United States - Georgia - Wings Over Marietta 2008 - Dobbins ARB, Marietta - 10/18/08

[VFA-203 KMGE Guy]

I was able to secure media as well; Doesn't seem like too many got them.

Should be a good one; Noted the following arrivals:
Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds Support C-17 (Already went home to Dover)
Raptor Demo Team
Jill Long S-2B Pitts
Matthews F4U Corsair
Delta Breast Cancer Awareness 757-200 (Static)
VAW-77 E-2C+ (Static)

Quiet so far...Sure tomorrow it'll rip open.

Hope to see some of you over the weekend!

Adam
VFA-203/VMFA-142 Forever
12/21/70-10/04/06 - The End, Baby...!

[UPSer]

I will see everyone out there this weekend. Leaving shortly for Atlanta. I will get there early to set up camp. Look for the tall guy with the vest on.

Marty 

[integra2316]

Well I went today for about an hour. It hasnt rained in like a month, so I guess it decided today was a good day to let the bottem fall out. The only thing I got to see was a T-bird go up and an E-2 go up. The weather should be better tomorrow.


Chris

[Greg]

Hi all, does anyone know if they are or will be practicing today?  I can hear jets but it may just be commercial traffic.
Thanks,
greg

[BillF]

Flying canceled for Friday. They've all done this before. They don't need the practice...other than trying to remember that the long runway is NOT the showline.

[ceejaay]

I will be there, I plan on parking at white water to avoid the BAD traffic once the lockheed parking lot empties out..
hopefully I will be able to get out of whitewater easily after the show and just turn right on 41 and then north loop to 75..quickly.

I plan on bringing my SCANNER loaded with frequencies to listen to the air traffic (its a receiver only bc396 scanner)
I had called the dobbins hotline (its a recording now, not a live person), and the person on the phone said NO scanners.
David S. had replied to me that only transceivers and walkie talkies arent allowed due to someone keying up
and messing up the comms.

I hope they dont give me a hassle about my rather expensive scanner, that I have brought to almost every
airshow I have attended at dobbins and others.
chris

[BigRedDogATL]

I will be there, I plan on parking at white water to avoid the BAD traffic once the lockheed parking lot empties out..
hopefully I will be able to get out of whitewater easily after the show and just turn right on 41 and then north loop to 75..quickly.

I plan on bringing my SCANNER loaded with frequencies to listen to the air traffic (its a receiver only bc396 scanner)
I had called the dobbins hotline (its a recording now, not a live person), and the person on the phone said NO scanners.
David S. had replied to me that only transceivers and walkie talkies arent allowed due to someone keying up
and messing up the comms.

I hope they dont give me a hassle about my rather expensive scanner, that I have brought to almost every
airshow I have attended at dobbins and others.
chris

Chris:

I had my Bearcat BCD396T scanner with me today, turned on and hanging off my photo vest and no one said anything about it, except to ask what was being said about the clound ceiling levels. Security was more concerned that we were drifting onto an active taxiway, trying to get some photos, and that we were getting in the way of the crews setting up the fenceline than they were about the scanner.

My suggestion is to leave it turned off till you hit the flightline area and if possible carry it in the bottom of a camera bag through security.

[BigRedDogATL]

The weather today was fit for only waterfoul and Navy Seals, but I was able to get a couple of shots.



Here is Sean Tucker coming in for a landing. No he is not trying to land on the back of the C-5.



Here are a couple of shots of a F-22 Raptor taking off. This wasn't one of the "show" Raptors. Belief was that it was a new one, which was built at the Lockheed Martin plant (also at the Dobbins ARB/NAS Atlanta complex), but we weren't really sure. Maybe someone who follows the Raptors more closely and can spot the plane number can give some real history on the plane.




Flying was called off in the early afternoon due to the weather. When I left the base, about 4 p.m., there were still quite a large number of the static displays that had not arrived yet, and there was still quite a bit of setup left to due. I guess some Airman will be working late into the night to get things ready for the massive crowd expected on Saturday.

[BigRedDogATL]

Here are a couple of more shots from Friday

[ceejaay]

Thanks Clifford..
I planned on just putting it in the camera bag.
I do have a longer antenna (about 1 1/2 ft long)
and the standard one that came with the bc396,
and an 800mhz one, but i think the long one would be best for air etc.

I hope they dont object to a LONG antenna being in my pocket
Do they use metal detectors there?
That will surely beep in my pocket if they scan me.
cj

[BigRedDogATL]

Thanks Clifford..
I planned on just putting it in the camera bag.
I do have a longer antenna (about 1 1/2 ft long)
and the standard one that came with the bc396,
and an 800mhz one, but i think the long one would be best for air etc.

I hope they dont object to a LONG antenna being in my pocket
Do they use metal detectors there?
That will surely beep in my pocket if they scan me.
cj

On the base today I saw the area where people will go through screening before being allowed onto the flightline area. There were 6 or 7 of the walkthrough metal detectors. I don't know if they will also have metal detectors in the public parking areas, before you board the shuttle buses. 

At other shows I have attended, they also had bomb and drug sniffing dogs patrol the lines of people waiting to go through screening.

My suggestion is to use the smallest antenna you can, so as not to attract much attention.

[VFA-203 KMGE Guy]

Cliff,

The Raptor  we caught depart was 06-4128/OT..Brand new delivery to te 422TES at Nellis; Almost came back with an IFF/Avionics issue but pressed forward to Tinker.

As for statics that finally showed up..
E-8A (Robins)
C-5B (Westover)
F-16CJ (SC-ANG, McEntire)
KC-135E (Altus)
T-34C x2 (Whiting Field)
T-44A (Coprus Christi)
T-38C (Laughlin)
HH-65C (New Orleans, I believe)
Jet Provost (N8272M)

Also had a fair of fighters arrive around 10pm..Unsure on the type.

Adam
VFA-203/VMFA-142 Forever
12/21/70-10/04/06 - The End, Baby...!

[curtismc56]

Well Traffic in Cobb County is still horrible but the F22 demo makes it all worthwhile. What an incredible aircraft. Thrust vectoring and stealth, wow, you can see it but you cant shoot it, what will the enemy do now..................Hope all who come enjoy this technology cuz the good ole USA has it! Oh yea, the Birds are a fine demo team too!

[integra2316]

Wow, just wow. The show was great, perfect weather, good acts. Max and his F-22 are amazing. On the down side, the bus system was horrible, infact the worst I have ever seen in my life. First off, my dad and I get there at 7:30, we are able to park in the lockheed lot just fine. Then we wait in a line that was only about 150 people deep. WE do not even start to move till 8:30. We buy our bus tickets for 3 bucks, then head over to the area to be hand wanded.  Ok pretty smooth so far, then they line us up in front of buses. Well we stood there for another 20 minutes. FInally we board and get to the tarmac around 9:30. Now skip to the end. The birds didnt finish till about 4:15ish. So we head over and get in the ONE line to leave the place. It was an absolute zoo, no organization at all. We waited for almost 3 hours to move 300 yards. I just got home and I only live 20 minutes from Lockheed.

So over all B+ show, and F- for the transportation, and D for the vending, the lines were way to long to get anything,

Chris

[Michael Mahon]

 

The acts were great.  I decided to leave before the t-birds took off and I still had to wait an hour and a half to get onto a bus.  The busing was a nightmare.  No structure whatsoever.  Otherwise it was a great show.  Will post pictures soon.