2019 Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach, NY May 25th & 26th

[fieldywanb]

I work in the rockaways and saw a couple of the civilian acts flying together yesterday afternoon out over the ocean keeping it low as to not interfere with JFK. I live close to republic and this morning I had the pleasure of seeing quite a few of the same acts out of my skylight flying together presumably doing media flights...gotta love it, except for the T birds being all secretive and such lol...

[moose135]

Just another reason why the T-Birds should've gotten a waiver to use Republic Airport this year!

Which is great until you bend something. Then you have to explain to the commander of Air Combat Command the reasoning behind your decision to issue a waiver rather than use an airport that meets all you requirements just a few miles down the road...

[rkfast]

Which is great until you bend something. Then you have to explain to the commander of Air Combat Command the reasoning behind your decision to issue a waiver rather than use an airport that meets all you requirements just a few miles down the road...

I expect you to defend the Air Force, but you know deep down that them skipping Republic is not right and the Thunderbirds and AF demo teams basically hiding their aircraft and cutting off virtually all access at Islip is antithetical towards everything being an air show team is about

I’ll give you that they may not want to violate their stated minimums for runway length. OK, if that’s a hard rule, so be it. But there really is no excuse for the AF not making the jets and teams more accessible to the fans at ISP then. They are a demo team. PR is the name of the game. And they are doing a bad job with it by limiting access so much.

[Chris S]

Which is great until you bend something. Then you have to explain to the commander of Air Combat Command the reasoning behind your decision to issue a waiver rather than use an airport that meets all you requirements just a few miles down the road...

Listen, we've been through this before and I know you'll always stick up for the T-Birds since you're an Air Force guy, Moose.
Funny how back in 1983 when the T-Birds first started flying the F-16 they had NO PROBLEM using FRG back then for the
Coney Island Air Show AND they didn't even have a temporary arresting system in place or an EMAS system installed at FRG!!
Either way, the T-Birds are still dropping the ball by being hidden away somewhere on the ISP field where it's hard for their
fans and possible future recruits to see their jets up close and meet them in person after they fly at Jones Beach.

[moose135]

I don't know that's it's just the runway length - although if it is shorter than their minimums, I can see they not wanting to spend the time and energy trying to get a waiver. Didn't one of the Blue Angel jets spend weeks at FRG following the show a couple of years back after fodding an engine? I know the last time the Snowbirds were at the show, I heard Lead refuse to taxi back on the taxiway east of 1/19 because of loose pavement on the taxiway. If there is other stuff going on, beyond just runway length, it may all go into their choice.

[dekdawg21]

Someone on Facebook in the Ronkonkoma area reported seeing a Thunderbird flying toward MacArthur yesterday afternoon. Would make sense for it to be the advance pilot if the team is arriving today.

[dekdawg21]

Thunderbirds tweeted at around 8:30am that they are headed our way and will be conducting site survey at 3pm.

[tuko829]

ISP tower reports ETA around 2pm.

[Chris S]

Just heard the Super Hornets have landed at FRG just before 1PM.

[JBeccPhoto]

F18's just landed.

[JBeccPhoto]

Golden Knights just landed.

[Speedbagel_001]

I don't know that's it's just the runway length - although if it is shorter than their minimums, I can see they not wanting to spend the time and energy trying to get a waiver. Didn't one of the Blue Angel jets spend weeks at FRG following the show a couple of years back after fodding an engine? I know the last time the Snowbirds were at the show, I heard Lead refuse to taxi back on the taxiway east of 1/19 because of loose pavement on the taxiway. If there is other stuff going on, beyond just runway length, it may all go into their choice.

I have heard from a reliable source that the real reason the T-birds won't go back to Republic is in fact FOD related. Apparently the last time the were here, an F-16 lost an engine on T/O due to FOD.

[rkfast]

I have heard from a reliable source that the real reason the T-birds won't go back to Republic is in fact FOD related. Apparently the last time the were here, an F-16 lost an engine on T/O due to FOD.

That makes zero sense. FOD can happen anywhere. FRG is the biggest GA airport in the country with plenty of jet traffic every single day, several top of the line FBO facilities, etc. It gets everything from Cessna's to Gulfstreams to Boeing airliners in and out all day long. This aint no podunk dirt field in the middle of nowhere.

Id LOVE to speak to some of the T-Birds pilots who flew in to FRG last time and find out what their experiences really were. If he told me operating out of FRG was tough on the pilots and hard on equipment....if he had to go full burner just to get off the ground with room to spare or had to stand on the brakes on every touchdown...then fine.....Ill never complain about this again. But if thats not the case, then this refusal to even consider FRG is just bureaucratic paperwork bull**** as far as Im concerned. And hiding the jets and by extension the pilots and crew away from the public at ISP is just wrong for a team whose primary mission is PR.

This is just my opinion and we all know what opinions are like.

[dekdawg21]

I have heard from a reliable source that the real reason the T-birds won't go back to Republic is in fact FOD related. Apparently the last time the were here, an F-16 lost an engine on T/O due to FOD.

Lost its engine on takeoff?

[dekdawg21]

Thunderbirds just landed