The flight on spin recovery was actually the one I was most afraid of. Visions of the plane tumbling out of control had been dancing through my head all week long. Flashes of “Maverick” trying to reach for the ejection handle as he and “Goose” plummet towards the ocean in a flat spin were in my thoughts. And I was going to be in an aircraft AND expected to recover??? You’ve got to be kidding me.

But the reality was that this was a calculated maneuver. One where I had an amazing airshow pilot watching out for me, and who always had safety in mind. We setup the maneuvers at a very high altitude so that we had time to recover, and Tim was always there to recover in case I was unable to.

On the ground we talked about the various types of spins: Upright spins, flat spins, accelerated spins, inverted spins, inverted flat spins, and inverted accelerated spins. But during the flight, we would only work on upright spins.

While trying to remember the exact flow, I asked what would happen if I messed up the order? Tim started to tell me about one student that he had. “I had a young guy who came in who had his own Pitts S-2B and said that he nearly killed himself doing a spin in his own airplane and he had no idea why it wouldn’t come out of the spin. He said by luck and the grace of god he came out of it but had no idea why and now he’s scared of his own airplane. So I sat with him and we talked about it and I realize what he had done. First he was using the traditional spin recovery technique and not the emergency spin recovery technique and then he got it out of order. What he was doing was that he was trying to break the stall before he got rid of the rotation. If you are in a full spin with the rudder stomped in, and lower the nose, it accelerates the spin tremendously. And this guy was lowering his nose first, accelerating the spin tremendously, and he stomped on the opposite rudder, he was not getting out of it.”

So while this was all ‘fun’ to a degree, it reminded me that this was serious business. If I had actually been an owner of a Pitts or an Extra, I could easily see the benefit of taking a course like this. As Tim put it “the typical Private Pilot or even Commercial Pilot, doesn’t look at spins. The benefits are tremendous, because when you start flying a Christian Eagle, Pitts, Extra or something like that, it’s very easy to find yourself in a spin just due to a blown maneuver. So it would be naïve to buy or regularly fly an airplane like that without going through spin training. Because sooner or later, you can find yourself easily in these situations. As an airshow pilot, I purposefully try to get myself in these situation because it looks cool. And I want to be able to consistently be able to recover myself from that each and every time.”

But enough talk, it was time to get back in the air. After our safety check and making sure the area was clear of other air traffic, Tim demonstrated the first spin. Straight and level at 5,000 feet. Pull the airspeed to idle, back pressure on the stick to slow us down to nearly a stall, horn starts going off, kick in full left rudder, and away we went.

The two things that have to be present to cause a spin were both there. Stall and yaw. A couple of turns and Tim recovered and we climbed back for my turn.

With Tim talking me through it, I entered the spin. Then it was like I actually knew what I was doing. Power to idle, Remove your hands from the stick, full opposite rudder till the rotation stops, neutralize the rudder, and recover to level flight. Or so I thought. On my first attempt, I feed a bit of forward stick nearly causing us to enter an accelerated spin, which is harder to recover from because the rudder becomes ineffective. On my second attempt, I did better, but still, not quite there.

Return to base, debrief, water, bathroom, brief and back in the air. It was as if I was in the military flying back to back sorties. But if I was flying, I would want this former U-2 Commander watching my back. As we made it back to the practice area, I was reviewing everything that we had gone over in the past two flights.

Aerobatics was the ‘real world’ scenario where I would need to employ the unusual attitude and spin recovery. The goal was to quickly and efficiently recover from blown maneuver, without loosing excess altitude and gaining excessive airspeed (Vne), or end up nose high and stall the aircraft (and if I did, then to stay coordinated and so I don’t turn it into a spin). Easy enough right?

For our final flight, Tim was going to have me do a Loop, Cuban 8, Immelman, and a Hammerhead. While I had seen airshow performers do it countless times, this was going to be one of the first where I would be trying it myself.

