Last Sunday, Mark and I went to the Rhode Island Air Show at Quonset Air National Guard Base. I've never been to an air show before so I had no idea what to expect but it sounded fun. It was really fun!
I saw some incredible feats by the pilots. Who knew a helicopter could do flips? The helicopter pilot is the only one in the US certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to do this. They also had big carrier planes you could tour (first photo), stunt plane shows, military aircraft demonstrations and stunt parachuters. I believe the one above if from a group called the Black Daggers.
The shows end with a performance from the US Air Force Thunderbirds (last 4 photos). The show consists of six F-16 Fighting Falcons that do a series of formation acrobatics. The pilots are a select group of Airmen that represent the very best of the Air Force. The concentration of these guys is amazing - to stay in formation at all times or in demonstrations, such as having two planes fly directly at one an other and pull up just before a crash, is truly a challenge at the speed they are going.
I'm also glad to have finally been able to use the telephoto zoom lens I bought. Otherwise we would have a lot of photos with little specks of planes in them. Not quite as fun, hehe
