Great Tennessee Airshow 2008

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CORN

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I guess i'll start a thread for this great event (when they decide to have one). The Great Tennessee Airshow (aka Tennessee Aviation Days) will be held at the Smyrna Airport April 12-13, 2008. The main acts include:

US Navy Blue Angels
USAF F-16 East Coast Demo Team (aka Viper East)
USMC AV-8B Harrier Demo
USAF B-2A flyover (Saturday only and pending if the get ungrounded)
Geico Skytypers (flying the original T-6 Texan)
Red Eagles
Michael Wiskus
Julie Clark (flying her T-34 Mentor)
Gene Soucy and Teresa Stokes (wingwalking and ag cat routine)
ShockWave Jet Truck (for all the rednecks out there, just kidding)
John Klatt
and a few others

I have no idea what the static lineup looks like and honestly hope they don't print one. I've noticed that several statics listed (at any venue) don't show up due to obvious reasons. I do hope the static display will be decent this year, with a mixture of tactical/cargo/trainer aircraft. Personally i'd like to see some heavy iron warbirds (B-17, 24, etc) and a bomber such as the B-1B and a C-5. I know the B-1's a long shot and the C-5 might be too. Nasvhille has kindly provided a C-130H for the Millington Airshow every time they have a show so i think it would only be courteous for Memphis to send us a C-5A for static. Something they haven't done since they got them. A C-17A would be cool too. Thats my wish list. Hope to see ya'll there and wishing for great Tennessee Weather.
 

Samlaw97

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We are so looking forward to this show. Last year we were supposed to see the Blues at Vidalia but the show got cancelled because of the crash. This will be the first time I attempt to use my new scanner (Pro-97) at an airshow. Wish me luck.
 

CORN

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The Pro-97 does well at airshows. I took mine to Millington, TN last year. You'll especially like the signal stalker feature. It takes the work out of searching when time is of the essence. This year i'll be trying the GRE PSR-500 out at the show.
 

CORN

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stewart00311 said:
Hope to see ya'll there. Is anyone going to be using FRS for comms I will have to get everything together once I get back from the 8000 mile trip for uncle sam.

I'll have mine with me. What channel do folks normally use for common chat? It also looks like the B-2 flyover won't happen as they are still grounded and will be for a while longer.
 

EMS911

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Are most of the comms on AM/Air band ? Have a PR0 96; what would a good freq range for searching ? I am assuming I will use that feature....
 

richrowl

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Air Show frequencies

EMS911 said:
Are most of the comms on AM/Air band ? Have a PR0 96; what would a good freq range for searching ? I am assuming I will use that feature....

I have found that these are the most popular freqs used at air shows by both civilian and some military performers, it is an excellent start and you should catch a lot of action..

Most popular frequencies used by Flight Demonstration Teams
These are the ones to put in your scanner, all are AM band.
122.725 122.925 123.150 123.425 135.950
122.750 122.950 123.175 123.450 136.575
122.775 122.975 123.300 123.475 136.975
122.825 123.025 123.325 123.500
122.850 123.050 123.350 129.650
122.875 123.075 123.400 129.925

At some shows the Pyro teams doing spercial effects have been found to use FRS radios and do not overlook the use of Military ISR freqs (military version of civilian FRS). Last but not least by all means get a March 2008 issue of Monitoring Times for the special Airshow Monitoring Guide. A good set of headphones is almost a must. I use an over the ear noise cancelling set originally purchased for monitoring NASCAR races.

Enjoy the show and keep notes they will come in handy at future shows.
 

CORN

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Monitored the Blue Angels practice from work yesterday (15 miles) during down time with my Pro-97 W/Maldol AL-500H.

The frequencies look like they are remaining the same for most venues.

284.25-----Show Center (All planes)
275.35-----Diamond (Behind the Crowd)
237.8------Solos (Behind the Crowd)

Also on the inbound when arriving a Smyrna i heared 305.5 (Fat Albert calling short final and some comms during the survey/checkpoint flight), 255.2 (very limited, used by Solos some in their survey/checkpoint flight), 346.5 (comm checks).

Nothing noted on the F-16 demo (Viper East) arrival and the Harrier demo arrival. And none of the civilain (multiship) performers were up. I look for the to happen today but with all the impending storms that could be hampered.
 

DizyDiz

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Cost of Tickets

maddgun said:
where are they sold and cost???

Tickets are $15 if you can go to Ace or CitiBank locally. $20 at the gate. I am a local. They are expecting about 40,000 plus or minus 2. So I'm quite sure there will be Plent of tickets and room at the gate. See ya tomorow!
 

CORN

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Some of the statics i monitored going into Smyrna today (Fri April 11) are:

2 F-16's (Alabama ANG, Montgomery, AL) BAMA 21
2 F/A-18's (VFA-106 Gladiators, Oceana NAS, VA) ROMAN 55
1 KC-135R (Tinker AFB, OK) OKIE 42
1 WC-130H (TN ANG, Nashville, TN) MUSIC 66

And i'm sure there are others i missed or might not have made it in yet due to the weather.

Flying demonstration aircraft that came in yesterday other than the Blues.

2 AV-8B Harrier II (BLACKSHEEP 11)
2 F-16CJ (VIPER 1)

and of course BLUE ANGEL 1 x 6

Also had a KC-130J come in after the Harriers landed. Not sure if he'll be a static or strictly a support aircraft for the Harriers.
 

ka3jjz

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richrowl said:
I have found that these are the most popular freqs used at air shows by both civilian and some military performers, it is an excellent start and you should catch a lot of action..

Most popular frequencies used by Flight Demonstration Teams
These are the ones to put in your scanner, all are AM band.
122.725 122.925 123.150 123.425 135.950
122.750 122.950 123.175 123.450 136.575
122.775 122.975 123.300 123.475 136.975
122.825 123.025 123.325 123.500
122.850 123.050 123.350 129.650
122.875 123.075 123.400 129.925

At some shows the Pyro teams doing spercial effects have been found to use FRS radios and do not overlook the use of Military ISR freqs (military version of civilian FRS). Last but not least by all means get a March 2008 issue of Monitoring Times for the special Airshow Monitoring Guide. A good set of headphones is almost a must. I use an over the ear noise cancelling set originally purchased for monitoring NASCAR races.

Enjoy the show and keep notes they will come in handy at future shows.

And since messages like this scroll off the beaten path after a while, you can use the wiki to build an article around those freqs and other notes. We also now have an article set up for Blue Angels logs...

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Blue_Angels_2008

73 Mike
 

kc4gug

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Great Tennessee Airshow

I know this is probably too late (couln't get registered quick enough), however after being at Smyrna yesterday (04-12-08), I monitored the following:

Air Boss - 132.950
Air to Air - All but Geico Skytypers - 120.6
Ground Comms - 121.4

Sure wish I'd checked this board for the Blue Anels freqs before 04-12-08.

Nice to see this Board up and active.

Freddy - KC4GUG
 

CORN

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The Sky Typers were using 123.425 for their formation and 122.775 for the solos.

Also the F-16 demo was on 384.55 with his spotter.

And i only heard two Blue Angels maint freqs: 139.8125 (comm cart), 142.6125

The Blue Angels show freqs stayed the same as my earlier post.

305.5----Fat Albert
346.5----used for Startup and Taxi
 

bg_nashville

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What type of plane did Fedex have on display? I saw that monster take off yesterday. Looked to be bigger than a 747.
 

CORN

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FedEx had a Boeing 727-200 on display at the airshow. It took the short hop to Nashville Sat evening to be put back in the system on Monday.
 
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