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Despite suffering severe injuries in the worst air race accident in the U.S. in more than a half a century, some victims have told their lawyer they would like to attend future races.

Of all the great and amazing aerobatic tricks performed at the Chico Air Show I attended last weekend, there is probably none that I was more fascinated with then a stunt performed by a pilot who stood his plane on end in the air while holding it in place.  My only problem was I forgot to record it with my video camera.  I was so enthralled by the many performances that I also never interviewed any of the performers like I wanted to.  So I decided to return on Sunday morning and see if I could catch up with...

One of the last regular users of JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off) rockets is dropping the practice. The U.S. Navy Blue Angels acrobatic team will no longer feature their C-130 (called "Fat Albert", and used to haul around the maintenance personnel and their equipment) doing a quick and fiery takeoff using JATO rockets. This was always a crowd pleaser, partly because you hardly see it anymore. JATO was first developed in the 1920s, to get gliders into the air. Later, especially during World War II, and a few decades after, JATO was used for getting aircraft off the ground quickly,...

Fleet Week 2008 Press Releases FLEET WEEK HAS A STELLAR LINE UP The Blue Angels Return along with the Canadian Snowbirds SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Sept. 2, 2008 -- Fleet week is proud to announce that the Navy’s Blue Angels will be returning to the skies of San Francisco. Fleet week makes its 28th annual appearance, October 9-14, 2008 -- attracting an estimated one million spectators along the San Francisco waterfront. The show will be bigger and better this year with the Canadian Snowbirds joining the Blue Angels. The Snowbirds’ performance features nine jets showcasing remarkable tactical aviation. Their show...

Rocket mavens, mark your calendars: The date of the first Rocket Racing League race has been set. On Aug. 1-2, the league will stage a high-flying version of NASCAR with rockets at the EAA AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, Wis., in its first-ever exhibition race. Two racers will fly planes powered by rocket engines on a 2-lap circuit around an airborne raceway. Pilots in the races will view the sky racecourse on 3-D helmet displays, while the roughly 700,000 people expected to attend will watch the action on multiple 50-foot (15-meter) projection screens. "We're using 21st century technology to create...

Three F-16s roared toward Fenway Park, flying wingtip to wingtip. Suddenly a fourth F-16, trailing behind the formation, caught up, flew under the three F-16s, then looped up and over the formation to take its rightful spot for a perfect V formation. The maneuver, performed during the Red Sox Opening Day game Tuesday, came just as the Boston Symphony Orchestra finished playing the national anthem. It elicited roaring applause and cheers from the full-capacity crowd, which clearly appreciated what it thought to be great showmanship. But as it turns out, the maneuver was improper and the Vermont Air National Guard...

PENSACOLA, Fla. (NNS) -- The Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, The Blue Angels, has announced its show schedule for the 2008 season. Following winter training, the team begins the season at Naval Air Facility El Centro, Calif., March 8 and will conclude the season Nov. 16 at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. The Blue Angels are scheduled to perform 68 shows at 35 locations throughout the United States and Canada. "We are extremely excited to begin our new season and represent the Navy and Marine Corps team with a safe and exciting show for 2008," said Cmdr. Kevin Mannix, the squadron's...

NOTE: I made a quick trip to the city by the bay, the fortress of freaks, the counter-culture crazies, the whackjobs of the West, the pierced pukes on parade --- San Francisco. It is too bad that a beautiful city has been really screwed up by the degenerates. It was Fleet Week, and to many of the leftist losers, the enemy was in town. And they must have gone ballistic when they heard the sounds of freedom, the Blue Angels, flying low over the city. The sound was wonderful. After the show, we happened to be in front of the...

The Victor Valley Airshow Association told a local Minutemen chapter Wednesday morning that they cannot have a booth at the annual airshow Saturday after an immigrant rights activist threatened to stage a protest. The airshow association acted quickly after receiving a protest threat from Hesperia activist Jennaya Dunlap from the national Immigrant Solidarity Network that same morning, Banks said.

(09-11) 20:25 PDT San Francisco -- Another attempt by San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly to permanently ban the Blue Angels from flying over the city was blocked Tuesday night. Daly previously introduced a nonbinding resolution calling on the Port of San Francisco to end the annual air show, but a board legislative committee refused to send it on to the supervisors chambers for a vote. The District 6 supervisor has subsequently amended the legislation to ask that flyovers by the elite aerobatic Navy squadron be prohibited above populated areas though allowed over the sea and San Francisco Bay. "I'm just...

San Francisco's skies are safe for the Blue Angels. A Board of Supervisors committee Monday rejected a measure that would have called for a permanent end to the high-flying, aerobatic show that happens yearly during Fleet Week. The committee voted 2-1 to table the measure, authored by Supervisor Chris Daly, effectively killing it. But Daly, who cited public safety and noise concerns as his reasons for proposing the ban, promised to continue pushing it. "We've been lucky here in San Francisco," Daly said, noting that 26 crew members have died in incidents since 1946 when the Navy formed the flight...

DAYTON, Ohio - A biplane performing stunts for an air show crashed into a runway Saturday in front of thousands of spectators, killing the pilot, officials said. Jim LeRoy, 46, was in one of two planes making loop-to-loops with smoke trailing as part of the annual air show at Dayton International Airport. His Pitts aircraft slammed into the runway across a field from spectators and caught fire. The crowd stood stunned as the show was shut down. "It came down and didn't have enough room," said Aaron Smith, who was watching with his 5-year-old son. "I could hear it crunch,...

The theme for this weekend is Air Shows and comparing them in the US and Britain. I have picked Biggin Hill Air Show which is an ex RAF Station which is now in private ownership but continues to have an annual Air Show. I last visited the airshow in 2000 but a friend of mine attended this year. The following are extracts from this year's program.

<p>LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Despite many military aircraft deployed overseas on anti-terrorism missions and for the war in Iraq, a much-anticipated Kentucky Derby Festival air show will be flying high this Saturday.</p> <p>"We've got a pretty full show, amazingly, even with the overseas commitments," said Stacy Yates, spokeswoman for the festival.</p>