United States - Nevada - Aviation Nation 2008 - Nellis AFB, North Las Vegas - 11/08/08

[BigRedDogATL]

I flew into Vegas today and the final approach for my Delta flight flew right past Nellis. I was able to look out the window and see the two VIP tents that were already setup on the tarmac. I didn't see any of the static displays out when we passed by at 2 p.m.

On the flight in, I sat next to the Brother In-law of Thunderbird #10. He was telling me that this year's show is cut way back from prior years. As an example, he said in prior years each Thunderbird officer could get as many VIP passes as they wanted for family and friends. This year all 12 Thunderbird officers have to share only 75 VIP passes. In addition he told me the VIPs will not get any free food this year, just some water.

By the way, if you are in Vegas on Friday and like custom cars, you have to walk outside the LV Convention Center. The SEMA show is going on and they have about 100-125 custom cars, trucks, boats, and, speciality vehicles outside on public display. You don't have to be registered for the show to view the vehicles outside. And frankly the ones outside are better than the ones on the inside (I picked up my press pass for that show late today and did a quick walk through). I plan on spending most of Friday morning photographing those cars. Then I will head over to Nellis to catch practice in the afternoon and finally over to the Cannery for the dinner meet at 6:30pm.

[tbunce]

I'm helping a friend this weekend, so I probably won't make it at all... but I'm hoping I might be able to get away Sunday for a few (hundred) shots outside the fence line.

Another friend is having a tailgate bbq in his front yard at the end of the runway (!), then watching a football game that afternoon.

No, no, they are not mutants for not going to the show, they are doing that on Saturday since he works there. Dang, an inside to avoid the lines and I'm busy...

Oh, well, I've got way too many pictures as it is... I never thought that would be possible until I started updating my web site!

Sneak peak at http://www.rivetingphotos.com/RivetingPhotosWebSite/ Beware, very rough around the edges and incomplete.

Have fun, y'all!

Looking forward to seeing your pictures if I can't make it.

[JT]

Headin out to Nellis now!   

Found a room for tonight at Whickey Pete's for $13.00 so figured, what the heck.   

Hoping for safe travel for all.

 Whiskey Petes is right near the border with Califronia so im guessing that its 50 or more miles away , maybe more maybe less

[BigRedDogATL]

Local Vegas TV weather forecasters are calling for a change in weather, starting Sunday. They say Sunday will be extremely windy and a high chance of rain. If you are not sure which day to attend, Sat. or Sun., they say Saturday will be best.

[EOR 1]

3 from practice session today

[BigRedDogATL]

Aviation Nation 2008 is now just hours away and things are shaping up for a great show.

Today I arrived at  the Cheyenne Ave. site just before the Thunderbirds did their practice show.  I had spent the morning at the SEMA show, taking way too many photos there.

It was great seeing Atsu again and shooting with him this afternoon. As for the dinner get together at the Cannery, it was very nice meeting Tom and Wendy Gudaitis. I don't know what happened with everyone else, but they were the only people I ran into there.

Speaking of the SEMA show I have to make a correction to my earlier posting. Yesterday when I walked through the exhibit hall I actually only walked through one of 6 exhibit halls. Today I visited the other halls and found plenty of great show cars and trucks inside, as well as the great ones outside. Next week I will post photos of SEMA in a gallery on my smugmug site.

One thing I came across was Ford's version of the Raptor. Yes Ford is introducing a 2010 F-150 Raptor SVT truck in 2009. Below are some photos I took of the Raptor SVT. There is also a photo of the Ford Stealth 150 truck as well as a photo of some of the eye candy at that show. Later I will post some more traditional aviation photos.

[Bernardo Malfitano]

Shooting from Cheyenne is fun!  I had never shot from there (except on last year's arrivals day for a few minutes during which nothing arrived).

[Bernardo Malfitano]

I have finally located the elusive "Tilted Training Range"    Not a good place to taxi at B-52 

[Bernardo Malfitano]

Some unusual angles on the Heritage Flight. Yes, severely cropped, but we were like 2 miles away, okay?

[Bernardo Malfitano]

More fun from Cheyenne 

[Bernardo Malfitano]

Y'know how we always complain that it's hard to get good static-display shots because of all the people everywhere? I just discovered the perfect solution: Go to the static displays in the middle of the night! 

[Bernardo Malfitano]

Getting real artsy now...

[Bernardo Malfitano]

A secret R&D project from the Groom Lake division of Skunk Works wanted to do a high-speed pass, but was only allowed to do so at night 

[Bernardo Malfitano]

Unfortunately, Nellis AFB's very polite security people did not let me shoot beyond the publicly-accessible areas without a letter of permission, which makes sense. So this is as far as I got: the fence at the beginning of the hot ramp.

Enough for tonight. I want to be at the Speedway in about 7 hours, see you there!

[André]

3 from practice session today

Nice shot of that Raptor, Bruce! 

I like the reflection of the mountains in the cockpit.