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I give this show a "B" only because I was hoping for an F15 today and didn't see one. Other thoughts:

1. I love to see the Flying Farmer act. It's more than a novelty to me -- I like to see Koontz's crazy flying. I think it's amazing that he can maintain control of an aircraft so skillfully and make it look like the aircraft is out of control. Flying behind small hills like that... and watching him get the plane up and airborne is almost like a low-tranny takeoff from an F15.
2. Jackie B, Paul Lopez... great performances. Nice folks. Everything that someone who enjoys their job would be. Paul, I think you won the race with the jet car.
3. Hugh managed to stay on the ground this time during the Flying Farmer act!
4. Today seemed to be low on attendance, probably because the forecast this morning was for 25 mile per hour winds and 90% of chance of rain. We didn't get a drop (after I got there at 10:15 ish or so) and it was sunny most of the day.
5. Manfred was great, as always, and quite impressive despite scrapping the ribbon cut. Keeping something in the air like that without engines... it's a reminder that not all flying need be fast and furious.
6. I love small shows -- I walked back to my car three times; I've never parked so close to the action. (Okay, maybe at Smyrna) And I got Jackie, Paul, and Greg's autographs. What could be better?
7. Yeah, the F15(s?) not being there was a disappointment, but nothing more really. I saw four in formation beating up the field at Langley -- and Seymour Johnson will be back next year, right?
8. Can we do something more interesting with a warbird review? Seeing only flat passes is okay, but is sort of boring after the first few. Maybe the two P51s can do a mock battle, or show how they would protect the heavies against an enemy attack? I dunno. It's still great to see them considering their age and all the work that goes into them. Hearing the engines on the T6 and the P51 is still quite satisfying.
9. Hugh turned in an entertaining narration job; of course, we expect that from him. Hugh, was the woman that did "color" for you today your wife? You probably said when I was over with the statics or something. Past the hot ramp where the statics are, I could not hear the PA system at all. Maybe it was my bad hearing from too many F15 demos. Oh.. one critique. I think that Jeff Michaels is actually Jeff Michael. That's what it says on his plane anyway. (Trivia side note: I was in radio 1995-2000 and my on-air name was Jeff Michaels.) One suggestion: explain to us how it's possible to fly a plane with no engines. I think sometimes people either don't get that or don't realize that they didn't get it.
10. This show might get a B- because there were no modern military statics. Not sure why that was, but I was expecting some. It seems that the local Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard is usually able to get a Viper or two to most shows. I know that's probably easier said than done.

I know I marked the show down because it didn't have the things I normally see at bigger shows, and then said "I love small shows!" Florence also had no modern military statics, if memory serves. I still love going to shows even if I know they will be small... because I just love airshows. If had more money and time I would go to every show every weekend.

Here are some of my shots from my Nikon Coolpix L1:

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Ah yes. Today was very nice. Sorry about all my whining yesterday.

And the Panthers won! I'm a happy man.

I left about the time the L39 took to the sky, but I still got more shots:

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David: It was great meeting you and your lovely bride. I have a feeling she sold plenty of beer because that appeared to be the only cold beverage available near the end. Else I had a great time. I gave the show a B due to vendors running out of cold water before noon. I know it was replenished later but the restock was warm. In addition it appeared that quite a few of the performers didn't fly. On the other side of the coin what did fly was great. The variety of things to do for a family was quite diverse. If you weren't there for the flying there was plenty of other things to see. I really enjoyed the K-9 demo before the show started. I was also hoping for another pass of the F-22's but I have seen plenty of the full demo's so it wasn't that disappointing. All in all a great way to spend a Sunday.

just got in from the show, stayed for it all. well first the bad... it was a slow very boring start, mainly with the civilian take offs and parade. plus there seemed to be a lot of down time to. no military statics. one fly by of raptors and one fly by of 4 strike eagles, so that was great but still dont understand why there wasnt one more pass from each??? i mean come on, thats what got people on to their feet to !! the air force jet car made a good run, twice!! skytypers did a great show as well as some of the civilian acts, loved the warbirds and many passes, but as stated above, that was just all , passes, never did have any formations. i think the best thing about the show, (call me crazy) was the light, its the best i ever seen at an airshow, the sun is behind you the entire day ! i will rate the show a C , it would get a B if there was one or two military demos along with 3 or 4 or military statics. ( maybe next year??) (and yes it was easy to get in and out of the show to !)