Even the most basic of maneuvers, a loop, was challenging for me. I started the maneuver at 160 kts and pulled back on the stick at 4 G’s. As I brought the nose up, I relaxed the back pressure on the stick, tilted my head as far back as possible and find “my line” which was a road on the ground to keep me on track through the loop. During the pull I was constantly looking left and right at the trailing edge of the wings and tried to keep them symmetrical on the horizon. If they were not both symmetrical, then I had some extra bank in them and needed to compensate by adding rudder. As I floated the plane over the top, I started to gain airspeed and had to compensate by adding backpressure to the stick. And still looking left and right to make sure the plane is level and pull through the loop. The couple of times I tried it, I couldn’t keep a smooth nose track. I was pulling too hard, too light and ratcheting the airplane instead of smoothly pulling through the loop. Guess I was not going to perform in any airshows this season.

We then continued though the rest of the three maneuvers. Ironically, during the Cuban 8, I passed through the 45 degree line and ended up in a nose low attitude and had to recover. Unfortunately I did not recognize that until Tim told me, and in that one moment, the value of this training was evident.

The final part of this weekend’s flying was that Tim was going to give me a taste of what it was like to be in the plane with him during his airshow routine. Well, let’s just say that I have a new found respect for what he does and will never look at another airshow act without my stomach tightening and little beads of sweat forming on my forehead. So with the flick of the stick, we leapt right into it. Well, all I got through was the first 5 of a total of 24 maneuvers before having to call it quits. In the span of less than two minutes, Tim put me through a ¾ of a Loop with 1 ½ turns on the downline followed by a 4 point roll followed by a torque roll then a centrifuge, and a half Cuban 8. Imagine the coolest rollercoaster that you’ve been on and then multiply that by 100! And no, I did not lose my lunch!

If you are thinking of getting an aerobatic airplane or want a refresher course on safety maneuvers, or are a pilot who just wants to become a safer pilot, I highly recommend that you go fly with Tim Decker Airshows. For more information visit: http://www.timdeckerairshows.com

A special thanks to Tim Decker,  Dennis Pearson, David Salmassy, John Kluenker and James Baker for all of their help.

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to get a taste of flying a high performance aerobatic airplane with airshow great Tim Decker in his immaculate S-2B. In his 6^th year of airshow flying, Tim has perfected flying at the edge of the envelope and invited me out to his hanger in Lincoln, CA (KLHM) for a weekend crash course (no pun intended) of unusual attitude recoveries, spin training, and a taste of some basic aerobatics.

Originally meant for someone who is planning or has just purchased an aerobatic airplane such as the Pitts Special, a Christian Eagle, or Extra 300, Tim Decker Airshows offers a custom course on learning how to safely handle your aircraft by becoming familiar with safety maneuvers and techniques to recover your aircraft. But as Tim showed me, you do not have to have aspirations of becoming an airshow pilot to take advantage of this invaluable training; a simple private pilot’s license and the desire to become a safer pilot will do just fine!

Unusual attitude and spin recovery are maneuvers that were once taught to all general aviation pilots. But over time, the FAA dropped the requirement and left a vital hole in pilot safety. While some CFI’s talk about them, they themselves may only have a basic understanding of the maneuvers and how to recover. But flying with a professional pilot such as Tim Decker, who has logged over 5000 hours in both military and civil aircraft such as the U-2, F-117, T-38, RV-4, and the Pitts S-2B, and whose logbook endorsements include Certified Flight Instructor (CFI), Certified Flight Instructor Instruments (CFII), Multi-Engine Instructor (MEI) ratings, an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate, and a Level 1, Unrestricted Solo Aerobatics, and Statement of Acrobatic Competency License, is a guarantee of flying with someone who can teach you not only how to recognize, but to prevent and recover from these potentially fatal situations. According to a 2003 AOPA study, 28 percent of stall/spin accidents were fatal compared to other types of GA accidents. And while flying is a relatively safe activity, arming yourself with the proper training and tools to be an even safer pilot is common sense.

