No F22 at Abbotsford Airshow ... :(

[bubba zanetti]

High costs, malfunctions plague F-22 Raptor fighter jets
The fleet of 158 F-22 planes — costing $412 million each — has never entered combat and has been grounded since May 3 because of a government safety investigation. The probe follows more than a dozen incidents in which oxygen was cut off to pilots, a problem suspected of contributing to at least one fatal accident.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fighter-jets-grounded-20110807,0,4799249,full.story


Been wanting to see one of these demonstrated for years and have yet to have the opportunity.    Will have to content myself with the A10 and F18 demos as well as the long awaited return of a Spitfire.

Airshows baby !! Gotta love em !  

[Oxblood]

I used to go annually with my father and brother many  years ago. Alas, I have not been in ages.

Bubba, ever been to the RAF Museum in London? Woot. Awesome collection. This year I am going to make the trek up to Duxford to see the Imperial War Museum's Air Collection Unfortunately I am going to miss both of their air shows due to the dates I will be there. But it will be cool to see all the planes.

I still have vivid memories of the USMC Harrier doing slow 360 spins as it flew in a straight line along the tarmac about 50 feet or so in the air. that was cool.

Have fun and make sure you wear a hat!

[radon222]

My wife and I  caught the air show at Oceana NAS in Virginia Beach last September.  The F22 did make an appearance... although very briefly.  After a long winded build up by the show announcer about the sophication of the aircraft,  the F22 finally came across the air strip, pulled up into a hard climb, levelled off....and then kept going, and going, and going.....

The announcer finally came on and said that due to a systems failure the aircraft was returning to Langley and could not continue in the show  

[Bowtie76]

I was playing golf at Langely a couple of years ago and got the best F22 show ever.  The guy was flying overhead and just seemed to be playing with the aircraft for about 15 min.  Everyone on the course stopped playing and just watched, it was pretty increadable.  Loops near vertical stalls, etc.  seemed like he was only a couple hundred feet above us.  My dad and I still talk about that round, though no-one remembers our score  

[blackbeltrider]

Saw it at DFW air show last November.

It's overrated

[fineout]

i was hoping to see them at the RI airshow this summer too, but they were grounded, the good thing is that my work is right down the street from the place where they do it so i got to see the blue angels practicing on my lunch break, that was really cool

[Baz]

I just made a comment on another thread regarding MiG's.

The Maintinance to flight time with all the new toys has become so great, you wonder if a world war were to break out, how many of them would spend it in a hangar waiting for electronic work.


Why are F-22's grounded?