Issue 23 - Scanner Digest Newsletter

As reported in a past article, the NAS Oceana, VA air show isprobably the biggest public military air event on the east coast.Last year's show was cancelled; it was to take place two weeksafter September 11th. With heightened security at all the 2002shows, strict security notices appearing on Oceana's web site,and rumors and stories from fellow military monitors, we wererather apprehensive about what freedoms we might have or nothave at this year's show. It turned out better than we hadanticipated.ThursdayThe best day for any Blue Angel's air show is Thursday. The teamusually arrives around noon and flies for about three hours doingtheir site survey (circle and arrival) and a practice show. After asix-hour drive we arrived on station around 3 pm just in time tosee the Blue Angels take off for their practice. We watched fromthe skeet shooting range (Navy property) on the backside of thebase. This was a great place for viewing and nobody bothered usthere. On takeoff the boss had an engine flame out on the leftside and had to return for the spare jet. That provided a littleexcitement as well as #5 doing his sneak pass when we allthought we heard a "bang". Did he break the sound barrier? Hispass was certainly low and fast enough!! While there, we alsowatched a lot of the show aircraft arrivals, along with manymultiple approaches and departures of station F/A-18s and F-14s.Just before we departed, around 7pm, there was a Memorial Fly-By by two F-14s making a single pass over the POW/MIAMemorial on Oceana Blvd. The F-14s used the call sign DRAGO.FridayWe arrived on base at the prescribed time to pick up our presspasses. We had no problem getting the wagon on the flight line. Itwas loaded with: battery pack, amplified speakers, two basescanners, five handheld scanners, an amateur transceiver andtwo FRS radios. The security people asked everyone to turn onelectronic devices, including cameras, radios and cell phones.They were extremely thorough and very courteous. We setup show-left, getting there just in time to start monitoring theTACAIR (Tactical Air) Demo and Fly-By. The TACAIR Demo andFly-By is a hallmark of the NAS Oceana air show. Consisting ofeleven planes in total, all Tactical Air and Fleet Fly-Byparticipating aircraft departed at the same time after which asingle US Navy F/A-18 did a high performance demonstration.The first wave of planes to fly by consisted of four REDRIPPER(VF-11) F-14s and four HAWK(VFA-136) F/A-18s in twodiamond formations for a single pass. As they departed the showbox a section (two jets in formation) of one F-14 joined with oneF/A-18 came from left to right for the high-speed (mach .98)sneak pass with ground pyrotechnics. Next to follow was thefighter/bombing demonstration. The four RED RIPPERF-14s and four HAWK F/A-18s then returned to do multiplesimulated bombing runs with massive pyrotechnics being set off.Upon landing, all 11 planes taxied in front of a cheering crowd offor a "pass-in-review".The rest of the show was a fine mix of military and civilianparticipants. The military portion consisted of demos by an ArmyAH-64 Apache, Navy P-3, Air Force East Coast A-10 and F-16demo teams, Canadian CF-18 and Navy F-14. Both The US ArmyGOLDEN KNIGHTS and The British RED DEVILS performedjumps. The civilian aircraft included: an F-4U Corsair,T-6 Texan, F-86 Saber Jet, Stunt Bi-Planes flown by two amazingpilots Sean Tucker and Jim Leroy, and Extra 300s flown by PattyWagstaff and Ian Groom. The F-4U, F-16, A-10 and F-86 all flewtogether in a heritage flight in honor of Fallen Heroes and MilitaryVeterans. Unfortunate to report was the tragic crash, and death ofthe pilot, of a MIG-15UT that was en route to the air show. TheMIG-15UT was a rare two-seat version. It crashed in the denselywooded swamps of southeastern North Carolina. The MIG wasscheduled to fly a demo each day in conjunction with the F-86Saber Jet. The pilot of the MIG 15UT, Dr. Rigetti of Miami, FL,and the pilot of the F-86, Dale Snodgrass, were good friends andbusiness partners.The Canadian SNOWBIRDS arrived early afternoon andperformed their show arrival site survey and practice show.During these maneuvers the two solos split off from the mainformation of the other seven planes. They all then rejoined toland.Friday Night Twilight ShowFeatured was a large array of performers. All had some type ofpyrotechnics associated with their planes lighting up the night sky.This included everything from afterburners on the F/A-18 and F-14s, JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off) bottles on the Blue AngelsFAT ALBERT C-130, sparklers on the boots of the GoldenKnights and Red Devils jump teams, as well as fireworks andsparklers shooting from the civilian aircraft. But probably the mostspectacular events of the evening were the SHOCKWAVE truck,blowing huge flames from his jet engine and the grand finale offireworks. The evening was then topped off with a rock concert.Saturday and SundayWith the exception of a B-2 stealth bomber single pass fly-by onSunday only, the line up and show schedule pretty muchremained the same for both days. Saturday's Fleet Fly-By provedto be quite exciting. On Saturday a section of one F/A-18 and oneF-14 performed the sneak pass calling their airspeed over theradio at mach .98!! Blowing clouds of vapors, from the morningocean air, off their wings it was a real crowd pleaser!! When wereturned to our hotel that evening we saw on the news thatseveral businesses and homes on the backside of the base hadtheir windows smashed from the concussion of jets passing at lowaltitude overhead. While the Navy initially attempted to place theblame on the ground pyrotechnics, we all suspected the sneakpass. On Sunday the sneak pass was recorded at mach .96, alittle slower and a slightly higher altitude than Saturday.The Navy agreed to investigate Saturday's incident and told theaffected they would pay for any damage.Saturday Night Beach BlastAlong with the Friday Night Show, there is also a Saturday nightbeach show. It took place in the center of town (Virginia Beach)on the beach-walk. The air show portion included the F-14Tomcat doing multiple afterburner passes along with a mass jump(from a CH-53) by both the Golden Knights and Red Devils jumpteams. They were adorned with glow sticks and could be seen asthey exited the helo. When the Red Devils ground crew arrivedwe noticed they were using FRS radios. They informed us thatthe radios would be used for communications with the jumpaircraft. They showed me the radios, which happen to be tuned tochannel 11 with a pl tone of 3. We monitored that frequency butheard nothing. At any future events where the Red Devils areperforming, I would certainly recommend scanning the FRS bandfor activity. Afterwards everyone had a chance to meet the jet andjump teams. Members of the Blue Angels, Snowbirds, GoldenKnights and Red Devils were on hand to sign autographs while amusic group performed a concert with songs from the 70s and80s.The Future-NAS Norfolk, just up the peninsula from NAS Oceana, will noSCANNER DIGEST NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 23 PAGE 4