And being a newly minted Private Pilot, I wanted to get an introduction to the proper techniques before I developed any bad habits of my own. Even though I am a new pilot, pilots with thousands of hours can find themselves in dangerous situation such as suddenly having to perform an upset attitude recovery for a wake turbulence encounter, or sudden avoidance maneuver (impending mid-air) that results in unusual attitude or spin. So with my logbook in hand, I drove up to Lincoln for my weekend with Tim.

The plan was to simply get a brief taste of the three major components of Tim’s course, with the mindset of being a pilot who is interested in owning a Pitts or Christian Eagle. I would fly 3 flights in the Pitts and get and introduction to Unusual Attitude Recovery, Spin Recovery, and Aerobatics, with each flight laying the fundamentals for the following. Normally, each of these subjects would warrant 3-5 flights each, ensuring proper grasp of the fundamentals before moving on, but I wanted to get a feel of it all.

As I walked into the green hangar, the red and white S-2B sat calmly but looked like it was itching to jump in the air and let its’ prop take a bite of the sky. With a warm smile and hearty handshake, Tim welcomed me in. After a few minutes of small talk, it was time to get down to business. With the weather clearing up, we wanted to get up in the air as soon as possible.

First flight of the day was an introduction to Unusual Attitude Recovery. Unusual attitudes are when the aircraft is in anything other than straight and level flight. Depending on the degree of the disparity, the application of recovery will vary drastically. The two basics that I was going to be introduced to was a “nose high recovery” where my nose is pointed nearly straight up and in a banking turn where I would be climbing rapidly and losing airspeed and setting myself up for a potential spin. And in the other situation, we would focus on a “nose low recovery” where the nose of my aircraft would be in a dive, quickly gaining airspeed and approaching the never exceed speed (Vne)of the aircraft and the ground.

As I listened to Tim walk me through the two scenarios, he broke it down into the basic elements where I could understand why we were doing each maneuver. I will admit that it was a lot of information to take in, but using the models and explaining how we were utilizing the lift vectors to our advantage, I felt good to go.

So we pulled out the plane and I jumped into the front seat to get strapped in. First I had to strap on the parachute’s chest strap, two leg straps, then the 5 point harness (two over the shoulder, two across the lap, and one in between your legs) and finally one more lap belt for good measure. Oddly the tighter the straps, the safer I felt. With a roar the engine came to life. Before I knew it, we were roaring down the runway and leapt skyward.

The benefit of flying out of quiet Lincoln, was that we at our practice area within minutes. A few quick safety checks and clearing turns and it was time to get unusual! For each maneuver for the weekend, Tim would first demonstrate it, then hand me the stick and I would do it. Easy enough right? Ohhhh nooo!

Tim put the Pitts Special into an 80 degree nose high, 25 degree bank and told me to recover. Starring ahead at nothing but blue sky, I grabbed the stick and was ready to go through my recovery checklist. With my airspeed dropping really fast, I add power so I didn’t decelerate. Then I had to roll and pull the aircraft’s nose back down to the horizon (half ground, half sky), get to the horizon, and roll out to wings level. Easy enough right? Well, that is what I was supposed to do. Here’s what actually happened.

“We were doing a nose high recovery that you (Sagar) turned into a nose low one. What I (Tim) wanted you to do was roll and pull to the horizon, and then when you got to the horizon, roll out. Instead you rolled and pulled past the horizon. Then you partially rolled out and just kept going into a spiral. I think what you did was that you kept pulling harder and harder, and somehow got the lift vector past the 90 degree point and recovered. Luckily we were at 55-5600 feet, and I was like ‘Ok, this is interesting.’ But you recovered.”

How I recovered, I have no idea. But apparently if you pull hard enough, long enough, you’ll solve anything! Just kidding! Kids, don’t try this at home. Honestly I lucked out, because I could have easily turned that into spin. But save it for the debrief. Time for the “nose low recovery.”

