Who the hell goes to Air Shows?

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Seriously! They're just ultimately grisly death festivals

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 1 May 2004 01:55 (twenty-one years ago)

and robots!!!!

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040429/capt.ny18104291818.air_show_robot_ny181.jpg

― teeny (teeny), Saturday, 1 May 2004 01:58 (twenty-one years ago)

B-b-b-but I liked Talkie Walkie!

― m.e.a. (m.e.a.), Saturday, 1 May 2004 01:58 (twenty-one years ago)

The folks you might see at an air show you might also see at:

A pro wrestling tournament
a NASCAR event
A monster truck show
Dirt bike races

These are just a hunch.

― jim wentworth (wench), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Exactly.......in other words......IDIOTS!l

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:08 (twenty-one years ago)

and apparently only the idiots know what true entertainment is.

― A Nairn (moretap), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:09 (twenty-one years ago)

if you have a chance of being horribly maimed/killed while sitting in the audience, I am SO not there

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:27 (twenty-one years ago)

has anyone on this thread actually been to an air show?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:29 (twenty-one years ago)

"I don't know any lepers either, but ya don't seem runnin' off to join one of their fuckin' clubs."

― Jon Bender (vassifer), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:30 (twenty-one years ago)

my answer - aging men, either ex-military or otherwise mechanically/aeronautically obsessed, plus a smattering of families

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:31 (twenty-one years ago)

well, there you go

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:32 (twenty-one years ago)

if i wanted my neck to hurt that bad i'd give blowjobs

― JaXoN (JasonD), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:32 (twenty-one years ago)

has anyone on this thread actually been to an air show?

I have.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Several times in fact

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:43 (twenty-one years ago)

....and? d

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:44 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/jpg/ukraineAirShow.jpgM

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Oddball regional air shows of vintage planes are a lot more interesting than the typical "rah rah USA" military shows. For the most part the people I see at air shows aren't pin-headed NASCAR fans, but geeky folks who just like airplanes.

Not all that different from record collectors really.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, but when was the last time people died horribly at a WFMU record fair?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:47 (twenty-one years ago)

I see more accidents, potential accidents, and general death and destruction commuting on the 405 every day than I've ever seen at an air show.

Go back and hide under your desks.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, but when was the last time people died horribly at a WFMU record fair?

Drop a rare Duophonic 7" (or whatever WFMU people would kill for these days) on the ground there and find out

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:50 (twenty-one years ago)

The best air show ever is this: http://www.paris-air-show.com/

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:50 (twenty-one years ago)

we're having a reasoning breakdown here - the reason people think that air shows are full of death and destruction is that no one talks about them unless someone dies, which is pretty uncommon

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I went to an air show once when I was a kid. It was very impressive at the time. Kind of like the circus.

Wouldn't really consider doing it now. Can you imagine the amount of gas it would take to put one of those things on?

Kind of just a promo for the fighting forces, a loss leader if you will.

― hector (hector), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:54 (twenty-one years ago)

The air shows I'm most familiar with happen in Seattle during Seafair, which is usually a lowest-common-denominator paradise. The Blue Angels annoy me with their useless speed record breaking enough for the whole year. If there is an air show that is not loud and patronized mainly by fools and jingoistic as fuck, then maybe I would reconsider :)

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Saturday, 1 May 2004 02:59 (twenty-one years ago)

The Blue Angels buzzing Capitol Hill annoyed me too. But I remember going to an interesting air show up by Everett once.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Saturday, 1 May 2004 03:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Our building management at work opens up the doors to the roof during the Blue Angel Thursday & Friday practices. Amazing. We're not too far from the I-90 bridge so it's phenomonal viewing, the planes feel like they're going to almost slam into our roof.

Boy loves air shows, but then he's really a big geek. He just emailed me some "Laguardia Departure Route Description" pdf today, which is not really as crazy as the fact that I now think it's a perfectly normal thing to receive in email. heh.

