So, we went to the air show in Little Rock (well, technically Jacksonville, but it was at “Little Rock Air Force Base”) on Saturday. You know it’s a sign of things to come when you don’t even set your alarm correctly. The plan was to get up at 5:30am and be ready to hit the road at 6:30am so we could get there a little after the gates opened. I actually woke up around 5am, but stayed in bed waiting for my alarm to go off. After a while I start to wonder, because I saw the faint light of daylight coming through the window. I check the time and it’s just past 6am. So much for my alarm. As we’re getting ready it goes off. I had set it for 6:30am, not 5:30am. We rush to get ready to go, which means we’ll forget something. Camera? Check. Cash? Check. Extra Battery? Check. Ear Plugs? Check. Directions? Check. Okay, we must be ready to go. Then, out of habit, we get on I-40 East instead of West.
After we get turned back around it’s smooth sailing–until an hour later when I remember that we forgot our folding chairs. When we get to the exit for the show, things are working fairly well. The police are manually directing traffic instead of letting the street lights get things backed up. We enter the base’s main entrance in a very long line of cars. As we come up through one of several points where armed soldiers are directing traffic we get randomly selected to go through the security check line. That was pretty painless, actually. It just feels funny seeing uniformed soldiers with M4’s, M9’s, and German Shepards going through cars.
After that, we just follow the huge line of cars down the road. I don’t know how big Air Force bases tend to be, but this one felt pretty large to me. Most of the driving down the “entrance” felt like normal roads with few signs of being a military installation. Eventually we get to the parking area, which is actually just a very large section of tarmac roped and blockaded off for parking. It was quite organized.
We got parked, hydrated, suited up (still a little cold) and headed toward the entrance. They had security screening there with metal detectors (not really set very high) and bag searches. That went quickly. And then we were inside. Notice nothing about tickets? There were none. That was a pleasant surprise. Programs were handed out for free too. Not that the schedule was accurate, but it was a good gesture, and the programs were of very good quality otherwise.
The static displays were outstanding. Directly by the entrance was a C-5 Galaxy from Altus (there were several aircraft from Oklahoma Air Force bases) setup almost like a gateway in that you could choose to walk right through it. The static displays consisted mainly of current Air Force aircraft, but there were several from the Navy, Marines, Army, Coast Guard, and private groups. The military aircraft were a very nice cross section of currently deployed machines. I was particularly happy to see the F-22 (I had never see one in person), the F-117, and the B-52. Being the “Home of the Herk” (C-130’s), they had several varations of the C-130 on display and to me it was educating. It marks the first time I had seen the J model with the new engines and props. It is quite odd looking to me, but the benefits sound quite good. I noticed that the V-22 wasn’t there. The website for the show indicated it would be. I didn’t see any UAV’s either. An interesting aircraft I saw was the AN-26 with the question mark on the tail. I take it that it’s a private carrier, because it had nearly no markings. A google on the N number shows it’s owned by a “SRX Transcontinental Inc.” since June 2005 from the Russian Air Force for $72,500 (which seems insanely cheap to me). This one makes me feel funny. Probably best not to ask too many questions about it as it’s supposedly the only AN-26 in U.S. registration.
The show portion of the show was pretty good too. I have a general preference for high performance prop planes doing extreme aerobatics, so the show was a little lacking to me (only 2 such acts). Seeing the Red Baron team do their thing is impressive. They really have some amazing skills to do what they do, but it just doesn’t get my heart pumping like watching the late Eric Beard do some pretty gyroscopic stuff in his Yak-54. The two acts that fell into this category were quite good. I forget their names right now, but the one in the pink SU-26 was an outstanding performer. I just assume he didn’t have the low level waiver, because it seemed like he was so far back from the line (both up and away). The quality of the routine was outstanding, but it just felt less engaging due to the distance. The pilot in the Pitts was certainly more engaging with a lower and closer act. He really got my attention. The Canadian CF-18 demo was good. The Viper West demo was alright (fairly routine). The F-15 demo was interesting. I don’t recall seeing that one before. The E-2 was interesting simply in how low they flew it in 90 degree banks. The C-130 cargo and troop drops were cool in the scope of their demo. The flights were huge and were so cool to watch. Shockwave was okay. It felt rushed, because I’ve seen him do longer acts at other shows. The “other” F-16 demo was good. The heritage flight was good. I really loved the F-86 — it was beautiful. Fat Albert’s JATO launch was the same as before. The Blue Angels were flawless yet again. They truly are a precision demonstration team. If only I had a chair for the 6.5 hours of flying.
Pics are up:
http://www.boontheekul.org/dustin/photogallery/?folder=Events/Airshows/Air_Power_Arkansas_2006
