It’s Airshow Time in West Milford, New Jersey!

For TONS more information and to find out details, go to www.NJAirshow.com The Annual Show is usually held in June. This one was added because of some inclement weather this past June.

So….. as I last reported to you, we drove back to Texas.

            And then I did some chores there and got back on a plane and went back to New Jersey!

???!!!

            Yup! Back I went to volunteer for a few days at the NJ Airshow which is held annually at the Greenwood Lake Airport in West Milford, NJ. You all saw a photo of my grandson Andy’s toolbox at the Airport in my last Post, well, that’s how I got involved with this show.

            Mind you now, I did not have to be dragged back there kicking and screaming…… as Airshow’s are some of my favorite events on the planet! If you go back to the beginning of this Blog, October 25th of 2020, you will find one of my original Posts entitled “What You Don’t Know Is….” that has an Aviation slant to it. This will explain most of my affinizations on this topic. Throw in a chance to work with Andy and you’ve got the rest of my story!

WARNING!

This Post has only to do with Aviation and Airshows, this one in particular!

I’m really hoping that fact does not scare you away! I promise that there are some apropos anecdotes, some really cool photos,

and the chance to gain valuable insight into the ways and means of airshows and their performers…. just in case that category comes up when you finally get selected to be on Jeopardy!  ………..

“I’ll take ‘Airshows for $800’ please, Ken.”

Seen in this photo, this small control surface is usually found at the rear of the plane, not in front as it is seen here, and therefore has a different name.

“Pick me Ken! Pick me!”

First you will need to ring in Mr. Hall, you know the rules.

                        “Right you are Ken ol’ boy!”    (DING!)

                        Ahh, yes….Don, go ahead…

                        “What is a canard!”

                        Correct for $800!

                        “By the way Ken did you …..”

            “Ahh, Mr. Hall we don’t have time for any extended extrapolations here…”

            “Yes Ken, but this is fascinating and will only take a minute! Did you know that this particular design was actually the first one used in early aviation!!!???”

            Actually Don, I did know that as I am very intelligent, but now that you’ve piqued their interest (sigh) and interrupted the flow and pacing of this tightly and timely controlled television show, why don’t you now go ahead and enlighten the folks in our studio and our viewers at home about this, as you have already said, “fascinating subject”.

            “Hey! Thanks Ken!”

            Mr. Hall can you please step back behind your podium? This is not a classroom!

            “Oops! Sorry about that Ken! Back behind I go! Now folks, if you take a look at this photo that I happen to have in my phone of the Wright Brothers’ plane, you will notice that this particular control surface that we are referring to is right here, up front!

Now let’s look very quickly as Ken is getting really agitated, at this next photo that I happen to have, and you will see where this control surface has migrated to….. all the way back to the tail where it is called a “horizontal stabilizer” which holds the “elevators” which control the pitch of the aircraft and point the nose either up or down when actuated!

In the photo that was first shown, that featured yellow plane is called a Long E-Z, and was designed by the aviation genius Burt Rutan, who also deigned that plane (the Rutan Voyager) that flew around the world non-stop in 1986. And that’s just a small part of it! If we…..”

            No! No! No! That’s enough Mr. Hall! You’ve hijacked this Program for long enough! We will now break for a word from one of our sponsors, ahh.… oh no…. Rutan Enterprises???!!! That’s it! I’m outa here!!!

            “Bye Ken! See ya next time on Jeopardy!”

            Ok, well that little yellow plane was just one of the aerobatic acts that were featured this past weekend at the NJ Airshow. This particular airshow is rather unique in that it also incorporates a ‘Night Show” where we see the airplanes zoom through the dark skies spewing incendiaries all over the place…. A veritable fireworks aeronautic as it were. Add in a really cool Drone Story/Show and firebombs that light up the entire airport with billowing fireballs made by igniting gallons of gasoline. Fireworks? You want fireworks? How about a show that puts the Macy’s 4^th of July Show to shame (and that’s not taking anything away from the fine organizations annual NYC show!)

            A regular Airshow usually starts around 1:00 PM and goes until late afternoon as those types of acts need daylight to be appreciated. The folks at Greenwood Lake Airport have assembled a treasure trove of talented routines that start in the daylight, move on through the twilight, and finish with the proverbial BANG! (or BOOM!) when the skies are pitch black.

            I have never seen anything quite like it!!!