I too made it out for this one. I understand that the planners for this had some challenges - I overheard one preson saying how the previous show was not a success and that they were hoping for better this year and then they said something about them running out of time with the military displays - does that mean they didn't get their requests in on time? This show definitely had some highs and lows - in no particular order - I got there early so parking was good for me, but I had to feel bad for those that had to wait for buses at the end, statics were good - especially enjoyed the Savoia amphibian - a real rare bird!, but as mentioned before no current military equipment save the Pilatus Turboporter, air show acts were good - especially enjoyed Lopez and Koontz in their acts, unfortunately the speaker in front of me went out about 2 minutes into the flying farmer bit so most of the people around me were lost as to what was going on, and then when they were driving the truck down the line for applause they totally blocked the jet car for me and a couple of hundred others. Maybe it was just me, but did anyone else find the femal announcer annoying? I would cringe every time she screamed and whooped, and why did she keep carrying on about why the pilots weren't getting sick after their flights? It was great to see a whole host of things going on, nice variety from police dog demos to bellydancing. Now the one major issue that I found, and this is pretty serious in my mind, is that there was very little access to liquids. When you have several thousand people (many of whom are either really young or elderly) and you have them out in the sun for several hours in 90 degree heat, you HAVE to provide water for them. And I don't consider selling $3 bottle of water (when they happened to be available) providing water. After I emptied my $3 bottle I went in search of a refill and asked at the 'information table', I just got blank stares and an "I don't know" when I asked where I could get a refill. Luckily I was able to use the water fountain in the fire rescue building, otherwise I would have been in deep trouble since I had already blown my cash on the $15 to get in, my single hotdog lunch and my bottle of water. I will post some pictures once I go through them all.

yes she was very annoying. what was she, 14 or something ?

I agree that the female announcer was bad especially with her "Woo Hoo's" and "Why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good plane". It was annoying.

Allright time for the pics!
I took the L-39 pic while stopped at a stoplight on the way out!

Here's a few more - they had parachute jumpers too! The combat drop was interesting in that they did it in full combat gear - note the gun in the rucksack hanging down below.

Here's some other happenings from around the field - I wouldn't want to mess with that dog!

Went to this show on Sunday after being at Shaw on Saturday. What a difference a day makes! While they had a decent variety of warbirds, they had no military aircraft on the ground! This was a major disappointment. From talking with other folks, they stated that the show has had problems getting military for the past few years. F-22 pass and F-15E pass were OK, but didn't add a lot to the show from a military side of things as it was just one pass and they were gone. The Army Parachute Team was good.

For an airshow, there was an awful lot of what I've called "airshow distractions" with dog demos, belly dancing, etc. I come to shows to see airplanes and talk with the pilots and see inside of the airplanes. Now I've only gone to shows now for about 5 years, but have the bug to see as much as I can from the Guard and active duty boys.

It was nice seeing Alabama native Greg Koontz again. He's not too far from me and I always enjoy seeing him fly.

Next one on my list will be Dobbins in Atlanta.

Darryl

Free water would have been nice, but I try not to complain about such things. I walked back to my car three times each day to drink water I had in a cooler there. Can't do that at every show, but it was easy here. I still bought about 5 Diet Pepsi's. Hey, I love the stuff. A nice cold apple was also very nice to munch on during the drive home. I suppose we all dealt with the problem in our own way.

