Full Version: Chippewa Valley Airshow
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The weather held out for the most part today and the Blues did their flat show. The huge problems I saw with this show were the lack of porta potties and the cost. A day at Oshkosh is more expensive then going to this one, 20 bucks for a ticket and then they charge you 10 bucks for parking, pretty steep if you ask me.
Some Shots from Friday's Practice Show.
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Heres some from me
A couple of "human interest" shots...
Some More
Rhino
Golden Knights
Mike Wiskus
Paul Stender
Three from me that I have processed.
Nice pics, Nate!
Thanks for posting.
Toni
Thanks for posting.
Toni
Nice pics Andrew, MOD, Ken. Especially like the last super hornet takeoff.
Love the photos! Especially of the Angels, Super Hornet & Mike Wiskis.
Marsha
Marsha
Nice shots everyone! Jt, love the Rhino burner pavement shot and falcon turn
Just to show how packed the crowd was
And possibly the best seat in the house was this person on top of their RV
I am so bummed! We drove over from the Twin Cities (wife and I) on Fri. intending to see the show on Sat. Of course it was rained out that day. We planned to stay in Chippewa two nights, so were in town Sun., but the weather didn't look promising ,and I didn't really want to push my luck with Mrs. Chamay, having slogged it out in the rain all day Sat. (She is a good sport). Anyway, the last time I planned a road trip to see the "Blues", was about 20 yrs. ago up in Duluth. Guess what...rained out! Man...I feel jinxed!! Oh well...we did tour the brewery...(My wife has decided she likes the "Honeywiess"), and we got a couple of days away together!
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Regards,
C
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Regards,
C
Couple more that came out ok.
Sorry I'm so late on this one. Took me a while to find this forum after all. But as a lifelong citizen of Eau Claire, I feel I should add my own review of this year's long-overdue airshow.
Saturday. Yeah, it all got rained out. It was really upsetting. I heard a lot of complaints about the parking too, but I parked in a nearby neighborhood and biked to the airport anyway.
Thursday and Friday's practice routines may have been the most exciting day of the show to be honest. Thursday was especially nice because the Blue Angels parked right in front of a fence that anyone can walk up to and look through. It provided a great view of the ground show before they took off.
It was pretty easy to poke the camera lens in through the fence for these shots. And the team was very friendly to us. A kid accidentally kicked his ball over the fence and one of the grounds crew brought it back for him. Aftere the pre flight checks and the taxi out, it started to downpour and the team had to turn around on the taxiway and come back. But later that afternoon, the ceiling rose high enough for safe flying, and the blues were soon in the sky!
CDR Mannix and LCDR Brantuas were the only ones who flew at first. I guess to familiarize themselves with the area, but a bit later, LT Swinger and Maj. Harris took off and joined them for a few diamond maneuvers. The Super Hornet demo team managed to land quickly during this time too. Both jets landed while the Blue Angel diamond was still circling the airport.
Friday was even more action-packed. I had arrived at the airport at about 11:00 AM just in time to see the blues practicing their solo passes.
But a lot more performers had arrived that day. Like the Golden Knights, Kent Pietsch, Gary Rower, and Mike Wiskus. But the blues had control of the airspace for a while longer. Fat Albert then flew for a bit, but not the usual routine. I think they were giving a group of navy recruits a ride or something.
Shortly after that, the F-16 demo team did their practice performance. Due to a clear sky, it differed greatly from their sunday flight. A lot of it was at a very high altitude, so I didn't get many photos. The Super Hornet flew next. Gotta love that loud powerful sound it makes on take off. Especially when you can feel the vibration! Following Gary, Mike, Kent, and the Golden Knights' practices, the Blue Angels took to the sky again. This time performing a practice high show, which turned out to be the only time they flew a high show the whole week.
Then on Sunday, I got out of work early enough to catch the Golden Knights opening the show. Happy that the clouds didn't cancel this one too. The Super Hornet put on a great show Sunday:
And of course, the Blue Angels. They flew at 1:00 instead of 4:00 though due to incoming clouds. Flat show is better than no show!
All in all, the show could've been better if the weather cooperated, but it was great for what we were able to see! Plus the Boy Scouts won an award from the Blues for how they organized the show and we're hoping to have another show with them in 2010. Here's hoping!
Saturday. Yeah, it all got rained out. It was really upsetting. I heard a lot of complaints about the parking too, but I parked in a nearby neighborhood and biked to the airport anyway.
Thursday and Friday's practice routines may have been the most exciting day of the show to be honest. Thursday was especially nice because the Blue Angels parked right in front of a fence that anyone can walk up to and look through. It provided a great view of the ground show before they took off.
It was pretty easy to poke the camera lens in through the fence for these shots. And the team was very friendly to us. A kid accidentally kicked his ball over the fence and one of the grounds crew brought it back for him. Aftere the pre flight checks and the taxi out, it started to downpour and the team had to turn around on the taxiway and come back. But later that afternoon, the ceiling rose high enough for safe flying, and the blues were soon in the sky!
CDR Mannix and LCDR Brantuas were the only ones who flew at first. I guess to familiarize themselves with the area, but a bit later, LT Swinger and Maj. Harris took off and joined them for a few diamond maneuvers. The Super Hornet demo team managed to land quickly during this time too. Both jets landed while the Blue Angel diamond was still circling the airport.
Friday was even more action-packed. I had arrived at the airport at about 11:00 AM just in time to see the blues practicing their solo passes.
But a lot more performers had arrived that day. Like the Golden Knights, Kent Pietsch, Gary Rower, and Mike Wiskus. But the blues had control of the airspace for a while longer. Fat Albert then flew for a bit, but not the usual routine. I think they were giving a group of navy recruits a ride or something.
Shortly after that, the F-16 demo team did their practice performance. Due to a clear sky, it differed greatly from their sunday flight. A lot of it was at a very high altitude, so I didn't get many photos. The Super Hornet flew next. Gotta love that loud powerful sound it makes on take off. Especially when you can feel the vibration! Following Gary, Mike, Kent, and the Golden Knights' practices, the Blue Angels took to the sky again. This time performing a practice high show, which turned out to be the only time they flew a high show the whole week.
Then on Sunday, I got out of work early enough to catch the Golden Knights opening the show. Happy that the clouds didn't cancel this one too. The Super Hornet put on a great show Sunday:
And of course, the Blue Angels. They flew at 1:00 instead of 4:00 though due to incoming clouds. Flat show is better than no show!
All in all, the show could've been better if the weather cooperated, but it was great for what we were able to see! Plus the Boy Scouts won an award from the Blues for how they organized the show and we're hoping to have another show with them in 2010. Here's hoping!
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