The Best Planes and Jets We Saw at the 2022 Pacific Airshow – Robb Report

Most adults who attended conventional airshows as a child bear in mind the heart-lifting, stomach-sinking thrill of watching plane soar, roll and tumble throughout the open sky. Buried beneath that there are generally less-than-savory lowlights—stifling crowds, stadium seating on scorching runways and carnival meals. None of that deterred Kevin Elliott from beginning what’s now the nation’s largest airshow, although.

The power avgeek, who was nicknamed “plane brain” by his mom, flew mannequin airplanes as a baby, earlier than venturing down the inevitable rabbit gap of incomes his pilot’s license. It was a go to to the then-named Breitling Huntington Beach Airshow in 2017 that impressed him to get into the occasions biz.

“I had a great time and thought I’d reach out and see if they needed help,” he recollects. “Turns out the guys who created the show were really good at the aviation piece but didn’t know anything about how to produce the boots-on-the-ground event piece.”

What began as a floor mission was Elliott buying the occasion as an entire and rebranding it as the Pacific Airshow in 2018. “What made it special was that we brought an outsider’s perspective to an old dog’s game, in terms of what air shows have classically been in this country,” he says. Intent on interesting to crowds past the typical core aviation viewers, Elliott continues to concentrate on making a spectator expertise that transcends the standard trappings of previous airshows.

“Because it’s on the beach, these folks don’t necessarily know the difference between an F-18 Super Hornet and an F-35, they just know that it’s bitchin’ and they want to hang out and have some drinks,” Elliott provides. “It’s much more of an entertainment venue, kind of like F1.”

To that finish, 2021’s two-night music competition drew 15,000 attendees per evening. Spectators now have choices starting from $25 basic admission tickets on the mile-long viewing space to $300 premier membership admission or $5,000 tickets for cabanas with bottle service. The upscaling impact impacts surrounding companies, too: accommodations are offered out, and some are charging $15,000 per evening for ocean-facing rooms. So far, the reimagining has paid off: the Pacific Airshow has been the solely present to host all three American jet groups—the Blue Angels, Thunderbirds and Snowbirds—and it’s been the solely to win the US Air Force’s Civilian Airshow of the Year award twice in a row.

The occasion drew in roughly 3 million guests final weekend, serving to it lay declare as the most attended airshow in America (EAA AirEnterprise Oshkosh, the granddaddy of all aviation gatherings, is taken into account a fly-in conference, not an airshow). 

For a preview of this yr’s present, we climbed aboard a T-33—aka, Lockheed Shooting Star, so nicknamed “Acemaker” as a result of it’s one among the solely navy plane to begin life as a fighter jet earlier than switching roles to a coach. Climbing right into a 70-year-old, two-seat jet may sound sketchy, however seated tandem behind pilot Gregory “Wired” Colyer is one among the most reassuring locations to be in relation to classic plane. Colyer has logged 2,000 hours in T-33s—greater than some other pilot in historical past. His prodigious ability degree was fortuitous for the process at hand: formation flying over the Huntington Beach Pier amid a swarm of splendidly various slower planes, together with a B-25 Mitchell from the Lyon Air Museum, an Extra 330SC piloted by Mike Goulian, a pair of Edge 540s, a jet/prop hybrid-powered Yak 110, a RAD Aerosports jet-powered Waco and one other T-33 (one among three owned and operated by Colyer at airshows throughout the nation). 

Other plane in the skies over the weekend included a US Air Force B-52, a F/A-18 Super Hornet and a four-ship formation of US Air Force T6-As. There was additionally a spectacular US Air Force Thunderbirds present. Commander and Leader Lieutenant Colonel Justin “Astro” Elliott advised Robb Report that of the 69 reveals the Thunderbirds placed on, the Pacific Airshow is “truly unique” as a result of it’s in a extremely populated space in one among the largest cities in the US.

“Performing for a crowd that size really makes us focus on being tight at all points throughout the show,” he explains.

Elliott provides that the undeniable fact that the shoreline is just not straight makes it more difficult to get the plane right into a straight line (the overlapping wingtips are solely 18 inches other than one another). On prime of that, flying over water can alter a pilot’s depth notion. Despite the challenges, the performances have been remarkably impactful. It seems, the extraordinary feats additionally encourage younger airplane brains. In truth, the Pacific Airshow is the prime airshow recruitment occasion for the Department of Defense. 

What’s extra, the present goes worldwide subsequent yr. There will likely be a two-day occasion held on the Gold Coast of Australia in August 2023. See you Downunder.