JohnJ From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 1621 posts, RR: 3 Posted (5 years 1 month 1 week 3 days 10 hours ago) and read 3105 times:
I see the Blue Angels are scheduled to fly on Memorial Day weekend at Jones Beach. A cursory search of the forum indicates that they usually fly out of Farmingdale/Republic Airport. If I wanted to see the show aircraft on the ground (or photograph them taking off/landing), can anyone confirm this is the airport being used for this year's show? I also see the F-22 is scheduled to fly in the show - any word on where it's flying out of?
Moose135 From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 2020 posts, RR: 12 Reply 1, posted (5 years 1 month 1 week 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 3041 times:
Yes, the Blue Angels will be staging out of FRG. Typically they (and the Thunderbirds on alternating years) park on the ramp in front of the main terminal on Rt. 110. Most all of the other performers will also be at FRG, primarily on the ramp near the American Airpower Museum on New Highway - word is there will be a Spitfire in for the show this year. The F-22 will be based out of Gabreski with the 106th Air Rescue Wing.
JohnJ From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 1621 posts, RR: 3 Reply 2, posted (5 years 1 month 1 week 8 hours ago) and read 2940 times:
Thanks, Moose. Lots going on that weekend, but I'll try to make it over to FRG if I can. Getting to Long Island from Connecticut is a complete hassle but maybe this will be worth the drive.
JohnJ From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 1621 posts, RR: 3 Reply 4, posted (5 years 3 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 2607 times:
We did make the trip to FRG on Sunday, and I must say I'm very impressed with this venue. We didn't get to see many of the stunts, but we did get to see the airplanes and that's the important thing, right? My main interest is photography and the photo opportunities were good at FRG. Based on the lack of Jones Beach pictures in the A.net database and its south-facing location, I am not confident shots taken at the actual show would have turned out well. I understand the show drew 444,000 folks over the weekend and traffic was a nightmare at Jones Beach. Traffic was not a factor at FRG (or on the drive to/from Connecticut, either), and it was overall a very enjoyable time. The Raptor even did two low passes after it finished up at Jones Beach. Schedule permitting, I'll be back next year for the T-Birds.
Moose135 From United States of America, joined Oct 2004, 2020 posts, RR: 12 Reply 5, posted (5 years 3 weeks 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 2570 times:
Glad you made it this weekend, John. I was all over the place - Wednesday through Saturday at FRG, Sunday at the beach. The beach is a tough place to shoot - the sun is overhead in and right in your face most of the day.
I did get some decent shots at the beach...these are from Thursday practice, I haven't finished processing Saturday & Sunday yet.
Of course, FRG has it's benefits, especially when you know people
I am glad I went down to the beach Sunday - it was worth it to see the Raptor demo. First time I've seen that bird fly, and I was dumbfounded by the performance. It's not an airplane, airplanes don't do the things the Raptor did! And actually, for the second year in a row, I didn't have any traffic problems getting in or out of the beach Sunday.
More of my photos are here. It's going to be another couple of days before I get everything finished. Of course, with the McGuire show this weekend, I need to get it wrapped up quickly!
JohnJ From United States of America, joined Jun 2000, 1621 posts, RR: 3 Reply 8, posted (5 years 2 weeks 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 2476 times:
Really great shots, Moose135. I did some uploading last night and found that the planes flown by this year's Blue Angels have gotten shuffled up quite a bit based on other shots in the A.net database. For instance, the #3 plane looks like it's spent most of its Blue Angels career as #1. #4 appears to be new to the squadron, as does #7. #1 (163093) isn't even in the A.net database, but there's a shot of it on Jetphotos in December with fresh Blue Angels paint but no tail number. Looks like #7 is also new to the squadron.
After reviewing my shots, the only complaint I have about FRG is the heat haze. I have quite a number of shots that are affected, not so much an FRG issue I suppose as a problem bound to happen on a sunny day with lots of tarmac. I haven't edited a lot of air show shots in the past, but I can say that leveling these things is a pain in the a**. Most of my Blue Angels shots have no reliable background objects to use for leveling and I'm tearing my hair out with this.
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