’s site

It must seem pretty obvious by now that I enjoy both aircraft and photography (especially combined). I followed a link on a forum to a neat writeup on an airshow with great pictures. In looking around the guy’s site I came across a nice “Airshow Photography” guide. Take a look.

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Photography/Airshows/index.html