The Black Daggers had to go through all the preparations for a jump just in case, but they knew the chances of jumping were going to be slim to none when they got on the plane. So being the adrenaline junkie types they are the flight basically put them to sleep. For me being used to flying commercial, on the rare occasions I do fly, I could feel the G-forces from the heavy banking, which to me were somewhat uncomfortable for sleeping.
Sadly the 2009 Rhode Island National Guard Open House and Air Show is now over. The Air Show went very well, and as usual attracted large crowds of up to 60,000+ people. Sunday got off to a somewhat drowsy start (literally). They were scheduled to have the Black Daggers perform the opening jump at 10:00am, but the ceiling height (flight ceiling is a term used by aviators to refer to: “the height above the earth’s surface of the lowest layer that is reported as broken or overcast; or, if the sky is totally obscured, the vertical visibility shall be the ceiling.”) was too low, only about 500 ft or so. Despite the low ceiling height the jump plane a C-23 Sherpa, often described as a Scion with wings was given the go ahead to go up as a “weather-bird”.
The Black Daggers were loaded just in case the weather improved, but we all knew the chances were slim that the weather would improve in time for the jump. So for the Black Daggers, who being sky divers that undoubtedly strive on adrenaline rush; it was an opportunity for a little cat nap. For someone like me who has does not fly much, and usually commercial on the rare occasions I do, the ride was rough with very heavy banking. It was not rough turbulence wise, but you could certainly feel an increase in the g-forces pushing on you, which would had made it a very difficult for me to sleep.
Gradually throughout the morning the ceiling height began to rise as much of the low layer cloud cover started to burn off and move out. While the Snowbirds and Blue Angels only did the low shows in the afternoon it was still high enough for most all of the planes to go up and put on very a good performance. The main thing they needed to cut were some of move where the jets fly straight up into the sky, in order show off the thrust to weight ratio, and some of the higher loops became more horizontal.
So there you have it the 2009 Rhode Island National Guard Open House and Air Show (aka Quonset Air Show) has continues the proud tradition started back in 1991, featuring some of the world’s top performs and the latest and greatest aircraft, attracting media from at least as far away as England and generating much support for the Rhode Island Charities.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Sphere: Related ContentRelated Posts:
Tags: Air Show, black daggers, blue angels, low show, plane, quonset, sherpa, show, snowbirds
