The Eye of Kris

It would be very difficult, in words or in pictures, to describe what Sun-N-Fun was like. For what seemed like miles in every direction, there were thousands and thousands of airplanes, ultralights, helicopters, jets, gyroplanes, and pretty much anything else that flies.

The event lasts a week, but I was only able to go for three days. I wonder, though, if a full week would have been enough time to see it all. I tried to take a few pictures that would show the vast sea of airplanes, but they didn't really do it justice. So, instead of those, I'm going to share with you a few shots of the daily airshow, which this year was said to be the largest in the world.

Each day, the airshow started with the national anthem while a paratrooper descended with the American Flag, and a couple of planes circled him, leaving trials of smoke in a spiral coming down. After that, there were a series of formation flyovers by large groups of "warbirds", or military aircraft. Most of these were from the WWII days, and they were very impressive. While they flew over, there was an annoucer giving some history about the aircraft, the formations, the training exercises of those days, etc.

After the warbirds, there were a seriese of performances by "aerobatic" teams. Some were just a single pilot, but a few had as many as four planes flying in formations and performing stunts together.

A number of these were very impressive, and I got some pretty good photos of them. The best, in my opinion was the Aeroshell Team, which was a group of four pilots flying AT-6 SNJ's. The planes were very large and very loud, yet the group flew in very tight formations and did some really cool maneuvers together. I saw them fly each of the three days and it never got old.

I really wish I had a longer zoom lens so I could get some closer shots of these planes in the air. Of course, there were a lot of other photographers with gear to be envious of, but I was happy with my camera and I like the stuff I got.

My dad went with me one of the days, and my youngest brother, Keith, got to go another of the days. They both enjoyed it and I think Keith is going to try to schedule some more time off to go in the future (he only went for half a day this time). I don't know if I'm going to get to go next year because of some other trips I have planned around that same time, but I'll definitely be going again sooner or later.

Several people have asked if I got to take any rides in anything, but unfortunately, I didn't. I almost bummed a ride off a pilot in the ultralight area, but that didn't work out. I ran into several of my fellow MTUG members, but none of them had brought their airplanes down with them (most of them being ultralights, they would take a long time to make the trip). I could have paid for a helicopter ride, but I didn't feel like spending the cash.

I was really impressed with the organization of the event. Landing, parking, and managing all those aircraft takes a ton of volunteers, and they were moving like clockwork. There were dozens of motorcycles being used to lead aircraft down the taxiways, mobile fuel trucks, tour groups, and even a free shuttle service to take visitors to various areas of the event (which I didn't notice until after my legs started hurting).

I was looking forward to seeing the new F-22 Raptor, a fighter jet with stealth capabilities. This was to be the first time it has been displayed to the public at a non-military airshow. Unfortunately, though, it was delayed a day and I wasn't able to be there when it arrived. I read that the pilot who was flying it graduated from my high school (although not at the same time I was there).

Instead, I got to see one of the last flights of the F-14 Tomcat (the fighter jet featured in the movie Top Gun). They are being decomissioned, and this one was making a stop at the airshow on its last trip. It made a couple of passes over the airport at about 550 miles per hour, and the sound that came a few moments after each pass was incredible.

Once it landed, we got to get a good, close look at it, and my brother Keith spoke to one of the pilots for a few minutes.

There was a lot more that I could have seen and learned, but I was already pretty tired from the recent frenzied work environment and the drive down to Lakeland (which was not exactly pleasant), so I just tried to take it easy and enjoy the atmosphere. Hopefully, next time I can actually go to some of the forums and classes that they offer, and possibly be there for some of the other events such as the hot air baloon race and the "splash-in" that took place on one of the nearby lakes with all the amphibious aircraft.

By the end of the third day, I was wiped out and a little sunburned, but glad I went. I was a fun experience. There's another event like this one up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in July, but I really doubt I'll be able to go to that one. Unfortunately, I can't devote my whole life to aviation...