[ScanIndiana] anyone got anything yet for the Mount ComfortAirshow this weekend?

[Duane Mantick]

comments below after >>>>> and while a lot of it is
rather off-topic to scanner folks, I promise: there is
a little bit at the end.  :-) 

Before I go there.....

A Kudo that is deserved - the Army Sky Soldiers 4x
Cobra team was really pretty cool.  It was a VERY
unique performance and set itself apart from the
rest........if the pentagon will give them the time
(and presumably, also cash) to further develop I could
EASILY see them becoming a top-billing performer at a
lot of shows and very much in-demand.  By taking up
more space *vertically* than *horizontally*, just
about any sized airport could easily host them.  IMHO,
this sort of unique performance and variety filled in
a HUGE "empty hole" at Mount Comfort.

--- Bob Burns W9RXR <k4rxr_ at rlburns.net> wrote:

> At 01:31 AM 8/27/2007, Duane Mantick wrote:
> >Indeed Fat Albert did fly (both days) but the RATO
> bottles didn't 
> >light off on Sunday.  Since no comment was made
> about them not being 
> >used by PA announcer and seeing on the streaming
> WTHR video that 
> >they WERE used on Saturday I have to assume that
> something was FUBAR 
> >on Sunday's attempt.
> 
> Sources said that they only brought enough bottles
> with them for one launch.

>>>>>Well, that would explain it.  Thought never
occurred to me, DUH, just figured that their logistics
was probably worked out well enough to deal with
"spares", adequate supplies, etc.....

> 
> >Parking lots were nowhere near full......exiting
> the show took about 
> >1/2 the time it used to, and the crowd just
> >seemed about 50% of many previous years.
> 
> Actually, there were some officials who thought this
> was one of the 
> biggest crowds they've ever had. It was my first
> time at this show, 
> so I have nothing to compare to.
> 
> Bob...

>>>>>I have heard this from other people as well, and
particularly the Sunday show that I was at.  It is
possible that many of them showed only for the Blue
Angels and thus, arrived well after we did.  We were
surprised at how far toward the flight line we were
able to park, and also how relatively easy it was to
get a place to set up our chairs right at show center
and I mean *right behind* the crowd fence.  That being
said, and noting that this USED to be one of the best
seats "in the house", it may be that a lot of people
filled in behind us, again, after we got settled in. 
And we didn't even get there for the beginning of the
show........after having seen the $20/person price tag
and looking on the web to see just what I was going to
get FOR that sum, I was vacillating on whether to go
or not.  Wife said yes, so we did a last-minute
grab-n-go and took off down I-65 for Indy. Didn't
bother with the Icom R10 or camcorder; she did take
her Nikon and ran out of film and had to grab a
last-minute disposable at the show to shoot the
statics after the Angels were done - and this proved
to be a sore spot, too, as the statics began clearing
out of the airport almost immediately.  We were lucky
enough to be a) close to that parking area and b) have
a vendor selling the disposable cameras within about
50 feet of where we were sitting.

We had actually split up in search of film and
carrying our GMRS hand-helds to try and speed up
vendor-visiting, and I found the one that was right
behind us almost immediately so was able to recall
"WIFE-01" to rendevous :-)  :-) *almost* immediately. 
So got some shots of various statics before they left
as well as taxiing and then headed towards the van via
other vendor tents.  I wanted to get both a frozen
lemonade as well as visit the CAF tent for "stuff". 
Got sidetracked at the USS Indianapolis tent over by
the statics (which I did NOT know was going to be
there, or I'd have taken more $$$$ with me - they had
posters and books, and a whole passel of USS
Indianapolis *survivors* there to sign autographs. ) 

Anyhow, headed back toward vendor areas and these guys
were all busy bugging out or already bugged out,
including CAF tent.  Past years, many of these vendors
would take their time folding tent to try and pull
some extra bucks as people left the field.  Not this
time!  We were lucky that the camera vendor was so
close to where we were sitting too, because they were
already counting out cash and I'd bet that in another
10 minutes they were outta there, too.

This was just NOT the optimal Mount Comfort
experience.  I need to get the word on to them to cut
back on the VIP tents along the flight line and figure
out some other way to extract bigger $$$ from a few at
the expense of the many.  To give you an idea of how
bad this was from show center or several hundred feet
in either direction........

