"Thunder over Flagstaff" Aviation Event, 2016

[Paul Bradley]

"Thunder over Flagstaff" was the name of the event yesterday, though early on, the only thunder to be heard was accompanied by lightning and heavy rain.... In fact, the local peaks had their first dusting of snow this season:

Nevertheless, I felt I needed to put in an appearance, as this is my only chance to attend any sort of aviation event this year. An annual occasion (and more correctly a fly-in rather than an airshow), normally the military supports the event - in the past, we've had F-16s, F/A-18s, T-45s and AV-8Bs, as well as numerous helicopters over the years. Alas, there was not a single military aircraft to be seen this year, and precious little else as the inclement weather across the state decimated the fly-in. When we arrived, there were just two aircraft on the display ramp, including this nice CJ-6:

Parked on the GA ramp were a couple of interesting aircraft amongst the usual spam cans - this very nice Embraer Phenom:

...and a Mitsubishi MU-2:

This took off later - very noisy!

As a regional airport, there are two (yes, TWO!) commercial flights a day, in and out, operated by SkyWest as part of the American Eagle program, using the Bombardier CRJ-100:

As no-one seemed to know what was going on and little was happening, we were on the point of giving up the lost cause, when this happened:

Woohoo! The world's last flying PB4Y Privateer, accompanied by a full-scale replica Spitfire IX!

So, our patience was rewarded. We helped the Spitfire pilot (an acquaintance of my friend) park his steed, had a nice chat with him and one of the Privateer crew, then called it a day. An interesting morning, but it is a shame that the weather ruined the event, and the lack of military support was disappointing. I am hopeful things will be better next year.

Edited August 28, 2016 by Paul Bradley