― lyra (lyra), Saturday, 1 May 2004 03:34 (twenty-one years ago)

that's really hot.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 1 May 2004 03:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Sub-thread:
I'd feel uncomfortable if my significant other developed a feverish interest in attending:

(a) Air Shows
(b) Record-collecting Shows
(c) Gun Shows

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 1 May 2004 03:40 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.du.edu/~bamundso/mullet.jpg

― webcrack (music=crack), Saturday, 1 May 2004 04:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I went to a gun show once. Not much fun, just a bunch of guns.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 1 May 2004 04:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I've been to many air shows. Before hand where we got to go on the planes was the best part. Sitting in a fighter jet or walking around a C-5 is so much fun.

― A Nairn (moretap), Saturday, 1 May 2004 04:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I've never been to one, but i'd quite like to go. WWII planes are killer for me.

heh. then again, i'm the only person here with an aerospace degree.

― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Saturday, 1 May 2004 04:28 (twenty-one years ago)

this fellow ... who i know for a fact alex likes ... not only goes to air shows, he also FLIES in air shows:

http://80music.about.com/library/artist/images/berserk.jpg

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 1 May 2004 05:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I liked him then. I never said I liked him now.o

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 1 May 2004 06:24 (twenty-one years ago)

air shows are the only things i've ever seen my dad get excited about, ever.

― mark p (Mark P), Saturday, 1 May 2004 12:25 (twenty-one years ago)

My friend Alice's mom has a house in New Jersey that's directly across from an airstrip (her ex was a pilot.) Every year she has a big party and everybody comes to her house and watches stunt-planes do barrel-rolls and stuff.

At night we went down to the airstrip and played on top of the planes. We managed to get an Apache copter's blades going pretty fast just with some elbow grease, and we held an informal sprinting competition in the light of the moon.,

The second day of the show it rained, so they brought in... MONSTER TRUCKS!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 1 May 2004 12:35 (twenty-one years ago)

In the UK, airshows are the second best attended public events after football/soccer.

― Mooro (Mooro), Saturday, 1 May 2004 12:44 (twenty-one years ago)

What about church?

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 1 May 2004 12:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe its outdoor events, then. I couldn't find a source to check the exact definition of the stat.

― Mooro (Mooro), Saturday, 1 May 2004 12:52 (twenty-one years ago)

In the UK, airshows are the second best attended public events after football/soccer.

Doesn't that make them... the 3rd best attended?

― the airfox, Saturday, 1 May 2004 12:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex in NYC is pretty hoity-toity for a man who wears a leather jacket into his mid-30s.

― adam (adam), Saturday, 1 May 2004 13:25 (twenty-one years ago)

i used to go w. my dad all the time b4 he left up north, it was fun.

― anthony, Saturday, 1 May 2004 13:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it's nice to be outside with lots of other people, looking at something organised. It's better than staying in, anyway.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 1 May 2004 13:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Not if you're bugged by the other people.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 1 May 2004 14:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I've been to airshows, with my family. My dad used to be an aerospace engineer. He likes airplanes. So shoot him, I guess.

― Allyzay, Saturday, 1 May 2004 14:31 (twenty-one years ago)

It's nice to be outside, I agree. Not so sure about the people, they tend to annoy me.

I'm pretty sure I went to an airshow when I was a kid. However, it could just have been my grandad driving us down to Heathrow.

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 1 May 2004 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)

What a cheapskate.

― N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 1 May 2004 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.maniahill.com/images/morans.jpg

Seriously though, I really like seeing biplanes.

― NUMBER 1 BLUE ANGELS FAN (ex machina), Saturday, 1 May 2004 14:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Someties airshows provide good photographic opportunities:

http://homepage.mac.com/eric.moore/pics/etc/tbird.jpg

― Mooro (Mooro), Saturday, 1 May 2004 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

you took that? cool!