(interesting point, as I was looking at this.......I
wonder if many of the food vendors took it on the
chin? I did NOT see big lines at ANY of the ones I was
checking out; also contrary to prior years.  Maybe 2
or 3 people deep and that was it....which is great if
you want to get something quickly, but you gotta
wonder if that means they weren't doing a good
business.........and if partly, the reason for that is
that with people spending $20 at the gate and I think
advance tickets were $17 which is no great savings, a
lot of other folks did what we did - blow through a
McDonalds drivethrough before the show and stoke up
for lunch, figuring on dinner AFTER the show.  Given
that Airshow grub is usually not the cheapest stuff on
the planet no matter how good some of it might be, if
you've already dropped $40 just to get IN you maybe
are feeling less inclined to drop another sizeable wad
of cash just for lunch......multiple McD's double
cheeseburgers at $1 a piece, much like other fast food
places have a "dollar menu", can go a LONG way for the
price of ONE "show-burger"..........)

1) I think it was Sean Tucker who did the ribbon cut? 
I was actually off "walking the vendors" at that time,
and I turned to try and watch him do that. He was low
enough that I could hear the plane but saw nothing
until AFTER the cuts and he was pushing back up. VIP
tents in the way.

2) The wife was really p*ssed while trying to shoot
the BA's because even at show center, right on the
security fencing, there was so much crap in the way
that you could NOT see most of the solo work until
they were literally right in front of us......which
made the timing for still-shooting a real
near-impossibility.  I used to shoot still years ago
and so have a pretty good sense for the speed and
timing of the imcoming birds and she and I are both
tall people (she's 5'11.5" and I am 6'4") but still
were losing them behind those damnable tents.  I was
doing my best to cue her; she had her eye glued to the
Nikon while my MkI eyeball (corrected for aging) was
able to scan more broadly.  I have no doubt that this
*helped* but she missed some real good "money shots";
most notably when the two solos come from behind the
crowd out over show center and do a crossover break to
a pair of min. radius turns.  In my archives I've got
that shot where the birds appear to merge........point
here?  Did the Airshow really make enough *extra*
bucks off those VIP tents to justify all the $20
people that they p*ssed off?  Mount Comfort ain't a
huge place like the Dayton Int. Show is.......trying
to cram in too many VIP tents or seating areas for
possibly not a lot of return vs. the number of people
who I heard around me also bitching about it who maybe
WON'T come back?  IMHO, somebody needs to revisit that
idea......

It was also a lesson in "why a really automatic camera
that is SO automatic that Nikon left out a true manual
mode sucks at airshows"........the damnable autofocus
kept trying to take over.  My old Nikkormat FT3,
totally manual save for a light meter, would have been
better because at an airshow, you just set focus for
infinity (and with the small lens openings on a nice
bright sunny day, it IS infinity for all practical
purposes) and FORGET about it.  That means that for
whatever film you're shooting, you've got your focus
and shutter speed already set and you just adjust your
lens opening +/- to account for the sun position and
then you zoom if your lens allows. Alas, my 30 year
old Nikkormat which is semi-retired was not
there.......... (FYI, Nikkormat was a Nikon "budget
line" that had a body made by Ricoh designed to take
Nikon lenses of that mid-70's era.  Rugged and very,
very reliable......and those AI-Nikkor lenses, without
all the autofocus and so-on, made superb images.)

OK.......so most of you are saying "geez, he's off
topic for this email list"  :-)  Sorry about that.  To
bring it back around a little bit, I was also scouting
around looking for folks with scanners and I didn't
see a single one.  Now, that's still a big enough
crowd I could have easily missed a couple hundred of
them but usually I can spot them just from experience
and I just did NOT see ANY.  In fact, I was also
surprised at how relatively unused the FRS/GMRS
channels were, either by show people or by spectators.
Used to have a heckuva time trying to have a couple
minutes of open channel at all - but I saw a LOT of
cell phone usage, BOTH show people and spectators. 
Well, I'm not gonna complain too much there, because
if it leaves more open, and thus "useable" FRS/GMRS
spectrum for ME, that's OK.  :-) 


Well, we'll be keeping an ear open for next year's
show but if they don't draw a more dynamic batch of
performers I won't be dropping $20/head to get
in.....Blue Angels aside, there just wasn't that much
there.  

Duane
p.s. even as I finish typing this, wife just walked in
the door with her pix.......anxious to see just what
she DID get....


       
____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better Heartthrob. Get better relationship answers from someone who knows. Yahoo! Answers - Check it out. 
http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545433