Published in the Lynchburg Ledger on May 27, 2011
The Lynchburg Regional Air Show of last weekend drew thousands of people to the city, pumping outside money into the local economy while promoting aviation. The show from my standpoint was a tremendous success but it did have its problems, which you would expect from an undertaking of this size.
My involvement was as one of the many hundreds of volunteers. I was with a group of ham radio operators from the Lynchburg Amateur Radio Club which provided internal communications for the air show directors and spotters for problems and issues.
The area used at the General Aviation side of the airport is very spread out and as such, the air show directors used golf carts to get around to the various venues on the field. We assigned a ham radio operator to accompany or “shadow” each key person plus had operators stationed at key locations.
My assignment was to be liaison to the “air boss” and the event announcers located announcer’s platform. I had the best seat in the house albeit one of the hottest.
When an air show of this size is conducted, they bring in a special air traffic controller (air boss) experienced with air shows. Our air boss was George Cline. When the show begins, the air boss takes control of the field from the control tower and returns control after the show. If a commercial flight is landing or departing, the tower takes back control for that operation.
On Friday afternoon, we set up operations and tested equipment. The air boss’s radio equipment was not working properly and we had to replace the coaxial cable to the antenna.
I had equipment problems where my speaker-microphone was keying my transmitter all on its own. I operated without that little accessory.
Performing at the air show was the Flying Circus from Bealton, Virginia, the U.S. Army Black Dagger parachute team, “Firecat” L-39 , and of course the Navy Blue Angels.
Because of the logistics and Transportation Security Administration considerations, there was no possibility of parking at the airport so except for those who bought VIP tickers at $75.00. The regular patrons had to use satellite parking at Liberty University
This worked well in bringing in people on Saturday and Sunday as they arrived over a three hour period of time. The gates opened at and the air show started at .
The first performance on Saturday went off well, but with a few problems. The announcing stand all of a sudden developed electrical problems just before the show began. We discovered that the VIP tent which was nearby had plugged their ice machine into our power, which was supplied by a small generator. It was quickly unplugged.
We had the usual things like lost children to deal with. The announcers learned long ago that you do not announce the names of lost children. They discovered some will get lost on purpose just to hear their names on the public address system. There was a designated location for lost children to be taken to and the public was so notified.
Saturday was the first really hot day of the year and an airport, which is a hear island, is always about 10 degrees hotter than the surrounding area. Consequently, some were developing heat related problems. We seemed to be having particular problems with people with special needs. Many came out unprepared to tend to their own needs. One deputy told me that he had a case with a diabetic who was ill because they had not eaten. As it turns out, the deputy had brought his lunch and gave it to them going hungry himself.
The air show on Saturday ended sooner than planned because the Blue Angels C-130 “Fat Albert” experienced mechanical troubles and did not fly. They had not yet begun to stage the buses for transport when the throngs of people made a dash for the exits. Because of the heat, even more people were experiencing heat related problems and area rescue squads responded to tend to them.
However, the ambulances were parked on the roadway blocking the busses from arriving. The location where the busses were to go to, which was at Virginia Aviation, is difficult to get to, requiring a buss to make a very sharp right turn.
The rush for the buses began at and the last person to be taken out was after . and we were busy providing communications assistance the entire time. When you do the math, you can see why it would take so long. If you have 20,000 people to transport on a 40 seat bus, you need 500 bus trips.
The air show organizers changed drop-off and pick-up locations for the Sunday show and it worked much better. Still, it took over two hours to transport all the people out.
After an air show, the Blue Angels require the airport to observe a 20 minute quiet time when no aircraft are flying to allow the air turbulence they create to subside.
I got the opportunity to meet two of the Blue Angel team members, Lieutenants David Tickle and Todd Royals. I asked them if they had the opportunity to visit any local attractions such as the D-Day Memorial or Appomattox Courthouse and they said no, they didn’t have any down or free time.
The Blue Angels were scheduled to perform at the United States Navel Academy
They already had their ATC clearance to Andrews Air Force Base right after the show, but that was cancelled and they remained one more night. There was a last minute scramble for motel rooms and rental cars. On Monday, they returned to Pensacola
Each F/A-18 Hornet the Blue Angels fly consumes 8,000 pounds of fuel per performance. That equated to 1,333 gallons each. Combined, all six consume 8,000 gallons per performance.
For the environmental whacko’s, that equals 160,000 pounds of plant food (carbon dioxide) per performance. The local trees and grass should do very well this year.
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