― A Nairn (moretap), Saturday, 1 May 2004 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 92 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I completely understand being fascinated with aeronautics, but my assertion that Air Shows are "stupid" (an overrused word, and I'm completely guilty of overusing it) has more to do with the fact that seemingly the only press they get is when something catastrophic happens at them....begging my question: what is really the appeal of them?

you know, the only time i hear about rock shows on the news is when there's a riot or some girls get raped. what is really the appeal of them?
the snobbish assumption of this thread is that an event that engages the artistic side of the brain (and arguing that a rock concert falls into this category is anything but inarguable) is somehow bette/more worthwhile than something that (in the eyes of the snob) doesn't.

― oops (Oops), Sunday, 2 May 2004 19:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Another advantage of rock music is that you can play it inside your car. Imagine trying to drive a monster truck inside your car.
-- Tracer Hand (tracerhan...) (webmail), May 2nd, 2004 8:44 AM. (tracerhand) (later) (link)

but what about playing rock music from within a monster truck? surely this is the desired compromise.

alex why don't you just admit that you find air shows boring and that other people do not? would that be some terrible sacrifice for you?

― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 2 May 2004 20:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, I've never been to an air show, so I don't rightly know if I'd find it boring.

Whatever, people....go enjoy your air shows. May you not be rained on by burning, twisted metal.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 2 May 2004 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd also like to state that pro wrestling at its highest level (not WWE schlock, but more the puro of Japan) is just as much a art form as acting or what have you.

Yeah, but that's not the stuff that was alluded to.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 2 May 2004 21:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Even if you aren't mistaken, what difference does it make? You judge art or performance purely on the basis of the audience being played to?

Now who is making the sweeping absolutist statement? I don't judge art/performance purely on the basis of its audience, but you must admit that it is stil part of the equation.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 2 May 2004 21:26 (twenty-one years ago)

no it is not, but in any case, what makes you so confident in yoru judgments of the audience?

why even bother making these kinds of judgements at all?

― amateur!st (amateurist), Sunday, 2 May 2004 21:47 (twenty-one years ago)

there not that bad.
theyre actually fun

― CAss (CAss), Sunday, 2 May 2004 22:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, `cos of course you're not judgemental at all, are you amateurist.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 2 May 2004 22:20 (twenty-one years ago)

This has a canard:

http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/eweb/fst/images/typhoon_01.jpg

Sadly these are but geese:

http://www.f4aviation.co.uk/airshow03/shoreham/geese.jpg

― Mooro (Mooro), Sunday, 2 May 2004 23:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I like air shows but one of the most aggravating things from when I lived in Chicago is the Chicago Air Show, which basically ensures that if you live in the city, you can't escape it.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 3 May 2004 02:23 (twenty-one years ago)

also, I'd rather go to an air show than go see Killing Joke, and that's coming from someone who owns some KJ records (that I bought when I was 13-14, natch).

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 3 May 2004 02:24 (twenty-one years ago)

http://ox.eicat.ca/~scarruthers/ilx/bob.jpg
"Airshow? Buzz-cut Alabamians spewing coloured smoke in their whiz-jets to the strains of 'Rock You Like a Hurricane'? What kind of country-fried rube is still impressed by that?"

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 3 May 2004 02:38 (twenty-one years ago)

i think you all are missing the real fun:

FIGURE-8 SCHOOL BUS RACES

― Kingfish Disraeli (Kingfish), Monday, 3 May 2004 05:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, `cos of course you're not judgemental at all, are you amateurist.
-- Alex in NYC (vassife...) (webmail), May 2nd, 2004 4:20 PM. (vassifer) (later) (link)

i can be, but i know when to admit that i'm making a personal judgement out of ignorance

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 3 May 2004 07:03 (twenty-one years ago)

also, I'd rather go to an air show than go see Killing Joke, and that's coming from someone who owns some KJ records (that I bought when I was 13-14, natch).

