Ouch! Check out this comment....

There's a story in the paper today about how this year's air show in Sacramento is a financial loser.

And here's how someone (sounds like a DUer!) responded in the online comments section:


beerzie at 5:39 AM PST Tuesday, July 17, 2007 wrote:

A Military Pep Rally

isn't popular during a miserably, failing war? Imagine.


LOL! :thumbsup:







The California Capital Airshow at Mather Field made lots of money in 2006 -- but didn't do nearly as well this year.

It lost $120,000, organizers say.

They are undeterred, however, and believe the improvements they made will ensure that next year's aerial extravaganza is a success.

Capital Airshow officials said they lost money June 9-10 because they spent more on toilets, traffic relief and concessions based on last year's turnout near Rancho Cordova -- but attendance dropped 30 percent.

Flight demonstrations by the U.S. Air Force's Thunderbirds, an F-22 Raptor and an array of top-caliber civilian aviators drew 70,000 spectators over two days -- down from 100,000 in the inaugural show.

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/276463.html


on edit....here's another!


jforce at 7:53 AM PST Tuesday, July 17, 2007 wrote:


I am absolutely mystified as to why we would be having an airshow while all of our brothers are over in Iraq dying in a war we shouldn't even be fighting. This makes no sense to me whatsoever.

As an Air Force Vet, I like to see the hardware, but I can see why some would choose not to go...

As for the personnel needed to run the hardware, though, couldn't those piloting skills be put to better use? Who are the pilots that fly for those shows? Are they aces who've already done the time and are on a skate assignment until separation? Or is that their only gig in the USAF? Not nearly on the same scale, but the Corps has the silent drill team, which seemed to be was mostly a gateway gig for kids who wanted, and most probably got, DI slots and then demanding frontline infantry positions.

for all of the 120 team positions (pilots, maintenance, even clerical and other support staff). It's a very difficult process to get through; you pretty much have to be the 'best of the best' to even be considered. All of the assignments are 2 years, and half of the team is replaced every year. It's a very high 'prestige' assignment, but the amount of time spent on the road can be grueling.

All of the team members and all of the aircraft and support equipment is maintained in a 'combat-ready' status. In the event of a wide-scale national emergency, the planes are stripped of the smoke gear, some avionics are put back into place, and they receive a standard paint job, all within a couple of days.

The demonstration teams of all of the services (Thunderbirds, Blue Angels, Black Knights parachute team, etc.) are mainly considered to be public relations and recruiting tools, showing potential recruits what they can aspire to. It's really a lot of extra duty and hard work; definitely not some skate assignment.

I didn't know those jets (and crew) could be mobilized on top of their regular stress.

As far as "skate", I didn't mean it in derogatory way (I actually had a few skate assignments in my 4). I knew a guy stationed at HMX1 (the president's helicopter), and although they had shitloads of readiness training and always had some first sergeant on their ass, they spent the majority of their time armor-all-ing the bird (ever see bugs or birdshit on Marine One when the pres is doing a photo op? you won't).

What years did you serve? I did was in 90-94 (4 years was enough).

:toast:

I got out when I received an assignment to Korea near the DMZ to work on some 20 year old computer equipment, after 3 years at Ft. Meade, MD, working on state-of-the-art stuff. (Well, Reagan was also still in the WH, and I figured that he would wind up getting people shot at.) I had previously spent 6 years working on FB-111A avionics at Plattsburgh AFB, NY, and repairing mobile air traffic control computers at Sembach, Germany.

A friend of mine was a flight steward on VIP planes flying out of Ramstein, Germany and Andrews AFB near DC; he eventually became the head chef on Air Force One during the Clinton administration. The White House sent him through chef school. *That* was a pretty cool assignment for him!

I don't regret any of the experience or training I received back then, but I strongly discouraged both of my nephews from enlisting in the Army a few years ago under the current regime. Sure enough, both of them received Purple Hearts for wounds and injuries they received in Iraq.

At least it is in Canada. The insurance premiums have skyrocketed in the past 10 years.

A few local shows here in Ontario have packed it in because they can't make money.