Barnstormers Logo
ISSUE 722 - January 18, 2022 • Over 9,000 Total Ads Listed • 1,000+ NEW Ads Per Week
  Home     Browse All Classifieds     eFLYERs     Events     Testimonials     Post Ad     Search Ads  
BARNSTORMERS eFLYER… a collective effort of the aviation community.
YOUR photos, videos, comments, reports, stories, and more…
Click to Subscribe
SUBSCRIBE TO eFLYER  •  SEND BARNSTORMERS eFLYER TO A FRIEND

*If images aren't loading, please try refreshing your browser.
Petit Jean Fly-In - Part 2 - It's Not A Park In. It's A Fly In!
Dana Brejakova, Contributing Writer & Photographer

Just when we thought our afternoon could not get any better, a participation event was announced and I spotted action around the airplanes. All aviators who wanted to participate were leaving the required safety briefing and about to jump in their RVs. The Air Boss took his position and was getting ready to secure ground-to-air communications. Something super cool was about to happen in the sky and I prepared my camera to capture the action. During this participation event aviators had one goal - bust one yellow balloon per pass. The more the busts the greater points for the aviator. Say no more, stoked aviators who signed up were looking forward to comparing their maneuvering skills and I knew I was about to acquire some cool shots. The equation of success was simple: Precision flying PLUS Air Boss coordinating air communications TIMES scheduled safety briefings and debriefings, lots of fun for the aviators and spectators SQUARED.

First group of airplanes took off to line up in a pattern and then each bird safely proceeded to get as many busts as possible. Round one for beautiful invasion stripes themed RVs who were on it!
So far, no busts. However, splendid parade of great looking birds.
Nice approach from the event coordinator himself.
Almost got it! The balloon stayed untouched. Darn!
While on the ground photoshooting the action I realized I managed to snap a lot of clean bellies of participating birds. Nice job, scrubbing your airplanes, folks!
A little perspective here. An aviator chasing the cheeky balloon that was changing its position unpredictably.
Here we had a fantastic alignment which resulted in a nice clean bust!
If you zoom on the detail of the left wing you may see a small piece of the yellow ribbon that was attached to the balloon. Almost a bust, however, the balloon moved sideways and only bounced off the edge of the wing. Another round for the "lady in red" would have to do!
Careful and calculated approach, just like a shark from the depth of the ocean stalking and attacking its prey.
No luck this time. Never mind, another round will do! Watching the wild dance of all those balloons that survived the attack without a scratch going in wild swirls and twists was a perfect reminder of the invisible shaker - wake turbulence. Once again, I realized how blind we humans are. All those eddies in the air and we cannot see a thing. Bet you anything, real birds can see or somehow sense those.
Sharp Air Boss scanning the perimeter. I must say, hats off to this RV Fly-In. All its aspects were run in a safe and professional manner that made this event so much fun for everybody. What a great afternoon, what a great time to share the wonders of aviation with all those good people. I was looking around and ... uh-oh there it went again, Dana got sentimental.
Just when I started drifting away in my usual "how lucky can a person be to experience all this?" and simply feeling grateful for all these wonderful trips and maybe even pushing a tear or two behind the lens ... we had a BUST! YAY! The shark pulled it off this time! Woohoo!
Precise positioning of this burgundy bird led to another bust! Cheers were echoing across the airport.
"You are mine, buddy!" Another bust! Yay!
As I said many times - engaged smoke system is a welcomed feature that every aviation photographer loves, or at least, I do. Something about its appearance and texture. What joy having smoke, bird, and a balloon in one shot.

As the afternoon unrolled many more busts took place and the last sortie of aviators was celebrated as the most successful (judging from the sheer volume of woohooing and cheering after each bust).

To sum up, we had a wonderful time. Wait, what am I saying? "Wonderful time" does not quite cover it. Correction: we had an epic time! All efforts and hard work planning, preparing, and running this Fly-In paid off handsomely. The spirit of general aviation was once again alive and was buzzin' to the max with the three beautiful autumn days as a charming background.

By Dana Brejakova, Contributing Writer & Photographer
Return to eFLYER
 
Visit www.barnstormers.com - post an ad to be viewed by more than 1,000,000 visitors per month.
Over 20 years bringing more online buyers and sellers together than any other aviation marketplace.
Don't just advertise. Get RESULTS with Barnstormers.com. Check out the Testimonials
Registered Copyright © 1995-2022 barnstormers.com All Rights Reserved.