Once again Tim demonstrated it, and then set me up for me to try it. Pull the power back. Roll wings level, Pull aggressively and briskly. Use the lift vector. If you pull too hard you will go through the stall and mush right into the ground. If you don’t’ pull hard enough, you risk hitting the ground. Easy enough right? Well, luckily I did much better at the two nose low attitudes that Tim threw at me.

Normally unusual attitudes would be spread out over 3 flights: first with some gentle ones, second with more aggressive ones, and third would be blown aerobatic maneuvers. But as we debrief and I just focused on absorbing as much as I could with the realization that I was just scratching the surface and not trying to go after perfection. It was a good time to end for the day.

Every year the Hiller Aviation Museum holds the largest all helicopter airshow on the west coast to much fanfare and celebration. In it’s 9th year, the event was as strong as ever, with helicopter performances from the California Highway Patrol ASTAR, the California Department of Forestry UH-1 Huey, and a California Army National Guard CH-47 Chinook, amongst others. And as in past years, the headliner was the Red Bull BO-105 CBS Helicopter; capable of loops and rolls!!! Read more on my flight aboard that at: http://horizontalrain.com/blog/2008/07/02/behind-the-camera-vertical-challenge/.

Here are a small selection of images from the show; for the full set, please visit:  http://www.horizontalrain.com/Galleries/VC09/index.shtml

Growing up in the Bay Area and under the approach path to NAS Moffett Field guaranteed me two things. Seeing Navy planes flying all the time, and knowing once a year, the USN Blue Angels come through town for the annual airshow.  The main goal of the Blues is to promote naval aviation, and due to them, I developed my love of all things flying. And 23 years after seeing my first demo, I finally had a chance to fly on one of their iconic blue and gold airplane. And if you think the 6 F/A-18 Hornets are the only ones that can put on a show, you’re sorely mistaken!

The day started early with me getting to NAF El Centro and watching the practice for the annual airshow. At 1230, I was to report to the Blue Angels administration building and meet with Public Affairs for my flight. As I walked up, Blue Angel #4, Lt. Mark Swinger, just happened to open the door, said hello and welcomed me in. My voice crackled and eventually words came out of my mouth and the Lt. escorted me to their waiting area.

There I stood in a room where the Blues Angels, Americas rockstar’s of aviation, sat and relaxed. Next years prospective pilots were standing there just chatting away,  a couple of Blue Angels postcards on the coffee table, old airshow posters framed and hanging slightly crooked adorned the wall, and a small microwave similar to the one I had in my dorm room was in the corner. Instantaneously I reverted to a 7 year old kid about to meet a superstar, because to millions of people across the world, that is exactly what these men and women are. They represent larger then life superheros that do death-defying maneuvers, calmly, poised and above all, the epitome of cool.  And there I was, a 7 year old with eyes as wide as saucers, a grin from ear to ear, standing in their fortress of solitude.    And after a couple of conversations, it was time to head to the vans and go out to our blue and gold aircraft for our flight briefing.

We were met by Gunnery Sergeant Ben Chapman and he gave us a walk around of the aircraft that is responsible of flying more then 40 maintenance and support personnel, their gear and enough spare parts and communication equipment to keep the 6 F/A-18 aircraft flying.  Fat Albert is staffed by an all-Marine Corps crew of three officers and five enlisted personnel and flies more than 140,000 miles each season.

And right before we boarded Bert, Major Brendan Burks gave us our main briefing and described the flight profile and conducted the crew briefing. Now that was cool! I love pilot talk!

And then it was time to FLY!! I got to sit in the cockpit and witness the demo from that vantage point. One thing that amazed me was how many switches and buttons there were. In the cockpit sitting in the left seat was Capt Edward Jorge, right seat was Maj Brendan Burks, Flight Engineer GySgt Ben Chapman, and Navigator SSgt Joe Ally. In the back we had Loadmaster SSgt Tommy Zureck, and two JATO Dogs AT2(AW) Meredith Ansley and AM2(AW) Marc Cobb.

