Meetup: Randolph Air Show 2009

[ThunderBritches]

In line with the "what will I be wearing". I will be in blue jeans, a faded green/gray button shirt, and a nice bright red Island Moorings Marina hat so that I will stick out a bit.

[ChiefBillB]

No call here (except GMRS) but I'll be monitoring 146.47 on the drive across town.

[texasemt13]

Originally Posted by ThunderBritches

In line with the "what will I be wearing..."

I'll try to sport my green Boston Red Sox cap and some green and yellow shoes.

Looking at the word yellow is kinda difficult but I think ya'll can figure it out.

[ChiefBillB]

Ooops - I'm coming down with a cold or the flu, and I really feel like %$@& this morning. I think I'll exercise some common sense and stay home. Sorry I missed meeting you guys.
Bill

[kkn50]

Any freqs confirmed active? I am monitoring from about 10 miles away and have heard air to air on 123.450 and 267.000 but don't if it is related to the air show.

Originally Posted by texasemt13

I'll be searching some threads and updating this with frequencies to watch (based on the schedule).

[ThunderBritches]

The Air Boss was on 123.300

[davidbond21]

Just got back from the airshow.

Air Boss was on 123.3 and 343.0.

123.15 was being used for contact with air performers from the ground, and some air to air as well

122.475- (VHF Discrete?) A-10s,
123.45- Heritage Flights
127.15- Heritage Flights
290.225- F22
376.025- (UHF Discrete) F22

After arguing with texasemt13 for a little bit, we realized we're both too sunbaked to recall exactly what frequency every performer was using, but they all pretty much shared the ones listed above.

Also, was hearing voice on ISR channel 1(396.875) with 67.0 PL a little bit this morning.

[texasemt13]

Originally Posted by davidbond21

... we're both too sunbaked to recall.

That's the truth. Take sunscreen folks (0830 to 1700 was a long time).

Also, I'm glad we went today for the B1-B flyover- we got one pass and that was it, he got the hell outta there quick. We also got to see Airlife land (which isn't awesome itself, but when its rotorwash blows over the rent-a-fence for about a 100yd stretch its pretty cool). I was impressed with the C17 demo, the A10 demo, and as usual (like Lackland's demo) that F22 is just too cool.

After parking (we came in the Stable Gate on the north side) we hopped on a bus to be driven to the flight line. Sitting there listening to the base's MOTO Smartzone I start hearing the conversation on my scanner broadcast throughout the bus. Well, that identified talkgroup 57136 as the RAFB Transportation talkgroup (on the way back to the car, I just asked the driver if I could look at his radio- MOTO Astro- the display read: "TRANS").

I enjoyed the statics- the C130 Spectre Gunship was cool, as was the OC135 (the large observation airliner that was cordoned off with about 30 antennas on the bottom and a huge radar cone on the nose).

Didn't see too many scanners, besides David and I, I only saw 2 others- and one of those the guy didn't pull out until he asked me what frequency he should listen to.

David and I both went into some SpectrumSweeper modes a few times and weren't hitting much of anything (I thought I caught an automated TFR broadcast around 373.800?- never heard one before). Besides that what David posted was essentially all that my hit counter was getting.

I got some decent pics- I might post a few of the memorable ones.

For those that might be interested, the CAF is doing a Veteran's Day Flyover on November 11th, 10:45am in San Marcos, for Texas State University's Veteran's Day ceremony. I'll post anything I might catch (which means the scanner gets to take a show-and-tell trip to the big people's school that day).

[texasemt13]

I took over 200 pictures today. These were 2 of the ones of the recon plane with so many antennas. I believe it's an OC-135. Maybe someone can confirm that tomorrow?

[texasemt13]

Originally Posted by Sanscanman

I have plans on going right now, I look forward to meeting up with you all

Wayne,
I believe on our way in we were talking to you in 2m simplex. I recognize the Quebec-Alpha-Romeo in your callsign. Besides being busy with scanners our signal was weak, and the interior noise in davidbond's vehicle was too much for my weak ears to hear much of anything. I'm glad that I can at least now recognize the call in your signature. I'll shoot you a pm.

[ThunderBritches]

Well we did not go back Sunday due to the rain in the area. Here are a few of the pictures I took Saturday.

Rich

[texasemt13]

Was the show cancelled today? San Marcos has a 500ft ceiling of fog.

[Michael-SATX]

Considering all the rain Sunday, I would think that Sundays airshow was canceled ... anybody know ?
I am sure glad I went Saturday during the absolutely fantastic weather ! I ran into Wayne (sanscanman)
and was hoping to run into John ( texasemt13 ) and David (davidbond21) yep didn't spot anybody with
2 scanners on their belt ... lol I had my Pro-106 mostly on the Air Boss Freq 123.3 which helped alot.
My fav was getting to see the awesome F-22 Raptor show off it's speed and amazing manuverability !!!

[blantonl]

I went to Sunday's show. Because of the low ceiling they considerably scaled back the fly demos. I believe they did cancel the show at about 3:00pm (we were heading out anyway).

The kids loved the static displays...

[Michael-SATX]

Lindsay, what time did you get to the airshow Sunday ? Did you all get rained on a lot ? raincoats ?
I had to work Sunday and lQQking out my Radio Shack windows, located off Walzem road near 35N
just less than 8 miles from RAFB, I figured the rain would have canceled the show long before 3:00pm.
I am glad that you got to at least see some things, hmm, did they by chance fly the Raptor at the end ?

