There are some amazing photos here. The coast guard did a hell of a job
keeping a lane open for the jets!

http://home.comcast.net/~bzee1a/

I MUST learn to use my DSLR with settings other than "auto." Some real
beautiful work there.

--Mike

"DK" wrote in message
...
There are some amazing photos here. The coast guard did a hell of a job
keeping a lane open for the jets!

http://home.comcast.net/~bzee1a/

I too miss the old airshows at Moffett. The ones they've had since the
de-commissioned the base were/are pretty lame. I also miss the P-3s
constantly buzzing around the Bay Area... I LOVE those planes.

--Mike

"Eddie" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 07 May 2008 19:56:35 -0400, DK
wrote:

There are some amazing photos here. The coast guard did a hell of a job
keeping a lane open for the jets!

http://home.comcast.net/~bzee1a/

Just plain Beautiful!

I like that shot of Fat Albert with the GG in the background. Never
seen a plane with all four engines feathered.
NAH, sure looks like it, eh?
You know, I've been to about 10 Blue Angels shows and I've never seen
'em fly low like the shots you got. You sure you didn't do a little
"generating?" Twenty feet over the water, hard to believe.
I once flew in a 7-passenger Cessna 15 feet over the Colorado River
inside the Grand Canyon (no longer allowed) and it scared the bejesus
out of me.
By the way, you know that the left-wing loonies always try to get
Fleet Week cancelled because of it's "militarism" theme.
The best shows were when they used to come to Moffett Field, imho.

I remember one 4th of July show at Moffett clearly. After the show
the pilots lined up, about 15 yards apart. I went up to one and asked
him to sign my program, which he gladly did. We chatted for a minute
or so. I asked him how long more were they going to fly the Skyhawk.
He told me that they were transitioning to the F/A-18 Hornet the next
year, iirc. The following week July 13, 1985, while performing
somewhere in the east coast, there was an accident in which one pilot
was killed. His name was Lt. Cmdr. Mike Gershon, the pilot I had
talked to at Moffett. I still have the autographed show program along
with a newspaper clipping about the accident. He was such a nice guy.
Eddie

Eddie wrote:
On Wed, 07 May 2008 19:56:35 -0400, DK
wrote:

There are some amazing photos here. The coast guard did a hell of a job
keeping a lane open for the jets!

http://home.comcast.net/~bzee1a/

Just plain Beautiful!

I like that shot of Fat Albert with the GG in the background. Never
seen a plane with all four engines feathered.
NAH, sure looks like it, eh?
You know, I've been to about 10 Blue Angels shows and I've never seen
'em fly low like the shots you got. You sure you didn't do a little
"generating?" Twenty feet over the water, hard to believe.
I once flew in a 7-passenger Cessna 15 feet over the Colorado River
inside the Grand Canyon (no longer allowed) and it scared the bejesus
out of me.
By the way, you know that the left-wing loonies always try to get
Fleet Week cancelled because of it's "militarism" theme.
The best shows were when they used to come to Moffett Field, imho.

I remember one 4th of July show at Moffett clearly. After the show
the pilots lined up, about 15 yards apart. I went up to one and asked
him to sign my program, which he gladly did. We chatted for a minute
or so. I asked him how long more were they going to fly the Skyhawk.
He told me that they were transitioning to the F/A-18 Hornet the next
year, iirc. The following week July 13, 1985, while performing
somewhere in the east coast, there was an accident in which one pilot
was killed. His name was Lt. Cmdr. Mike Gershon, the pilot I had
talked to at Moffett. I still have the autographed show program along
with a newspaper clipping about the accident. He was such a nice guy.
Eddie



These aren't my photos - while I wish they were! This was a link
forwarded to me.

I did the helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon and it did go into the
canyon but we never got close to the river.

Eddie writes:

I like that shot of Fat Albert with the GG in the background.
Never seen a plane with all four engines feathered.
NAH, sure looks like it, eh?

What's more subtle is the high blade angle. The propeller
governors keep the engines turning at a constant speed despite
changes in the power setting. On the ground, the props are a
almost at flat pitch. (I was a Coast Guard C-130 flight engineer.)


By the way, you know that the left-wing loonies always try to
get Fleet Week cancelled because of it's "militarism" theme.

Left-wing loonies are a Bay Area environmental hazard, unfor-
tunately.


The best shows were when they used to come to Moffett Field, imho.

I miss those, too. I used to live within easy bicycling distance
of Moffett. Friends and I would lock our bikes to the chain link
fence close to the public entrance off of Ellis Street in Sunnyvale,
and not have to worry about traffic on the way out. We could be at
the local brewpub within twenty minutes or so.


The following week July 13, 1985, while performing somewhere in
the east coast, there was an accident in which one pilot was killed.
His name was Lt. Cmdr. Mike Gershon, the pilot I had talked to at
Moffett.

Niagara Falls.

That's a shame. I saw the Blues perform at the Reno Air Show later
that season, and they had the four-ship formation plus a solo -- the
other pilot who'd been involved in that midair, LT Andy Caputi.



Geoff

--
"The future stretches before us, brown and sticky, like the
broad smile of a mongoloid eating peanut butter off a spoon."
-- snide

On 7-May-2008, DK wrote:

There are some amazing photos here. The coast guard did a hell of a job
keeping a lane open for the jets!

http://home.comcast.net/~bzee1a/

They are incredible pictures when you can "hear" them. Thanks!