THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN 2016

[tool6996]

Now if Collings would just bring their F-4, F-100...

Oh yeah their B-24 and B-17 too

The F-4 would be a great addition and two F-100 would be the bees knees.

The B-17 and B-24 are just leaving Pittsburgh today, I wasn't fortunate enough to get out to see them since the only run hours when I'm working...

[Boeing666]

hmmmm a little inventory question.

Did the MI-24 Hind make it? Didn't see it from Ecorse today, wondering if it came up earlier this week. Saw the CH-46 and CH-53 come in as well as an OH-6 and a couple Robinson Lawn dart choppers. Someone out there said the Army Aviation Hueys/Cobras flew off towards Ann Arbor early this morning but didn't see them return. Did the Pavehawk make it up too?

Wondering also about the T-38, didn't see it come in, unless it already was in.

[Xray]

Never did see the Hind, got there around 11am shortly before the P8 came in. Didn't see the A-10 either unless he was hidden behind the B-52.

Great show, F-100 did a slew of hot passes as did the F-16, couldn't believe all 3 Hornets flew demos, that was great. F-22 great as usual, showcasing its maneuverability rather than speed. A4 did an odd routine, took off did a couple passes and landed, didn't hear anything on the scanner but maybe he was having some problems.

Breitling Team took off some time after 5 pm, thought they were going to practice but they just flew off somewhere and came back and landed after 45 minutes or so, I assume they did a photo op somewhere.

Weather looks promising for tomorrow with any rain after the show, and hopefully before the show SUN.

[kennsmithf2g]

A-10 came in around 11:00 AM

[Boeing666]

Never did see the Hind, got there around 11am shortly before the P8 came in. Didn't see the A-10 either unless he was hidden behind the B-52.

Great show, F-100 did a slew of hot passes as did the F-16, couldn't believe all 3 Hornets flew demos, that was great. F-22 great as usual, showcasing its maneuverability rather than speed. A4 did an odd routine, took off did a couple passes and landed, didn't hear anything on the scanner but maybe he was having some problems.

Breitling Team took off some time after 5 pm, thought they were going to practice but they just flew off somewhere and came back and landed after 45 minutes or so, I assume they did a photo op somewhere.

Weather looks promising for tomorrow with any rain after the show, and hopefully before the show SUN.

A-10 came in right before you got there. I arrived at 10:45am, it shot about 4 approaches before landing. Was that the 3rd hornet that did a demo or the first doing it again? I haven't checked tail #s.

Had a close call with the storm

Breitling Team did a photo flight with Yankee Lady over Detroit River, heard it on my buddy's scanner. Yankee Lady broke away and flew up Woodward for the Dream Cruise

As for the A-4 it actually was arriving. They had cleared him to land on 5R when suddenly a west wind came up giving him a tail wind, shot a couple low passes then turned around and landed on 23L. Unfortunately the P-3 landed on 5R, but that was after the storm passed by and gave us north wind down drafts. My buddies wanted to go to the other side but I told them once the storm passed we would go back to a SW wind and I didn't want to play that game we did in 2013 where planes were landing all over the place and we kept moving and missing arrivals.

[Xray]

Yeah they were alternating approach/takeoffs there a bit, we got most of the landings and some take offs.
Weather was dicey indeed for a moment, I checked weather app and were just being brushed by a small system, there was a large one around Lansing that looked to be heading right out way around 1pm, but it just up and dissipated.

Great show, those F-18s did some jaw dropping passes, almost forced me to do something I almost never do, block my ears. Too bad the F-16 is just static, he put on a great show as well, I almost got the impression he didn't want to land, he was cleared for the option 3 or 4 times and he kept taking the option to fly and do more passes.

At least the P3 did a flyby, they will soon be gone from the skies.

[kennsmithf2g]

Some random pictures from the Photo Pit

[Xray]

http://vid4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/Xraywolf/ok/IMG_1604.mp4

http://vid4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/Xraywolf/ok/IMG_1599.mp4

http://vid4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/Xraywolf/ok/IMG_1584.mp4

don't know how/if its possible to embed video links here

[Neal Nurmi]

Thanks for the pictures! You had sexy light for the Hun -- I love sunlit airplanes in front of stormy skies. That's Cutter's airplane, right? Is that the only one flying?

I haven't seen Dean since he was racing his Mustang. I saw a picture of him somewhere recently and literally didn't recognize him. I think I'm getting old...

[Boeing666]

I had to keep switching lenses on Ecorse. The P-8, the Kalita 727, some Mexican registered DC-9 etc I couldn't use my 150-600mm because the planes ended up being too close and I had to put on my 55-250 for them

[DaveG]

No sign of the Hind...

The F/A-18F has a "6" on the top of the left wing and "Kuss" on top of the right, by the way. Hard to get decent shots as there usually was some vapor in the way

[hurricane_yank]

How was attendance up there this year? Did the weather hold up?

[myteaquinn]

When did the P-3 fly? After the F-22?

[Xray]

Weather has been great, but we have been dodging large bullets last couple days, have systems moving around left and right but they either barely missed us or were before/after the show.
Attendance I would say average for a show without the Angels/Thunderbirds, hopefully a good crowd tomorrow.

[kennsmithf2g]

When did the P-3 fly? After the F-22?

Did not fly in the show. Picture in-flight is it's arrival on Friday.