No. 314 Blue Angels SeaFair 2016 Schedule

2016 Seattle SeaFair Blue Angel Event Schedule 

Monday August 1st, 2016 the Blue Angels and support staff will be departing PANC- Anchorage Alaska for King County Airport KBFI just south of Seattle, WA for their next demonstration weekend over the waters of Lake Washington. 

Blue Angels will touch down Monday afternoon at KBFI and setup shop on the grounds of Boeing Military Flight Center on the southwest end of Boeing Field.

Navy F/A 18s and Fat Albert parked at Boeing Military Center

Blue Angels Solo 5 & 7 depart on a training flight over Lake Washington 

Blue Angels Flight  Schedule 

Monday August 1st 
-Arrival at Boeing Field

Practice Flights

Thursday Morning Practice 9:45am to 12pm Delta & Solos
Thursday Afternoon Practice 1:15pm to 2:40pm  Delta & Solo

Friday Full Airshow Practice 1:15pm to 2:40pm Delta/Solos/C130

Saturday Airshow 1:15pm to 2:40pm
Sunday Airshow 1:15pm to 2:40pm


ADVANCED NOTICE TO DRIVERS USED TO USING THE I-90 FOR MID DAY COMMUTE !!!!

WSDOT, Washington State Patrol, and local Police will CLOSE I-90 Floating Bridge 5 times this weekend during Blue Angels performances .

On and OFF Ramps will be Blocked by WSDOT and Law Enforcement starting at 9:15am, 11:30am, 12:45pm with 

• Northbound I-5 to eastbound I-90
• Southbound I-5 to eastbound I-90
• Northbound Rainier Avenue South to eastbound I-90
• Southbound Rainier Avenue South to eastbound I-90
• Eastbound I-90 to West Mercer Way
• East Mercer Way to westbound I-90
• Island Crest Way to westbound I-90
• 76th Avenue to westbound I-90
• West Mercer Way to westbound I-90

Short Field Assault Landing demonstration

High G Force Turn 

]Navy Blue Angels "Fat Albert on a Parade Photo Pass

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No. 308 2015 PNW Air Show Event Calendar Dates

2015 Air Show Event Dates

Hosts:
"HFM" Heritage Flight Museum  http://www.heritageflight.org/ 
Base: Skagit Regional Airport - Burlington, Washington

"HFF"  Heritage Flight Foundation http://historicflight.org/hf/
Base: KPAE West Side Paine Field - Everett, Washington

"FHC" Flying Heritage Collection http://www.flyingheritage.com/default.aspx
Base: KPAE East Side Paine Field - Everett, Washington

"OFM" Olympic Flight Museum http://www.olympicflightmuseum.com/
Base: KOLM Olympia Regional Airport - Olympia, Washington


"VAM" Vintage Aircraft Museum http://vintageaircraftmuseum.org/
Base: Concrete Regional Airport - Concrete, Washington


All dates subject to weather, aircraft and pilot availability. Please visit the host websites for current status updates prior to events


Date           Location / Host               Event                        Possible Aircraft Flight Demonstration 
March 21   Skagit Regional / HFM  Fly Day                T-6s Formation
April 18     Skagit Regional / HFM  Fly day                 T-6s Formation
May 9th     Paine Field / HFF       Battle of Britain      Spit Fire, Hurricane
May 16th   Paine Field                 Aviation Day           DC-3, Staggerwing, Chinook, Blackhawk, P-47,                                                                                     F6F, IL-2
May 16th   Skagit Regional / HFM       Fly day          T-6s Formation
May 25th   Paine Field / FHC       Tankfest                 Bradley Fighting Vehicle, M1 Abrams, B-25
June 19th   Paine Field / HFF      Biplane Weekend    Staggerwing, Travel Air, Waco
June 20th   Paine Field / FHC      Pacific Legends      P-51, F6F, P-40, A6M
June 27/28  Olympia Airport / OFM     OLM Air Show      FG-1D, P-51, T-6, C-45
July 4th      Paine Field / HFF                                      Static Displays Car Show
July 9/10    Arlington Airport       Fly - In                    B-25, Biplanes, Aerobatics
July 18th    Skagit Regional / HFM       Fly Day          T-6s Formation
July 17/19   Hillsboro, OR           Oregon International
July 24/25   Concrete 3WS/ VAM        Concrete Fly In
July 25th    Paine Field / FHC      Sky Fair                  Mig 15, F-86, DC3, P-47, B-25, A6M
July 25th    Boundary Bay            Bay Air Show        B-25, F8F
August 7/9 Abbotsford, BC        International Air Show   B-25, P-51
Aug 15th    Paine Field / FHC      V-Day                    P-47, P-51, F6F
Aug 29       Paine Field / FHC     Luftwaffe Day        B-17, Bf109, Fw 190, Storch
Aug 29       Felts Field / HFF        Neighbors Day      B-25, C-45
Sept 4/6      Paine Field / HFF      Vintage Aircraft Weekend
Sept 19th    Paine Field / FHC      Battle of Britain      Bf 109, Spitfire
October 17  Skagit Regional / HFM    Fly Day            T-6s Formation