And with all the preflight checks taken care of, it was time to taxi and line up on Runway 30 for the Demo. And yes, that is a Hula Girl on the panel. How cool is that???

Da! Da-da! Da-na-na-na-na-na! Hit IT! And with that, we leapt forward and started our take off roll. With the engines already reved up, we were pressed back into our seats.  At 130 mph, Capt Jorge and Maj Burke slowly pulled back on the stick and got us airborne and GySgt Chapman called out our altitude above the ground as the gear was retracted……6 feet, 5 feet, 4 feet, 4 feet…..and built our airspeed up to 180mph!  180 miles per hour and only 4 feet off the ground!!!

And with that the nose was yanked back into a steep climb 45 degree climb to simulate taking off from a hostile field and evading small arms fire.

And at the top of our climb at 1,000 feet, the pilots pushed the stick forward and we entered Zero G weightlessness! Anything not strapped down floated in the air. As you can see in the images below, Navigator SSgt Joe Ally is floating up out of his seat as a laminated checklist floats by his head.

Then it’s time to yank and bank! The C-130 is by no means a small aircraft, but when put into the skilled hands of these US Marine Corp pilots, it danced in the sky. At times we were doing 60 degree banks no more then a hundred feet off the ground as we returned to show center for our passes.

The first pass is the Parade Pass where we came back at 200 feet and give the crowd a nice flash of the wings and then roll into a right turn and go wings level

 Then roll into a right turn and go wings level.

And setup for the Flat Pass which is 370 mph at 60 feet off the ground.

Then roll right once again for the Min Radius Turn where we setup to come right towards the crowd at 100 feet, and right before we pass the crowd, we pitch up 20 deg nose up, left down wind to the Push To Land.

As Maj Burke described it, “Push to land is basically simulating us going into a hostile environment…staying as high as we can to avoid small arms fire, and then we are going to push the aircraft 25 deg nose down and land at about 1,500 feet. 25 deg nose down is about 8 times what you would feel in a standard jet liner. It’s going to be kind of a firm landing today. I’m going to pick a point and that’s pretty much where we are going to land so if we get a soft landing, that’s great, but if not, I don’t really care because I am trying to land exactly where I point the nose of my aircraft. We are going to get this 100,000 lbs aircraft to a stop in about 1,500 feet. You will hear the anti-skid breaks and smell them a bit too which is completely normal.”  The folks on the hay bales sure must have had quite a site as we dived right at them. Maj Burke joked that we might have caused a few of the photographers to jump off the bales.

And with that the flight was over, and SSgt Joe Ally climbed over me and hoisted the Red, White, and Blue as we taxi’d back to the ramp.

Then the entire crew lined up for a few photos with the lucky passengers. The maneuvers that we did were no different then the ones done in the fleet. Being able to hear the communications during the entire flight, I saw first hand the cooperation between all the aircrew to make this a safe flight. To the average spectator on the ground, this may have seemed like “dangerous maneuvers” but to those men and women on board, this was just another day in the Corps.

My sincerest thanks to Capt Edward Jorge, Maj Brendan Burks, GySgt Ben Chapman, SSgt Joe Ally, SSgt Tommy Zureck, AT2(AW) Meredith Ansley, AM2(AW) Marc Cobb, Capt Tyson Dunkelberger, and especially MC1 (AW/SW) Joseph Reynoso for helping this 7 year old achieve a life long dream.

Hello everyone.  Warm weather and blue skies can only mean one thing; it’s airshow season once again.  And here in the Bay Area, the first major airshow of the year is Vertical Challenge at the Hiller Aviation Museum.  The largest all helicopter airshow in the United States bring some serious rotor power with it each year.  This years headline act was the Red Bull BO-105 CBS helicopter, flown by the incredible Chuck Aaron.  The only FAA licensed person to perform acrobatics in a helicopter, Chuck wows the crowds with his loops, rolls, and Cuban 8′s in an amazing display of precision and control.  And I had a chance to be one of the small handful of people to actually go inverted in a helicopter, and survive!