-- hstencil (hstenci...), May 3rd, 2004. (later)

Speaking on behalf of Killing Joke and their fans, we'd rather you went to an air show too.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 3 May 2004 11:05 (twenty-one years ago)

i know when to admit that i'm making a personal judgement out of ignorance

I've read evidence to suggest otherwise, but whatever.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 3 May 2004 11:05 (twenty-one years ago)

"You see? You see? Your stupid minds...stupid! Stupid!!"

http://www.dvdreview.com/fullreviews/Images/Plan9FromOuterSpace/Plan9FromOuter6.jpg

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 3 May 2004 14:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, I've never been to an air show, so I don't rightly know if I'd find it boring.
Come on out to Seattle during Seafair in August & I'll invite you up onto the roof. The Blue Angels are AWESOME from up there. No way are they boring. Of course, that's not really quite a typical air show experience...

― lyra (lyra), Tuesday, 4 May 2004 02:12 (twenty-one years ago)

seven years pass...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/09/17/nevada.plane.crash/

― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Saturday, 17 September 2011 16:29 (thirteen years ago)

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2011/09/18/alg_reno_air_show_crash.jpg

might as well have fired a rocket at the box seats

― mr peabody (moonship journey to baja), Saturday, 17 September 2011 20:22 (thirteen years ago)

whoops

http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2011/09/18/alg_reno_air_show_crash.jpg

― mr peabody (moonship journey to baja), Saturday, 17 September 2011 20:22 (thirteen years ago)

Jesus.

― Blind Diode Jefferson (kingfish), Saturday, 17 September 2011 21:07 (thirteen years ago)

are there air show truthers?

― mr peabody (moonship journey to baja), Saturday, 17 September 2011 21:39 (thirteen years ago)

http://www.aviationlawmonitor.com/uploads/image/TimObrien%20(2).jpg

― mr peabody (moonship journey to baja), Saturday, 17 September 2011 22:01 (thirteen years ago)

man, i hate air shows. i was at one once (who goes to air shows: teenage schlump in a small town) &, all while wondering why they were tempting fate so much, watched a plane fall into the sea. there was a display thing over my house a couple of weeks ago (just before a pilot died in a similar thing at another event) & i had to leave in case they malfunctioned and crashed at me.

― and my soul said you can't go there (schlump), Saturday, 17 September 2011 22:10 (thirteen years ago)

also i know it was re: a mis-coded link but can we just quote-out-of-context moonship's post of:

whoops

[flaming_aircraft_inferno.jpg]

― and my soul said you can't go there (schlump), Saturday, 17 September 2011 22:11 (thirteen years ago)

yeah if it wasn't obvious the "whoops" was in reference to the img tags

― mr peabody (moonship journey to baja), Saturday, 17 September 2011 22:24 (thirteen years ago)

Some detailed info on elevator flutter, the dynamic forces involved, and previous incidents with race-modified P-51s (Flying magazine link. Comments amazingly non-stupid)

― Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Wednesday, 21 September 2011 21:41 (thirteen years ago)

In short... The planes telemetry and onboard camera data were recovered. The plane was pulling a 11g climb so it's probable that the pilot was unconscious. The wobble at the top may have resulted from a power loss due to a fuel interruption - which comes back on full bore after the nose over.

― Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Wednesday, 21 September 2011 21:45 (thirteen years ago)

you can tell from the sound in the videos that its going to be bad

― funk master friendly (moonship journey to baja), Wednesday, 21 September 2011 21:49 (thirteen years ago)

two years pass...

Here's the full two hour NTSB final presentation on the Reno crash. Fascinating to watch the whole forensic run-down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMmhOkXQB0s

TL;DR version: no evidence the owner completed FAA-recommended flight testing of all modifications. Trim-tab lock nuts had not been replaced for at least 26 years and the attachment screws showed 80% damage from accumulated metal fatigue.

― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 6 January 2014 06:53 (eleven years ago)

one year passes...

Second air-show crash in the UK this summer. The first just killed the pilot, this time the pilot escaped but has killed at least seven people, with the death toll expected to rise. Seems to have crashed into road traffic attempting a loop.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-34029764

Easy to say in retrospect but idk if letting people fly planes upside down near busy roads should be allowed.

