As an aviation enthusiast, I’ve always enjoyed the performances of our military flight demonstration teams. For many years, the Blue Angels have flown in Fargo at an event known as the Fargo Airsho (sic). The air show features many more performers than the Blue Angels, though. Between the jet powered biplane, the Army’s Golden Knights Parachute Team and many other acts, the show starts in the morning, but the Navy’s featured demonstration team doesn’t start until around 3 PM.

This year’s weekend presentations were the 34th and 35th presentations of Blue Angels performance season. Saturday was a perfect day for their aerial work, partly cloudy skies and miles of visibility. Sunday was not so much. Lots of overcast, but the show started on time. There would be no high flighting climbs as demonstrated in the image above. In fact, after only completing about 50 percent of their show, thundershowers threatened and the show was terminated early.

In previous years, my attempts to capture an image of the two opposing aircraft as they came together in front of the reviewing stand, were unsuccessful. I could never quite hit the shutter at the right time to get them in the same frame. This year, I was more successful thanks to the Nikon D500 camera I used to capture these shots. When the announcer indicated an opposing maneuver was coming, I quickly switched the camera to high speed capture. At 10 frames per second, I simply followed one jet in the viewfinder and held down the shutter. I had lots of images of that one aircraft, and a couple where both aircraft were in the same frame. I was able to pick the best of the two and process it to share here.

Using the same technique, I was able to capture the two opposing aircraft in their circular turning maneuver where they came close together, again right in front of the reviewing stand.  The small gallery of images are but a few I captured at this year’s show. We are in for a treat next year as they announced that there will be another Fargo Airsho next year. Instead of skipping a year or two, we’ll be treated to the U.S. Air Force’s Thunderbirds. I hope to be there and share those images with you here as well. In most browsers, you can click on an image in the gallery below to enlarge the image and to scroll through the images.

John Steiner

With this blog post, I broke one of my own rules… In fact, it’s my rule number 1. Don’t share photos that are not as sharp as possible. But I have a good reason. I wanted to see what my equipment can do, and share the result.

The image above was shot with my Nikon D7000 using my longest lens, a Tamron 18-270 mm lens at full zoom, then cropped in Lightroom and tweaked for maximum sharpness. The Tamron lens is inexpensive for its range, and the lens sacrifices sharpness and speed for low cost. Given that, it’s my most versatile lens and the only one I have that could get me “up close and personal” with the Navy Flight Demonstration Team. In the image above, the pilot’s features are not sharp, but they are sharp enough to see the lead pilot (upper) is looking straight ahead, and the wingman is looking to the right directly at the other pilot, exactly as he should be.

For comparison, the image above is the fully uncropped exposure at the camera’s full 16 megapixel resolution. But I digress… this is a Travel Tuesday post, it shouldn’t be about the photography, but about the event.

Every other year, Fargo hosts the Fargo Airsho!, featuring the Blue Angels. The event draws thousands during the weekend, bringing their own chairs, finding whatever convenient shade at a vantage point to get the best views of the show’s performers.

Static displays of aircraft, historic and brand new, fill the airport ramp. Aerobatic performances ensure that people are entertained while they await the show-stopping performance of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Team.

As a Civil Air Patrol pilot, I felt compelled to share an image of one of the CAP aircraft I fly on missions. The Cessna 182 is a workhorse of the Civil Air Patrol, probably the most common aircraft in the organization’s fleet. It’s not sleek and sexy like many of the newer style private aircraft, but the aircraft fits the CAP typical mission profile for the majority of CAP missions. But, there I go, digressing again… back to the Fargo Airsho!

When this Lockheed Martin C130 Hercules takes to the skies, the crowd knows the Blue Angels will be in the air soon. “Fat Albert”, the Blue Angels’ maintenance aircraft accompanies the team carrying support equipment and personnel. For over a quarter-century, Fat Albert was “assisted” in a high performance take-off by eight Jet-Assisted Take-Off (JATO) rockets. A left-over from the Vietnam era, the supply of JATO bottles was expended during the 2009 airshow season. Even without the JATO assist, Fat Albert is master at short-field high performance takeoffs and landings. The expert U.S. Marine pilots demonstrate the aircraft’s capabilities as a lead-in to the Navy pilots flying Boeing F/A-18 Hornets.

The six aircraft in Delta formation. A seventh aircraft with a passenger seat is available to substitute in case one of the six fails a maintenance check. Number 7 always arrives a few days early to the show’s venue and makes E-Ticket rides available to members of the press. I submit for your approval, a gallery of images taken at the 2015 Fargo Airsho! Click on an image to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery.

John Steiner

I thought I’d throw in an additional Photo Challenge entry this week. Over the weekend, Fargo played host to a world-class air show. The main attraction was the Blue Angels high performance flight team. I burned up a lot of bytes on my photo hard drives to capture a wide collection of images from the show.

This challenge photo shows two pilots in tight formation. I was curious how much detail I could see in the cockpit if I use a really tight crop. Here are the image details: Nikon D7000; Tamron 18-270 mm zoom; Shutter priority at 1/1000 sec. metered at f/6.3; ISO-200.

The Tamron isn’t my sharpest lens, but it is my longest zoom. Though the Lightroom crop demonstrates a certain lack of sharpness, one can clearly see the lead pilot (upper) is looking forward and the wingman is looking to the right, directly at the lead aircraft.

In an upcoming post, I will feature a gallery of images from the Blue Angels Demonstration Flight Team’s appearance in Fargo. You can review the original photo challenge details here.

John Steiner