Hey Rich, thanks for posting your airshow photos, I missed a few earlier segments and you fixed that !
I missed the B1-B ...Years back in 99' when I worked on Randolph at the AFPC, we got a heads up
email that a B-2 Stealth Bomber was coming in and several of us poured out of the building just like
it was a fire drill excercise ( I think a little faster actually ) To lQQk up and see a B-2 was too cool !!!

On Saturday, in addition to be awed by the F-22 ! I too appreciated the C-17 landing demo where it landed
in an eye popping SHORT distance and then imediately showed it's ability to back up - neat !
I would be curious how much runway it actually used, it sure seemed it wasn't much more than 500ft ?
Kinda mind boggling how fast this 420,000 lbs (announced wt) aircraft came to stop and backed up !
I gained a renewed appreciation for how the A-10 can fly and manuver, turn and climb so quickly, etc.

ps ~ Any official announcements and or guesses at Saturday's RAFB Air Show attendance ? ( 100,000 + ? )

[ThunderBritches]

Hey Michael, I was at the Randolph show in 99 with my oldest son. That B2 flyby was awesome! I have pics of it. The C17 was amazing Saturday. That is one high performance transport. My favorite part is still the high speed passes by the F18. Those Navy guys can get to .99 mach in front of the crowd with the vapor cone so well. I got several pics of that including one of the ones I posted above. One of the funny things about the 99 show is that when the Thunderbirds were getting ready for launch, one of them was singing opera over the radio! He was not bad either. I had a Colonel standing over my shoulder listening to my scanner and he laughed his butt off at the singing. He asked if that was the Thunderbirds on the scanner and he was surprised when I said it was their freq. Did anyone else hear that back then?

[davidbond21]

Michael,

We were standing way at the end of the runway where all the planes were turning around to taxi back right in front of the crowd. The C-17 came to a stop almost directly in front of us, and I remember the announcer saying that he had managed to stop in 1,000 ft. Yeah, that was incredibly neat to see, as a friend had sent me a youtube video of C-17 doing a short stop like 6 months ago. Never thought I'd be able to see one in person. I don't remember the B2 in 99, but I do a few years before that getting to see it in Dallas. It made like 3 flybys before turning away for the rest of it's cross country flight. It was incredible to see, and it made me disappointed that the B1B didn't make more than one pass on Saturday. The last time I got to see one, may have been here in San Antonio around 98/99(or earlier). It was actually a static display at the time, and they had a U2 parked right in front of it. Those are two aircraft you just don't easily forget.

I'm sorry that I wasn't able to meet up with any other members that were at the show on Saturday, but I must say the area they had allotted for the show this year was 4 or 5 times that of the area used at Lackland last year. So instead of being packed in like cattle, everyone was much more spread out making it hard to spot anyone. Though this was OK, when it came time to find a spot along the runway there, it was relatively uncrowded where we were, and like I mentioned, almost all the aircraft came down to where we were to turn around and taxi back in front of everybody.

Also, I live almost right off I-35 in New Braunfels, and on Sunday afternoon around 3, we heard a good old familiar rumbling and ran outside to see all the Japanese Zeroes flying IFR(I Follow Roads) overhead(I guess back to San Marcos Municipal Airport), and though because of the low clouds couldn't see them, we heard some of the CAF American fighters passing by shortly afterwards.

[texasemt13]

Originally Posted by Michael-SATX

I too appreciated the C-17 landing demo where it landed
in an eye popping SHORT distance and then imediately showed it's ability to back up - neat !

Michael,
My picture of this shows the rears wheels smoking and the front wheels about 2 feet over the flightline. I caught it right as it landed and I'll try to post it when I get home.

I don't know if ya'll remember hearing the airboss but he would tell the performers to land and if there was plenty of time "take it down to Golf-5 and taxi in front of the crowd." David and I happened to be standing right at Golf-5 (the far south end). So as they landed on 14R, they'd turn around at Golf-5 (unless pressed for time the airboss would send them to Golf-4). Being on this end allowed us to photo the planes as they rolled real slowly.

I'm including the FAA Diagram of KRND (RAFB) and it shows the layout real well. If they continue to use that flight line and we have those prevailing winds, we'll know where to go in 2011.

[texasemt13]

C17 pic:

[Michael-SATX]

Rich, John ... back when the B-2 did a flyover, it was not even for an airshow, my memory says
it was just a training flight, it never landed .... just made a low pass or two ... it lQQked wicked )
John, yeah on the C-17 I'll buy the 1,000 ft figure way more than my imagined 500 ft miracle distance.
So what made the back landing gear tires smoke .. hard braking action or the actual touchdown point?
I thought the thrust reversers did all the work ... ? or maybe a combination of the both of them ...
I was standing at G4 ... but hey you guys standing down at G5 got a GREat slow MO view / pics !
John thanks for bestowing on the the term IFR ... makes sense for aircraft of that vintage and for
providing me with that RAFB airport diagram ... now I pray I don't get pulled over with that in my possesion, or I will have a lot of explaining to do to the authorities, ..." no really officers, I just printed
it to compare where we were all standing and what views we all got of the airshow ... no really ...
"you got's ta believe me" ... I ain't be trying to plan no Al Quesso / or Al Quieda sh*t - scotts honor )

btw ~ Thanks to whoever submitted the new RAFB TG's ... there allready added into my scanner.