I enjoyed the pass by the F22 "Lightning" fighter jets. (Sorry, Hugh, I had to throw that one in)

EDIT: I lightened this post up. Read next post from Hugh. He's right.

Ok, George said I would not like reading the reviews; well at least you all are being honest from your perspective.

Now, some honest comments from my perspective:

First, the venue:

Fitting a show into the INT (Winston-Salem) air space is a real challenge. The urban encroachment around the airport causes the aerobatic box to be very narrow and short. You can’t see them from the spectator are but there are residential areas just beyond the tree line across the runway. One of these houses is occupied by a very vocal airport opponent, to the point that the FAA stations an inspector at her house to ensure no plane flies lower than 1,000 AGL over this airport hater’s abode. (We’re talking about an additional FAA person to work this show just to please one person.)

This political and operational situation causes the aerobatic performers to modify their performances to meet the very special provisions placed on this air show AND precludes a traditional warbird show as the planes must stay higher than normal therefore preventing them from many “normal” air show passes (i.e. strafing pass).

Lack of military statics:

The reason: in a word ‘Hanna!’ The show lost all of its military statics due to the storm. In fact one static plane was called home (the crew already at the motel) when their commander ordered them to a safe haven. To compare the statics and military participation to Shaw AFB is to ignore the real world situation of reinforced hangers and the fact the INT show is a civilian operation without a 4 star general to “motivate” commanders to be more “flexible” and “less conservative” in their decision making (when you have 4 star back-up stickling your neck out is easier).

Although the F-22 pilots wanted to beak-up the field they were ordered not to. (Remember that political situation mentioned above?) The four F-15’s flew by during their return flight from Wright-Pat where all 74 Seymour Johnson’s planes had flown for safe haven from Hanna.

Farcically I will ask, “Does any poster ever watch the Weather Channel?”

The female co-announcer:

That was Maycay Beeler, a local TV personality, pilot, flight instructor and former World’s Record holder of several time to climb records. And, no, she is not Hugh Oldham’s wife. But her interview skills far out weight any distractions she may have caused by her sound effects (hope you were listening then). And, as the demographics and presentation values for the air show industry is heavily weighed towards the male spectators having a well known locally female is a method of being more inclusive and increasing market penetration.

Slow start:

The show did not start until 1245. The pre-show stuff, like the “Parade of Flight” with the locally based GA aircraft, the sheriff’s car, the race car and the “Salute to Emergency Services Workers” was presented before the actual show started. Sorry we bored you with a thanks to our emergency personnel.

Wrap-Up;

Then INT show was not the stellar presentation it once was (that show died) and Hanna greatly impacted many of the participants. (Paul Lopez was late for the Saturday morning briefing because of weather held him out until that morning; he landed and went straight to the brief.)

But in an effort to resurrect a dead show the local air committee made a tremendous effort in light of the budget constraints etc. For all practical purposes this was a new” or “first” show. To compare INT to Shaw is, in my opinion, very unfair (apples to oranges) and to criticize INT for the military pulling out with Hanna in-bound is absurd.

So, ladies and gentlemen, lighten up, be glad a group of dedicated Winston-Salem citizens made the effort to breath life into a dead show. After all which is better: a show struggling to resurrect itself or watching Sunday afternoon golf on TV?

WB2

Thanks WB2 for the added perspective. I think in light of things it was a wonderful show - and I would say you probably pleased 95% of the people there, it's just us with the airshow 'disease' that can't get enough of a good thing! Hopefully they can have the show again in the next year or two and it will continue to grow and improve. It looked like attendance was pretty good - the crowd line was nice and full - any idea if attendance met what was projected?

I echo Jambro's comments. I knew that the box was small but I didn't know why. It doesn't surprise me that the F22 pilots wanted to do more but I figured they couldn't mainly because the box was so small, not because of some anti-airport person. Most acts did not do a dedication pass. Is this because of the airspace restrictions?