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No. 298 5 Places to take Dad and the Family to over the Holiday Season

If you have Dad or Grandfather in town here are some great places to take him in and around Seattle over the Holidays (other than the shopping malls)

No. 1 Museum of Flight    http://pugetexposure.blogspot.com/2013/03/171.html

The museum collection boasts over 85 different aircraft displayed in 9 different galleries starting with the early manned flying machines to more modern jet aircraft.
Museum Hours
Daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
First Thursday of each month:
10 a.m. - 9 p.m. (free after 5 p.m.)
Closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day

Free First Thursday Evenings

Thanks to sponsor Wells Fargo Bank, Museum admission is free of charge on the first Thursday evening of every month from 5-9 pm   

No.2 LeMay Car Collection 



http://pugetexposure.blogspot.com/2012/11/139_20.html
The museum is located next to the Tacoma dome and resembles an oblong entry that resembles a giant hood scoop to drivers passing by on I-5. The 4 level building houses 165,000 sq f of show floor for more than 350 cars, trucks and motorcycles from private owners, corporations and the private LeMay Collection, which is in the Guiness Book of World Records with more than 3,500 vehicles.

 No. 3 MOG Museum of Glass Tacoma, WA 
http://pugetexposure.blogspot.com/2011/09/museum-of-glass-mog-tacoma-wa.html

Inside the landmark Hot Shop dome is an amphitheater where you can sit and watch resident and visiting art glass blowers performing their craft live with narration. At the MOG they are making glass blown art, not 4 glass bottles a second, so depending on what the current piece will be the process from start to finish can take 30min to over an hour. I started off in the amphitheater for about 30 min then went to the gallery and came back to see the last phase of making the art piece.





 No. 4 Seattle Pinball Museum 

Come play an amazing collection of pinball machines! Over 50 games arranged in chronological order, 7 decades of pinball history on free play! 
From 1960's Swing Along & King Tut to 2013 The Wizard of OZ Limited Edition & 2014 Star Trek Limited Edition. Enjoy soda, snacks, beer,cider & pinball swag!







 No. 5 Seattle Great Wheel and Aquarium
http://pugetexposure.blogspot.com/2012/07/seattle-great-wheel-ferris.html

Great Wheel is a 175 foot tall Big Wheel type "Ferris Wheel" with 42 enclosed gondolas that rotates 40 feet out over Elliot Bay behind Pier 57. The 42 air conditioned gondolas each hold up to six passengers, and there's also a VIP gondola with a glass bottom floor and four leather seats

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No. 292 Seafair 2014 Air Show

Boeing Seafair Air Show 
Friday, August 1st through Sunday, August 3rd, 2014 on Lake Washington 
Traffic Alerts: WSDOT will close the I-90 bridge during the Navy Blue Angels practice and performances 

Thursday , July 31st
10 am to 12 pm Blue Angels Practice 
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm Blue Angels Practice 