Most Airshows offer a variety of seating options. At Greenwood Lake, there are basically three, General Admission, this is where you bring your own folding chairs, maybe a big blanket, and ‘stake your claim’ in the appropriate area. Next is a Reserved Seating option called Front Line. Here you have a Reserved Seat up front, no need to worry about dragging chairs or claiming spots. And finally, there is the VIP Flight Line Experience. This is in its own enclosed area complete with a reserved table (with white linen tablecloth!), private, air conditioned, very clean, no /or short lines, bathrooms, free bottled water, and a private restaurant/grill where you can purchase good vittles right inside your own compound. In addition, you are given a Very Prestigious VIP Area Pass that hangs around your neck that grants you full back and forth entries and exits so that you can go out into the Vendor Area and you can procure the Fried Oreos(!) and other essentials!

The VIP area is where I put my time in, and I can assure you that our goal is to have you have the best possible time while you are there! Think of us as your own personal concierges, there isn’t much that we can’t facilitate except maybe a flight in the big biplane that’s sitting right in front of you! We can, however, introduce you to the fine group of instructors that can arrange for just an “Introductory Flight” that will put you in control of your own Cessna 182 for a gorgeous flight up and around West Milford and beautiful Greenwood Lake!

Here are some interesting tid-bits that bring a sobering aspect to the business side of this business. Every one of the performers gets paid whether they perform or not. Translation: If it rains and the show is cancelled or the weather is miserable enough to keep the crowds away, the Teams get paid anyway. They also still get free lodging, free rental cars, free food, free fuel (both while performing and in transit) in other words, when an act is booked, it is an all-expense guarantee of being paid. Now this is understandable on the Performer’s part…. why would you book a place and not get paid, as they could have booked at a different place where the weather was good enough to fly and they would get paid. In this business, the onus is on the Operator who cannot hope enough for decent weather! This is why a jam-packed show is quite essential to the continuing operation of any airshow!

But let’s start at the beginning, with the Performers, the Pilots and /or their support Team, etc. To say that these are a talented bunch of folks would be a huge understatement as what they do, and how well they do it, simply defies an ordinary explanation. Some novice airshow attendees will ask, “When do they start the air tricks in their planes?” An innocent enough question, they just want to know when the show starts. But the term “tricks” can leave anyone in the know bristling with an inner rage (?) as these aerial maneuvers are anything but “tricks”. There is no ‘sleight of hand’ going on, no ‘magic wands’, no ‘illusionary tactics’, just pure skill and daring (albeit a ‘safe’ daring) enhanced by thousands of hours of practice and technological improvements that sometimes find their way into general aviation!

            Quite often these Performers are commercial airline pilots that do this as a side business or hobby, and this fact is usually conveyed to the spectators by the Airshow Announcer when they introduce and speak about the current performer that is airborne at that time. I have heard more than once a comment coming from an uninformed spectator watching a series of loops, snap rolls, inverted passes, and they say, “I wouldn’t want them as my pilot!” Au contraire my good novice skywatcher….. that person flying is exactly who you would want as your pilot as they have those thousands of hours of experience in recovering from situations that they probably will never find themselves in, but a little extra practice exiting a “situation” never hurts! (As an aside, commercial airline pilots routinely undergo vigorous training in highly sophisticated simulators where their “instructor/proctor” throws them into almost impossible scenarios (Bird strike/main bus fuse failure/ landing gear failure/ and a meteorological micro-burst all at the same time!)

            On top of being skillful, they are all downright friendly and love to walk the Flight Line, before, but especially after their routines. Here they meet you, the Face in the Crowd, and they stop for photos, will sign just about anything, and will have a genuine conversation with you especially if you are a young person! Go get the grandkids, ask any one of the Show Volunteers where the best spot to meet the pilots is and you will become a hero to your grandkid as you were the facilitator of that meeting! And you may get some goosebumps yourself!

            Attending an Airshow requires some forethought and information. Let’s face it, if your weather is grand, the crowds should be also. I can assure you that every aspect of your Airshow Experience is thought through and then thought through again before every show. Getting you in and out as expeditiously as possible is paramount to your experience and the Operators are keenly aware of this. Having said all that, you are responsible for some of this, as you must bring with you some intelligence and patience. This is not like exiting your local Shop Rite parking lot as everyone wants to get out of there, usually at the same time, which, because we are human, is actually impossible to do. So why fight it?

Some of that forethought, especially if you’ve got little Attendees in your care with you, will go a long way. My advice is to hang back a bit, go to the vendors, get dinner, hang around where they roll the planes in and out, ask questions about them, watch some of them take off (some do not spend the night) and if you are at a show that allows “Fly-Ins” you can sit and watch hundreds of just regular Cessna’s, Piper’s, Mooney’s, Taylor Craft, and a myriad of others take off and return to their home bases. When this is done, you amble over to your car and (probably) have a “muchly more betterer” 😊 exit experience while at the same time, an absolute full day of Aviation Enjoyment….. especially that kid, either the one that you brought with you, or the one that is still inside you……. I promise.

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Some More Random Photos

I hope that you enjoyed these few extra pics!