Wings Over Pittsburgh 2000

"user314" (user314) 04/22/2020 at 12:00 • Filed to: Planelopnik, wings over pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, airshow

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What began as a simple !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! just a year previous grew into a major event !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . While big name acts like the Thunderbirds or Blue Angels were still a year or two off, the newly christened Wings Over Pittsburgh now included multiple static displays, an Army jump team, and a C-17 demonstration.

You still enter under a B-52

The BUFF, and concessions!

B-52H and a KC-10, just one of many new displays this year.

Other side of the ‘Extender’

The cargo door on the KC-10 ‘Extender’. Not sure if that note is intended to be funny, but it is.

The KC-10 has both a flying boom and a drogue for refueling Navy/USMC aircraft.

One of the KC-135s that call the IAP home.

The 171st, along with the 911th Airlift Wing, are co-located with the Pittsburgh Int’l Airport

C-141 ‘Starlifter’. USAF cargo planes look best in the old MAC white over gray, or the Euro 1 ‘lizard’ camo. Don’t @ me.

Speaking of which, a C-5A ‘Galaxy’. “Captain, there be whales here!”

They closed the nose and tail toward the end of the day.

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There was no identification with that large white plane, so I had no idea what is was, beyond being a Boeing 707/717 derivative. I was finally able to figure out that it’s an Navy !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which replaced the C-130 in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! role in 1989.

A rather smart looking F-4 ‘Phantom’.

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It’s the little things in life you cherish...

EA-6B Prowler from VMAQ-4. The unit would later be deployed to Iraq several times before being decommissioned in 2017.

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One of the C-17s parked on the apron maneuvered off its spot to taxi onto the runway and begin the demonstration. Much was made of the plane’s ability to use its thrust reverser s to back up in the absence of ground equipment. Unfortunately , someone or more likely several someones weren’t paying attention to where that je t blast was going, and the loudspeakers visible in the 4th picture were blown over, much to the crowd’s merriment.

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One of the other demos present, an F-5.

C-130 releasing an Army jump squad.

That’s it for Y2K. Up tomorrow, a trip to Ohio...

ttyymmnn > user314 04/22/2020 at 12:15

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On my other computer (which my wife is using right now) I have a picture from the inside of a C-5 showing some delicate instrument with the words “HANDLE LIKE EGGS” stenciled on it.

I was very close to a C-17 that did a reverse from the flight line. My god, was that loud. They also did their “land and stand on the brakes” trick, showing how quickly they could stop an unloaded Globemaster. Pretty impressive, even if it was empty.

I also remember the first time I saw an F-117. It was at an airshow in Houston in the early 90s. They had a rope around it, with prominently displayed “use of deadly force authorized” signs and a couple of AF guys carrying M-16s. I have those pictures somewhere. Maybe I should start posting MY old air shows! ;)