FRIDAY, August 1

8:30 a.m        Gates Open

10:40 a.m.     Lucas Oil Air Show

10:55 a.m.     Flying Heritage Collection

11:15 a.m.     Jack Link’s Jet Waco

11:55 a.m.     Air National Guard Aerobatic Team

12:30 p.m.     Patriots Jet Team

1:00 p.m.       Marine Air-Ground Task Force Demonstration  

1:45 p.m.       U.S. Navy Blue Angels

6:00 p.m.       Gates Close     

SATURDAY, August 2

8:30 a.m.       Gates Open     

10:35 a.m.     Flying Heritage Collection

11:19 a.m.     Air National Guard Aerobatic Team

12:30 p.m.     Patriots Jet Team

1:00 p.m.       Marine Air-Ground Task Force Demonstration

1:45 p.m.       U.S. Navy Blue Angels     

3:10 p.m.       Lucas Oil Airshow

3:23 p.m        Flying Heritage Collection

3:41 p.m.       Jack Link’s Jet Waco

9:30 p.m.       Patriots Jet Team

11:00 p.m.     Gates Close

SUNDAY, August 3

7:30 a.m.       Gates Open

10:50 a.m.     Lucas Oil Air Show

11:14 a.m.     Flying Heritage Collection

11:32 a.m.     Air National Guard Aerobatic Team

12:30 p.m.     Patriots Jet Team

1:00 p.m.       Marine Air-Ground Task Force Demonstration

1:45 p.m.       U.S. Navy Blue Angels

3:44 p.m.       Flying Heritage Collection

4:02 p.m.       Jack Link’s Jet Waco

6:00 p.m.       Gates Close

Air Show Performers

Patriots Jet Team




Air National Guard Demonstration Team





Screaming Sasquatch

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No. 241 Boeing first built 727 aircraft

20 years after the introduction of jet powered fighters and bombers for military applications the 

"Jet Age" started showing up in aircraft designs drafts for civilian and commercial use. By the mid 1950's airliners wanted to be able to carry more passengers for longer distances than what turbo props aircraft such as the Bristol Britannia 300x series, Lockheed L1649 Starliner and the Lockheed L188 Electra could transport. 

The first commercial airliner De Havilland Comet 1 entered service on May 2nd, 1952. But after a series of crashes and in flight breakups do to metal fatigue around the sharp edges of the square windows on the Comet 1 jet liners up take was slowed down. 

Boeing introduced its first jet liner in 1957 launching the 707-100s with Pan Am. And later offering versions of the 707 fuselage in shortened and extended cabins for intercontinental and trans-atlantic flights.

The success of jet airliners on long-haul flights was soon followed by air carries wanting the same speed, passenger numbers and reliability of jets in short haul domestic flights. United Airlines, American Airlines and Eastern Air Lines came to Boeing asking for a medium short haul jet aircraft that could land at smaller regional airports with less than 5000 feet of runway. 

In 1963 Boeing revealed its medium range jetliner the Boeing 727 outfitted with three P&W JT8D engines mounted to the tail of the aircraft. The Tri-engine Tail configuration made it possible for flights into and out of high altitude airports such as United Hub at Denver, Colorado; Overwater crossing to the Caribbean for Easter Air routes and was more fuel efficient that running 4 jet engines. 

The first Boeing 727 N7001U rolled out of its Renton Assembly building on November 27, 1962 and had its maiden flight on February 9th, 1963. Unlike most new aircraft designs N7001U was not relinquished to a prototype aircraft life of battered test flights and then to be chopped up. After she passed flight tests and FAA certification United Airlines purchased her for $4.4 million dollars on October 6th, 1964. Her last passenger flight for United was on January 13, 1991 from 

San Francisco, CA to Seattle, WA. Over her 27 years of flying service she flew 64,495 hours, made 48,60 landings and flew an estimated 3,000,000 passengers and generated more than $300 million dollars in revenues for United Airlines.

From 1963 to 1984 1,832 Boeing 727's were manufactured. Boeing initially had a break even point of 250 orders but airliners world wide kept placing new orders throughout the 727-xxx versions. 

Amongst the design improvements of the 727 was the placement of the 3 engines to the rear of the aircraft. Without any engine pods under the wings the entire wing surface area could be mounted with tripple-slotted flap system and leading edge spoilers providing superior take off and landing performance at smaller regional airports with less than 5000' of runway. With the engines mounted high off the ground the 727 was also able to land on unimproved gravel runways since the chance of engine blade debris damage was minimized. 

The Boeing 727 was popular for regional air service because it was equipped with its own retractable stairs located at the rear of the aircraft, its own auxiliary power unit (APU) to provide electrical power to the cockpit, cabin area, air conditioning and air start for the main engines with out the need for terminal walkway or extra ground crew. 

Currently N7001U is housed at the Museum of Flight Restoration facility in Everett, WA. Volunteers are working to restore it to flying condition with the intent to ferry fly it to Boeing Field in Seattle where it will be on display under a newly covered air park at the Museum of Flight. 

