I was fortunate to spend an awesome day with the pilots and planes at the Jets Over Whidbey event at a Navy field in Coopeville, Washington. Many thanks go to Bill and the whole gang for being such gracious hosts. The turnout on Saturday was great, even though the weather in the morning looked very iffy. By early afternoon, winds pushed the heavy overcast away and it was nice to see the jets ripping up some blue sky. Listening to all those turbines all day was delicious!
The event took place at the Navy Outlying Field on Whidbey Island in Coopeville, Washington and the boys had the luxury of playing on the Navy's 6,000 foot runway that has simulated aircraft carrier landing zones on each end of the runway used for training purposes.
It was a very humbling day behind the camera. The sun (when it appeared later in the day) was behind the planes so colors didn't show up and it was a bit of a challenge looking into the sun. These guys fly fast and they fly big and unfortunately, there was no way that my lens, even on full zoom, could get a close enough look at them for most of their flights. I was envious of the folks that had DSLR's with monster lens' mounted on monopods.
With multiple planes in the air at any given time, I learned that next year I will need to bring a friend with me because much of the time I couldn't get close to the flight line without a spotter for safety reasons. Thanks very much to those of you who graciously donated some time to act as a spotter and allow me to get closer to the action from time to time. And thanks a bunch to the two cadets that helped spot for me for a bit.
The planes themselves are amazing. The speed at which technology is advancing radio controlled flight never ceases to amaze me. These turbine powered RC jets are truly amazing and I can only wonder what we'll be flying in another ten years!
For more information about Jets Over Whidbey 2013, please feel free to visit their website here: http://www.jetsoverwhidbey.com/Jets_Over_Whidbey/Jets_Over_Whidbey_-_Home.html
Music:
The Royalty Free Music is from Jamendo at: www.jamendo.com
Artist: Antonio Ancora
Song Title: Antonio Ancora - Places of my mind
Link to Song: http://jamen.do/t/131811
Creative Commons License BY-SA 3.0
Permission to share, adapt and make commercial use of the work under the condition of Attribution.
Link to Creative Commons License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
