Tag: Airshow

Posted on

Lincoln Airshow 2011

Wow, what an Airshow. This was one of the best all around airshows I have been to. A lot of this had to do with the VIP access that @Rossnelson and I had (Thanks @Pafford). We were at show center, as close as you could be. I was so close that when the Blue Angles fired up their engines and then made a turn on the ground you could feel the heat and jet wash. The lineup was great. For me seeing the A-10 Warthog fly was fantastic. This has always been one of my favorite planes since when I was young. It really amazed me how maneuverable it was. If only they could have shot its Gatling gun. I also had a neat opportunity to see another B-2 stealth bomber flying. This one was named after Nebraska. This was great since the last time I saw the B-2 I was not really close enough to get good photos of it. It was also rare since it did not land and was only at the show on Saturday for 3 passes only. The Blue Angles put on a good show as always. Their precision flying really is amazing. The show was not as fast or as loud as I remember though. I would have to say that the F-15 at the Offutt show a few weeks prior to this one was louder and had sharper turns. One of the Blue Angles did have mechanical troubles it looked like and he landed early. The last flying B-29 was cool too. It is amazing that there is only one left flying today, considering how many of them were made during WWII.

The bad, was that parking was terrible. We must have parked in the worst possibly place because it took 1:45 to get off the air base. Granted they said over 250,000 people came to the show over the weekend but we expected traffic to be better.

Enjoy the photos below. They are only a small set of the more than 600 I took that day. View the rest of my edited photos from the Airshow on my G+ gallery at http://goo.gl/Enn9P

http://liquidretro.net/Images/LNKAirshow2011/LNKAirshow-09-10-11-290.jpg

View the rest of my photos from the Airshow on my G+ gallery at http://goo.gl/Enn9P

Posted on

Offutt Air Force Base Air Show 2010

The annual Offutt Airshow this year was on August 28th and 29th.  I went on the 29th with @Rossnelson and had a great time.  Security was really tight, we had to go through metal detectors and then most people were wanded after, they did not give second chances of removing more metal to go through again.  They were also  not allowing bags in so I had to carry my camera around my neck the entire day and only bring one lens.  I brought the 70-200 and was glad I did.  One last thing about the security was that Ross was wearing a t-shirt from the band Bad Religion and he got a talking to going through security about it.  The guard thought he might be trying to make a political statement and said he may have to turn it inside out if asked to do so. Luckily other service men knew of the band and let us through.  Security was nearly as tight as an airport.  I guess this was because we were on an active air force base.

The day was long and hot, people took cover as the day went on under the wings of aircraft.  I loved seeing people sitting in lawn chairs under the huge wings of a B-52 or under the fuselage of a B1.  We walked around and saw all the static planes which were too many to list.  We then watched the aerial show which was good.  My favorite by far was the F-22 Raptor. It was such an impressive fighter plane. The thrust vectoring really made it very maneuverability and agile.  It also was so stable at any speed it seemed.

This was the first time shooting anything similar to sports on with my Canon 7D.  I used Al Servo and a combination of Auto focus Expansion when on the center point. It put emphasis on the center point (or where ever you wanted it) but also included one above, below, left and right.  It worked well. for slower moving planes.  For the really fast ones I used the new zonal function AF selection and choose the center group. This grabbed the center 11 points and used them. As long as you kept the points on the object and the AF drive engaged (I did this manually with the AF button) it worked well.  I was amazed at how well it would track planes coming at you quickly or going away from you.  The hardest part was panning quick enough to keep it in frame.  For sports this camera is a huge step up from my old Canon 20D.

Here are a few photos from the day more can be seen at Flickr in this set here.

More can be seen at Flickr in this set here.