By Patti Andrews

AIRSHOW

by Patti Andrews

I'd only been to an airshow once, 25 years ago. In my memory it was hot, dusty, and incredibly boring... nothing to look at without craning your neck into the sky. The sun was strong, so my dad poured Tab soda all over my legs to keep them from burning, revealing the wisdom that had made him the non-custodial parent.

But in October I decided to give airshows another try. Now that I'm a pilot, I figured, maybe it would be more fun, so I booked a room, hopped in the car, and headed for Salinas.

Things started off a little shaky. By the time I got there it was dark, and most of the airplanes were already done. The announcer was just introducing a big flame-breathing rocket truck that was supposed to propel itself down the runway at some astonishing speed. It seemed like a good time to go scrounge up a piece of pizza. Twenty minutes later, pizza in hand, I got back to my seat in time to hear about the next feature... synchronized kite flying. Beautiful, I'm sure, but I'd just spent a couple hours in the car to watch airplanes. Not trucks, not kites... airplanes! Things were not going well.

At this point I needed some solace so I called my friend Rick, a former SQL controller and now tower manager at Salinas. At least, I thought, he might be in the crowd somewhere and could keep me company. Even better, he and the rest of the off-duty controllers were up in the tower watching the show. (Tower responsibilities had been handed over to the show's "airboss.") By the time the kites were finishing their aerial ballet we were all out on the catwalk with the best view in the house, and the next thing on the program was actually an airplane!

The following day, more airplanes... bold new kids on the block performing amazing aerobatic routines, and airshow veterans like Eddie Andreini in his Stearman and Sean Tucker in his Pitts. Having done the Don Styles 2-flight intro to spins and other strange things, I felt like I had a fraction of a sense of what it must be like in those cockpits. Those guys were amazing, doing inverted ribbon cutting passes with their tails just feet away from the ground! I wasn't sure who was crazier, the pilots, or the people lining the runway holding up the ribbons. Some surprise flyovers by the Stealth Bomber were really cool, and then, of course, the Blue Angels capped off the day with a spectacular demonstration.

It was hot and dusty in the bleachers, like I'd remembered, but it was far from boring. Nobody poured soda on my legs. There were West Valley people there, and West Valley planes, which made the whole thing seem more friendly. After the show there was a big hangar party on the field. Meeting some of the daredevil pilots who live this stuff every day was really exciting. Two of next year's Blue Angels were there (a few beers into the party we dubbed them the Apprentice Angels, which they seemed to like) talking about what it was like to do those opposing passes for the first time, passing just off each other's wingtips at closing speeds of something like 1,000 miles per hour. It was nice to hear that they had normal human reactions to such things, like momentary twinges of fear, and a healthy dose of respect for all the things that had to come together to make it work out just right.

With all that talent around I was a little embarrassed when they asked me what kinds of planes I fly... until I realized that the only reason I'd found the whole weekend so enjoyable was because of those slow and simple Cessnas. After 25 years I'd tried another airshow, and being a pilot, whatever the plane, being someone who's come to enjoy hanging around an airport, had made all the difference.

Originally published November 2002 West Valley Flyer