727 Achievements

• First certificated commercial trijet (December 1963).
• First "Quick Change" airplane, operated with passenger configuration during day and converted to all-cargo at night.
• First to bring the speed and comfort of jet travel to hundreds of communities with short runways -- as short as 5,000 feet.
• First commercial airplane in history to surpass the 1,000-sales mark for civil use.
• First standard airliner to be fitted with Boeing "widebody look" passenger cabin interior.
• First airplane to have a triple-slotted flap system for superior takeoff and landing performance.
• First Boeing jetliner with completely powered flight controls. All flight controls are hydraulically powered, with dual units, except for the horizontal stabilizer, which is trimmed electrically.
• First trijet to fly the North Atlantic with passengers, carrying charter loads between Canadian and European cities.
• First commercial airplane to win a medal of honor from a king for surviving a fighter strafing attack (Morocco, 1972).
• Pratt & Whitney designed the JT8D turbofan engine specifically for the 727, the first time in commercial aviation that a jet engine was "tailor-made" for an airplane.
• First airplane to use the "jet mixing" principle for quieter operation. Because the engine had the lowest jet exit velocity of any engine when it was introduced, it also had the lowest noise level from the tailpipe.
• First airplane to be certificated to FAA noise rules (FAR 36), even though Boeing was not required to do so because the airplane was in service years before the rule was written.
• First large commercial airplane to carry its own built-in airstairs and auxiliary power unit and to feature single-point refueling for total independence of ground support equipment at through stops.
• First airplane to be subjected to The Boeing Company's brutal fatigue testing and static airframe testing prior to flight. The $30 million test program was designed to ensure that no redesign of production airplanes would be necessary. During fatigue testing, the airframe demonstrated a useful life of more than 20 years of normal service.
• First jet airliner certified by the FAA for operation from gravel runways.
• First jet airplane considered quiet enough to use LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Two U.S. trunk operators began service June 1, 1964, from LaGuardia, both using 727s.
• First jetliner to prove it could operate -- even with one engine out -- from Bogata, Colombia (8,355-foot elevation), Cuzco, Peru (10,800-foot elevation), and LaPaz, Bolivia (13,358-foot elevation). No jet had operated at any of these airports before.
• First in range of all the "smaller" airliners. In 1973, an Advanced 727-200 flew nonstop from Toronto, Canada, to Copenhagen, Denmark -- a distance of 3,975 statute miles.

sources http://rbogash.com/727adopt.html

             http://www.boeing.com/boeing/history/boeing/727.page

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No. 172 Charles Simonyi Space Gallery

Charles Simonyi Space Gallery
Museum of Flight
Seattle, WA
http://www.museumofflight.org/

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In 2011 the 15,500-square-foot Charles Simonyi Space Gallery was built across the street from the Museum of Flight and connected to the main campus via a pedestrian sky bridge. The Gallery features space artifacts from the US and Russian Human Space Flight Programs.
In 2012 NASA awarded the Space Shuttle Trainer to the Museum of Flight. The Space Shuttle Trainer is a full size mockup of the Space Shuttle. It stands 4 stories tall and over 100 feet long. This piece of space exploration history was used by all 355 astronauts during the 30 year shuttle program in prepartion for their flight into space. You can our the open payload bat section of the trainer with your regular museum admission, or reserve a one-hour tour of the crew compartment.

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No. 171 Museum of Flight

Museum of Flight
9404 East Marginal Way S
 Seattle, WA 98108
 http://www.museumofflight.org/

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Museum Hours
Daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
First Thursday of each month:
10 a.m. - 9 p.m. (free after 5 p.m.)
Closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day

Free First Thursday Evenings

Thanks to sponsor Wells Fargo Bank, Museum admission is free of charge on the first Thursday evening of every month from 5-9 p.m.

The Museum of Flight is located at the south west corner of Runway 13R/31L at Boeing Field-King County International Airport and is open daily and stays open late on First Thursday evenings, free of charge. The museum collection boasts over 85 different aircraft displayed in 9 different galleries  starting with the early manned flying machines to more modern jet aircraft. There are museum complex features nine indoor and outdoor galleries and air park and in 2012 The Museum of Flight was awarded NASA's retired Space Shuttle Crew Trainer. Admission to the Museum of Flight is included when you purchase a Seattle CityPASS. For more information, check out the Museum of Flight website.

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Goodyear F2G-1 Super Corsair Museum of Flight Seattle

Lockheed M-21 Blackbird Museum of Flight Seattle

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No. 85 United States Navy Blue Angels Flight Demonstartion team at SeaFair

One of my personal highlight of Seattle's annual Seafair in July/August is the arrival of the
United States Navy's flight demonstration squadron 'The Blue Angels".

