LIGHTNING IN THE DESERT

Last Saturday, we attended the free airshow presented at the Luke Air Force Base which is a few miles southeast of our location.  It was called Lightning in the Desert.  This event is normally held every 2^nd year but was cancelled last year, due to budget constraints.  We headed out about an hour and half before the start time and found that the event was very popular.  We waited in a traffic jam for a while and eventually made our way into one of the parking lots which was set up in a farmer’s field.  After we parked, we walked to the end of the line where people standing while waiting to go through security and board one of the many school buses for the shuttle ride to the airfield.

 

 

 

Well, that line was huge and we ended up waiting about an hour and a half just to get to the bus.  The line doubled back and forth like a snake so Stuart set up our lawn chairs at one of the corners so I could sit and wait for him to keep place in line.  We were talking to an older couple behind us and she joined me for the wait.  It was much more pleasant than shuffling ahead through the line for that length of time.  Husbands are so useful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The big hold up was the security process where they had 2 airmen checking everyone’s cell phone, tablet and camera, then there were 6 airmen searching handbags, then 6 airmen doing full body scans with a wand like they do at airports.  That’s what was taking the most time.  Once we were on the bus, it was only about 15 minutes to get to the airfield and we entered at the northern end, about 3 hours after we had left home.  We made our way up to the fence overlooking the runway and were able to set up our chairs with no one in front of us.  What a great view. 

By then, some of the activities had already been completed but we were able to see the demonstration of the MV-22 Osprey which has rotors that tilt forward as well as upright like a helicopter rotor.  They are amazing aircraft.

 

After that, there were different aerial displays including some famous stunt plane pilots (Matt Chapman, Rob Holland, Mike Goulian), the Bremont Horsemen (the world’s only P-51 Mustang formation aerobatic team), a race between a Dodge Viper and an F-16 Fighting Falcon (they each won a race).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The highlight of the show was the Thunderbirds, the Air Force’s premier aerial demonstration team, based out of Nellis AFB near Las Vegas.  Their formations were extremely precise and the stunts were breathtaking.  We just sat back in our chairs enjoyed all their acrobatics and were truly impressed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were many static displays of aircraft on the tarmac and we were able to see the new F-35A Lightning II fighter jet.  It had just arrived at the base on the previous Monday and will become the mainstay fighter jet at Luke AFB.  The F35-A is an agile, versatile, high-performance 9-G multirole fighter that has an advanced sensing package that gathers and distributes more information than any other fighter in history.  They say it is virtually undetectable due to its stealth technology.

 

It didn’t take nearly as long for us to leave the base and we were home again just after 5 p.m.  The airshow was a great experience and well attended by approximately 205,000 people.