Today’s post is the first in a new series of entries entitled “Behind The Camera”, which will break down the anatomy of a particular shot.  This shot just happened to land on the cover of the upcoming issue of In Flight USA.

Here is an excerpt from the article of the same title.

In Flight USA Associate editor, Sagar Pathak, got a chance to do something only a small handful of people in the world have gotten to do: fly upside down in a helicopter! Red Bull gave Pathak and opportunity at this years Vertical Challenge 2008 Airshow, the largest helicopter airshow in the United States, to go for the ride of a lifetime in their Eurocopter BO-105 CBS. Pilot Chuck Aaron holds the distinction as the only pilot licensed in the United States to fly aerobatics in a helicopter, and took Pathak over the Santa Cruz Mountains for some loops and rolls Red Bull style! With the helicopter pulling positive 3.1 Gs and negative 1.0 Gs, it made capturing a dynamic image that much more of a challenge. The cover shot was taken with a Canon 40D with an EF-S 10-22mm f/2.5-4.5 lens at 10mm (giving you a 107 degree field of view) and a 550EX external flash. In order to capture the perfect exposure, a flash fill technique was employed. The camera was put in Manual mode with an exposure of 1/250 sec at f/10 to properly expose for scenery outside of the helicopter. The external flash then provided the necessary illumination to light up Chuck and the cockpit, thus properly balancing the inside and outside exposure. Now do that while looping and rolling; factor in the G forces (at 3.1 Gs, your 3 pound camera becomes a very heavy 9.3 pounds) and centripetal forces pulling the 9 pound camera away from your body, and you have a challenging shot. But with hours of doing acrobatics while taking pictures in his logbook, Pathak was able to pull off this amazing cover shot.

For the rest of the images from Vertical Challenge 2008, click here:

http://www.horizontalrain.com/VC08.shtml

I know you were just asking yourselves, what’s Sagar been up to?   Well, I’ve been away all of November shooting some really cool stuff, and I just thought I’d share some of those images with you.

After months of phone calls, emails, and background checks, I was ready to begin an adventure of a lifetime.

First I spent a week in Las Vegas to attend the US Air Force’s 60th Anniversary at Nellis AFB. A showcase of the finest aviation aircraft from rare vintage planes to modern military hardware was on display.

http://www.horizontalrain.com/Galleries/nellis07/index.shtml

Then I flew to North Carolina to go aboard a KC-135R Refueler from the 916th ARW based at Seymour Johnson AFB as we met up with a pair of F-16′s from Shaw AFB.  As usual, the Backy boys were rock solid and got me the shots I needed!

http://www.horizontalrain.com/Galleries/916thARW/index.shtml

After that flight, the 4th FW at SJ AFB hosted me for a base visit to photograph their F-15E Strike Eagles.  Thanks for the hospitality guys!

http://www.horizontalrain.com/Galleries/4thFW/index.shtml

The following day, thanks to the PAO and Wing Commander of the 916th ARW, I was able to go out to Pope AFB and shoot the reserve C-130′s and A-10′s. Once we got that flight line photo pass all squared away, it was smooth sailing.

http://www.horizontalrain.com/Galleries/440thAW/index.shtml

And that wasn’t the end of it.  From North Carolina, I jetted down to San Diego to fly out to an aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan to shoot Carrier Air Wing 14 carrier qualifications.  Yup!  I actually got to land and take off from an aircraft carrier!!!   “PASSWORD 22, 3/4 of a mile, call the ball.”

http://www.horizontalrain.com/cvn76.shtml

Hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as I did taking them!   And a very extra special thanks to all the PAO folks who helped me get these images.  You know who you are!!!!   Without you incredible guys and gals, none of this would be possible.  Thank you very much for the opportunity to show off the fine organizations you represent.