LT C.J. Simonsen in Blue Angel Solo Ship No. 5 banks hard left to show off the F/A-18 Hornet minimim turn radius

The Blue Angels is the United States Navy's flight demonstration squadron. It was formed in 1946,making it the second oldest formal flying aerobatic team in the world, after the French Patrouille de France formed in 1931. The Blue Angels' six demonstration pilots fly the F/A-18 Hornet in more than 70 shows at 34 locations throughout the United States each year, where they still employ many of the same practices and techniques used in their aerial displays in 1946. An estimated 11 million spectators view the squadron during air shows each year. The Blue Angels also visit more than 50,000 people a show season (March through November) in schools and hospitals. Since 1946, the Blue Angels have flown for more than 260 million spectators.

Blue Angel Squadron arrives at show box center point Sunday

Blue Angel No.1 through No. 5 match speed for the Abreast Loop

Blue Angels over downtown Bellevue, WA

From various areas around Seattle you can see and hear the Blue Angels practice. Thursday and Friday are practice days with a morning and afternoon session. For the two training days and two air show days both bridges north of the show box will be closed to car and pedestrian traffic. If you are looking to avoid the weekend crowd getting out during the week to see the full practice session is a good option.

Blue Angel Diamond in "Dirty Loop" Flight Configuration

Blue Angel Opposing Solo Pilot LT Dabid Tickle heads west to setup up for a Sneak Run

Opposing Solo Ship Blue Angel No. 6 pulls 7g's turn with strake vapor

Blue Angel C-130 Transporter "Fat Albert" on a slow photo pass along the shoreline

   

Video Recap of Blue Angel Departures and Arrival at Boeing Field Airport, Seattle Washington

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No. 83 Plane Spotting: Boeing Field KBFI

Boeing Field, officially King County International Airport (KBFI), is a two-runway airport owned and run by King County, Washington, USA.  The airport is located just a few miles south of Downtown Seattle and can be scene from Interstate I-5. The airport has a few FBOs, some scheduled Kenmore Air commercial flights to areas around the Puget Sound, both fixed wing and helicopter flight schools based on the east side of the airport. On the north end Airlift Northwest runs its helicopter Medevac and jet air ambulance services. On the south side King County Sherrifs Office keeps its fleet of PD and SAR helicopters. The west side of the airport features the Museum of Flight, General Aviation tie-downs and hangars, FAA Control Tower, and the name sake to the airport, the Boeing Company.

All though Boeing doesn't build aircraft at this airport (737 come from Renton; 767,777,787,747 are built in Everett) there still are plenty of aircraft going through flight testing and final inspections prior to client fly-away and delivery.

View boeing field in a larger map

North Park Viewing Spot:

 Ruby Chow Park

13th Ave S and S Hardy St
Seattle, WA 98108

From I-5 south take Exit 161 Alboro Place, keep right and turn onto S. Alboro Place. Get into left lane. At the second traffic light, 13 Ave South, turn left. The park and grassy area will be on your left. 

Images from Ruby Chow Park

Images from Mid Field Air Park

Museum of Fligh:

Located in the south west corner of the airport, the Museum of Flight gives you close action to aircraft landing on Runway 31L in a north arrival. Departures will be breaking through 800ft at this time. The parking lot is part of the mueum's private property. Standing on your vehicles roof or on tall ladders might make them to ask you to leave.

Images from The Museum of Flight

 

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No. 61 NASA Super Guppy brings home 1st Major Piece of Shuttle Trainer

June 30th, 2012
Boeing Field
King County International Airport, Seattle Washington

John Brecher / msnbc.com

 One of the strangest flying metal bird in aviation history came by Seattle, Wa to drop off its first of three special deliveries. Just before noon NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft, carrying Crew Compartment of the Space Shuttle Trainer, broke through some low ceiling clouds just in time to make a low level flyover over the runway before heading to downtown Seattle on its way up the shoreline to Everett, WA.  Super Guppy NASA941 returned to Boeing Field around 12:30pm to a large crowed gathered along the runway, Perimter Road, the Hills, and the Museum of Flight Parking Lot.

Super Guppy Cargo Transport over Elliot Bay, Seattle WA

Super Guppy over Georgetown District

NASA Super Guppy flies low over the Runway at Boeing Field

NASA Guppy flies abeam the Museum of Flight

Shuttle Trainer headed for downtown Seattle

Space Needle meets Space Shuttle (Joshua Trujillo, seattlepi.com)

Shuttle on Short Final

The FST has landed in the Emerald City

First large Fuselage Section rolls down the runway to Museum of Flight

Bring the Shuttle FST to its new home

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