• Thunder at Daytona!

Posted: **Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:46 pm**

Did anyone besides me get to see the Tbirds do the flyover at the 50th running of the Daytona 500? Had some pretty nice arial shots of the delta formation. I think they were from a blimp.
Metro

Posted: **Mon Feb 18, 2008 9:40 am**

It was nice to see that the NASCAR folks gave them a little more coverage than the NFL!

I think they got a full 10 - 15 seconds - a good shot from straight ahead, a little in-cockpit, and that great shot from above.
It amazed me last year at the Superbowl - maybe 3 seconds on air...and this year was worse for the Blues.

Posted: **Mon Feb 18, 2008 3:32 pm**

The Nascar community loves the fly overs, and they have usually seen a lot of coverage on TV. I did Honor Guard at Luke in 2006 and presented colors for the Nationwide race at Phoenix. There wasn't a flyover and so many people asked us; what happen, why wasn't there a fly over?

Yesterday was no different, awesome views. In pre-race TV coverage there was some clips of Jamie McMurray and someone else getting their rides in the jet.

I remember being at a Nationwide (Busch) race at KY speedway prior to joining the AF. The National Anthem was sung and the command to start the engines were given. Then out of no where came a B-1 low, fast and full AB over my head. Great times

A lot of people said the flyover was by Luke's F-16, they honestly didn't know it was the Blues. It seems the Superbowl focused too much on the lip synching of the National Anthem. Don't get me wrong, Jordin Sparks is a great singer, but she was forced to lip synch. Something about the SB wanted a perfect version and not a Janet-Justin thing, so it was pre-recorded.

Enough rambling

Posted: **Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:33 am**

Thats why I do honor guard, To do stuff like that

Posted: **Tue Feb 19, 2008 5:08 pm**

Ya gotta love technology these days!! You can't get any kind of digital video capture from an HD DVR, and after messing with several different analog methods. I just set my camera on a tripod behind the ejection seat.

Looks better than anything I could get with s-video!

I think my center pedestal at the bottom of the screen is a nice touch.

http://www.summerthunder.net/movies/Thu ... aytona.wmv

Posted: **Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:16 pm**

Gunner,
Excellent! You ain't kidding about the techology. Great replay. I think that if you did not even mention the center pedestal, I would of never knew you filmed it via you video camera. Thanks.
Metro

Posted: **Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:26 am**

Thanks Gunner...

glad I got to see that....because of you.

Nice job !

Posted: **Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:37 pm**

Thanks Gunner!

...but what did #6 do in the right turn immediately after the flyover?!

"Whoa BIG FELLA... easy on the stick!"

Posted: **Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:05 pm**

Lawndart wrote:Thanks Gunner!

...but what did #6 do in the right turn immediately after the flyover?!

"Whoa BIG FELLA... easy on the stick!"

Talking to Bon yesterday, he mentioned that Animal told him they just put the Delta together last week...what's kinda cool is I at least in some small way know what the rookies are going through!

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2008 9:03 am**

Gunner wrote:
Lawndart wrote:Thanks Gunner!

...but what did #6 do in the right turn immediately after the flyover?!

"Whoa BIG FELLA... easy on the stick!"
Talking to Bon yesterday, he mentioned that Animal told him they just put the Delta together last week...what's kinda cool is I at least in some small way know what the rookies are going through!

Its obvious from the video that its was quite choppy up there and no doubt difficult to fly. We dont get that often in the Virtual skies so don't take any comfort in #6 being a rookie. He or she has an excuse we don't have.

Posted: **Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:42 am**

Stryker wrote: Its obvious from the video that its was quite choppy up there and no doubt difficult to fly. We dont get that often in the Virtual skies so don't take any comfort in #6 being a rookie. He or she has an excuse we don't have.

Stryker, I'm sorry, you must have misunderstood my comment. These men and women need no excuse for anything.

If you re-read my comment, I said "in some small way". I wasn't saying what we do is the same as their flying. Sure, there are comparisons...fact is, at the beginning of the season, a week after putting together the Delta, they aren't as stable and tight as they are later in the year. Same as the Blues, and every other demo team in the world. Flying a few feet away from five other aircraft at 350 knots ain't natural.

I'm simply grateful I've had the opportunity in some small way to see what that is like.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:10 am**

Two Youtube vids of the Delta BUP they didn't show on FOX:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK8XzyqTjYo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edZez0HrcgU

And an awesome photo by SSgt Justin Pyle of the United States Air Force Thunderbirds.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:55 am**

Make sure you guys tune in again THIS Sunday, as they will be performing the flyover for the Sprint Cup race again, this time in Las Vegas. FOX's coverage starts at 4ET. Last year they did the bomburst right over the track.

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2008 4:45 pm**

Sweet!! Thanks for the heads up, Rhino!

Posted: **Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:20 pm**

Rhino wrote:Make sure you guys tune in again THIS Sunday, as they will be performing the flyover for the Sprint Cup race again, this time in Las Vegas. FOX's coverage starts at 4ET. Last year they did the bomburst right over the track.

Sweet!! That means I don't have to go to work to support aircraft for a flyover on the weekend, since the TBirds have their own crew. Maybe, just maybe I can get my paws on some tickets.