And keep any eye out in the next couple of month on the aviation mags, and you’ll see some of these shots in them. Or if you can’t wait that long, head down to your favorite Bay Area aviation museum.

During the last Moffett Field Airshow, I had a chance to go up with the 196th ARS “Grizzlies” from the 163 ARW based at March AFB to refuel a couple of planes enroute to the show.  Well, when we got there, we found out that it was the USAF Thunderbirds.  Definitely a rarity as you won’t see many shots of them doing air to air or taking off the KC-135.

So we flew out from Moffett Field and rendezvoused with them somewhere over Nevada on an unknown refueling track. They flew up directly from their home base of Nellis AFB.  One by one these shiny red, white and blue F-16s made contact with our KC-135 and gobbled up thousands of pounds of gas.

And of course them being the fine performers that they are, they treated us to a beautiful formation of the famous Thunderbird Diamond.

Hope you enjoyed!   Thanks for looking.

Well, actually Sean and the plane I was flying in, an Extra 300 piloted by his son Eric, were the subject for the cover of the San Diego Tribune.

But I decided to take more of an active role by being in the aircraft that was doing the acrobatics. Armed with my wide angle lens, off we went! Tight formations, down low and sometimes inverted, we got the shots!

And after that was done, it was time for a little fun! Sean and Eric took me just off the coast and we did a little acrobatic formation flying. A few loops, some negative and some positive G’s, dancing under the clouds, it was sweet! These guys are amazing!

A very special thanks to Eric, Sean, and Brian for an amazing time. And see Sean? I didn’t puke!

View pictures from my ride with Team Oracle and the MCAS Miramar Airshow here.

Two teams, Black and Gold, travel across the United States performing aerial demonstrations for the public.  We were lucky to see the Gold team in action at Miramar.  The morning started off with light showers and there was a threat of canceling the jumps due to low clouds.   Since safety is the Teams number one concern, and the cloud ceiling at 1,000 feet, it wasn’t looking good.  But the Team continued with their ‘dirt dive’ (practice dive on the ground) and we waited for the clouds to part.

Maybe it was because it was my birthday, or maybe the parachute gods were smiling down on us, but whatever it was, the rain stopped and the clouds lifted.  2,000 feet and we had our minimum ceiling for jumping!

And off we went.  Circle slowly to our jump altitude of 2,000 feet.  This is the absolute minimum that the Golden Knights can safely jump at and still have time for their parachutes to open.  Normally jumps are done from 12,000-15,000 feet and aerial maneuvers are demonstrated to the crowd below.  But today, it’s just get out, and pop the chute.  No room for mistakes.  Clear your mind and concentrate.

As we climb to our jump altitude, Hal and SFC Meyers watch streamers that were just released to gauge wind conditions that will affect their jump into the landing zone.

Hal gives precise hand signals to the pilots to make the final adjustments so they are in the correct position for their jump.

And on the final pass, green light, chutes in hand, and off they go!

In addition to their normal show, the Golden Knights also perform an amazing night show, complete with pyrotechnics!

A special thanks to Sergeant First Class Khalida “Hal” Hendricks for all her help!  And Happy Birthday to you once again. I’m still older by 1 day.

View pictures from my ride with the Golden Knights and the MCAS Miramar Airshow here.

This year, with the US Air Force celebrating it’s 60th Anniversary, brought the USAF Thunderbirds back to Miramar after a 35 year absence. But as attractive as the Thunderbirds are, the true stars are the local Marine aircraft and helicopters. The highlight of the show has always been the MAGTAF Demo. 2 F/A-18D Hornets, 2 AV-8B Harriers, 2 KC-130 Hercules, UH-1 Huey, 2 Ch-53E Super Stallions, 2 AH-1W Cobra, and 3 CH-47 Sea Nights. Toss in some pyro and some tanks and you have one impressive demonstration.

For more pictures, check out my MCAS Miramar Gallery