I think when we compare shows like this to shows like Langley, it's not in what we expect to see, but maybe in what we're surprised to see or not see. I didn't expect to see lots of TAC demos and pyrotechnics, and wasn't surprised when I didn't see them. I always expect acts to cancel. That happens at every show. I was surprised not to see any military statics, because that seems to be a given at every show. But I understand why. Surprises at airshows can be good and bad -- I didn't expect to see four F15s -- just one! And I thought once they missed Saturday I'd not see them at all.

I did like the salute to emergency workers. I was all applause. I liked the sirens too.

This weekend I had many other entertainment options, especially on Sunday (I missed much of the Panthers game)... and I still chose the WSAS. And I'd be there today if there was a day three. I'll also be back next year.

Jambro, your shot of Paul Lopez is great. I wish I had one of those fancy schmantzy telephoto lenses.

I was interested to see how many people around me were genuinely surprised that one of the airshow pilots was a woman. It was almost like that was something they truly considered to not be possible. I just wanted to bop them on the head and say "Two of the Thunderbirds pilots last year were women! TWO!"

Lots of smoking at this show.

Hugh why weren't you up on that trailer platform with the airboss?

I was surprised to see the Pilatus jump plane - that's on in use with the US military that I hadn't seen before. One question - why do people that hate airports live next to them? That airport looks like it has been there for a while, it's not like they just went and put an airport up and didn't ask anyone.

A single day attendance record for this show may have been set on Sunday... they were still counting when I left. I hope they set the record and I hope this will mean another show in 2009.

i agree about the bothersome smokers, if it was allowed to smoke at the airshow, then it shows that there are idiots in charge of this smith reynolds airport. but hey, stupidity never takes a day off even if it is a special event but then again , i have to thank smokers in a way, they pay good taxes!! keep lookin for those specials on cartons of cigs. once again, thanks to all those that made this show happen.

I hope so!!!!

I thought it was a great show considering the restrictions on the airspace based on the proximity to residential / commercial properties. Just take a good look at Google Earth and you will see what I mean!!!


Oak

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Item 1: “Why were you not on the platform?”

I’m too big of a target! You know the “big round mound of sound.”

Seriously; I move around too much to be confined to a platform (have been known to fall off). It’s the same reason I never sit down during a show – to maintain my energy level.

Being an old radio person I have never felt the need to be seen during the show. Now working with Maycay does balance my “radio face” but I prefer to be the disembodied voice of the show. Just personal preference.

Item 2: “Smoking”

OK, lets get to political realities here; a show in North Carolina (largest tobacco producer) at an airport named “Smith Reynolds” (as in R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company) and I’m going to get on people about smoking? See Item 1 above “target.”


WB2

Wow WB2. I have never seen anyone take this so personally. Yes there are some critiques of the show but they are minimal. All in all the show was great!! As I posted I thought all the other activities were fantastic to make it a well rounded family event. In your defence the Web Site should have been updated to explain why the performers and statics weren't going to be there, therefore avoiding the criticism you have endured. There is nothing you can do about Mother Nature.

My fancy schmantzy telephoto lense was attracting a lot of attention - someone even asked if I could get a picture of the space shuttle with it. Well, not quite. Unfortunately my lens doesn't have the best user, I had to take about 500 pictures to get the half dozen good ones shown here! Here's a few more.

Great prop blur!!!!

...

Nice Jon!!!!

Sorry I did not get to talk with you this past weekend. I bet both you and Liza have a bunch of shots to go through.

See you at Oceana?

Oak

Here's a few more - sorry no warbirds or F-15's.

After a weekend at Oceana, I was reminded why I also like small shows.

Here's my complete collection from this show... enjoy...

http://raptor.davidshere.com/photos/index....Salem%20Airshow

pictures are now posted on my site, enjoy !!! http://www.danhudsonphoto.com/winstonsalem/

Great shots david and photoguy!!! Fran and I live in NC and we definately plan on making the WS show in 09. Seeya there. Fran and Mike