Wednesday, August 29, 2018

TOM2018: An Unexpected Airshow Opener

After the C-47 took off, the airshow began.

A Grumman TBM Avenger and a Dauntless SBD started idling on the taxiway and everyone expected they would be up first.

But wait, hold the airshow, a cargo jet needs to leave ASAP.

You don't see too many 747s around these days. No longer doing passenger service, Kalitta Air, a major freight carrier needed to get this plane going after being stuck due to the weather.

A nice takeoff and with a roar of her engines she was gone into the haze.

Ok, everyone figured the show would then start with the TBM and Dauntless taking off.

Then she came back:

Note that she's lower than a bird in that picture and coming in just above tree-top level.

A head-on view of a 747 was something to behold (Click 'em to embiggen and get the full flavor of a Jumbo Jet coming right at you.:

Completing the pass, she headed off on her way,

A very cool surprise opener to the show. Kalitta did not do that demonstration the next day, so this was something special.

3 comments:

drjim said...

SWEET!

I've been following Connie Kalitta's racing career since I was a kid.

He's quite a character!!

Aaron said...

drjim: Neat. Kalitta Air is pretty well known in aviation circles up here, and that was one heckuva nice surprise demo.

Murphy's Law said...

NICE!