― I wear my Redditor loathing with pride (ShariVari), Sunday, 23 August 2015 06:38 (ten years ago)

if it was

obv pilot/mechanical/planning error needs ascertaining but ffs

― irl lol (darraghmac), Sunday, 23 August 2015 09:02 (ten years ago)

it would do a disservice to all the brave men and women who died at air shows so that people today can get killed driving near an air show

― MC Whistler (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 23 August 2015 09:03 (ten years ago)

before u attempt a circular motion like that I'm going to move further away thks

― irl lol (darraghmac), Sunday, 23 August 2015 09:04 (ten years ago)

Police have revised the death toll to "up to twenty".

― I wear my Redditor loathing with pride (ShariVari), Monday, 24 August 2015 08:07 (ten years ago)

I have a couple of friends who were there and sustained minor injuries. Sounds fucking terrifying.

― emil.y, Monday, 24 August 2015 11:20 (ten years ago)

four years pass...

These (as well as the "inspirational" fly-bys) are the most boomer/faded-glory things ever.

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Monday, 18 May 2020 13:58 (five years ago)

three years pass...

Annual reminder that US Airforce on 9/11 ($800B, $1.3T in 2023) was completely impotent on 9/11.

Also that 1 of 2 Stealth Black Hawks ($40M) crashed during the OBL raid because it landed on... a 12 foot retaining wall.

― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 5 October 2023 20:19 (one year ago)

there is nothing special forces likes doing more than crashing helicopters

― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Thursday, 5 October 2023 20:21 (one year ago)

one year passes...

Hey it's me with my annual reminder to tell you that air shows are the most "I peaked in high school" boomer shit ever.

What would it take to ban these things forever?

― Mrs. Ippei (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 10 October 2024 20:17 (ten months ago)

Support The no MAS Project

https://www.veteransforpeace.org/take-action/climatecrisis/no-mas

― (•̪●) (carne asada), Thursday, 10 October 2024 20:42 (ten months ago)

look I admit I loved Moon Safari in high school and I still do, maybe its lame but I think a total ban is a step too far

― frogbs, Thursday, 10 October 2024 20:45 (ten months ago)

fighter jets starting up again of San Francisco Bay

― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 10 October 2024 20:52 (ten months ago)

My father was an aircraft mechanic for the air force and he did take us to a couple air shows in the 80’s. I remember it being hot and loud but had fun as a 10 year old.

― (•̪●) (carne asada), Thursday, 10 October 2024 20:53 (ten months ago)

The UK crash mentioned above lead me to reading about the 1952 Farnborough Airshow crash, which killed 29 people and injured 60:

Following the accident the air display programme continued once the debris was cleared from the runway, with Neville Duke exhibiting the prototype Hawker Hunter and taking it supersonic over the show later that day.[10]

― Kim Kimberly, Thursday, 10 October 2024 21:02 (ten months ago)

Just had a F-18 or whatever roar over my house in Oakland, I could see it while I was washing lettuce

A thrilling sound, except when you consider what that sounds represents in Gaza, Beirut, or Ukraine

― Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 10 October 2024 21:04 (ten months ago)

Yeeeeeah I was living near a rural airport/Natl Guard base that hosts an airshow every year, and the Blue Angels or whatever would start flying over a day or two ahead of time, and then constantly during the shows. I never stopped thinking "This is the last sound Iraqi children hear," honestly. That might not even be true given the introduction of drones and how death is dealt to sleeping families and school buses of children in modern times, but I still thought it.

― Ima Gardener (in orbit), Thursday, 10 October 2024 21:21 (ten months ago)

Praise buddha/allah! Bring in the fog~!~

― Mrs. Ippei (Steve Shasta), Saturday, 12 October 2024 23:34 (ten months ago)

four months pass...

Admiral Cloudberg writes some of the best, detailed reports on aviation accidents - the new one on the B-17/P-63 collision in Dallas a couple years back is anger-inducing enough that it's time to park the vintage stuff in the hangar for good.
https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/passing-the-buck-the-story-of-the-2022-wings-over-dallas-air-show-collision-9bbe5947297b

― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 28 February 2025 09:02 (six months ago)

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