Most people today travel by air as casually as they once rode the downtown trolley. But a century after the Wright Brothers took flight in one of the first fixed-wing flying machines, aviation retains the power to thrill, enthrall and captivate. There may be no better proof than the Atlantic City Airshow, which draws 400,000 visitors each August to see daring aerial exploits by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, Marine Super Stallions, Army Golden Knights parachutists, Navy Super Hornets, Coast Guard search-and-rescue squadrons and many others, along with scores of civilian stunt pilots in restored, vintage and even hand-made aircraft. Now in its sixth year, the airshow known as “Thunder Over the Boardwalk” is not to be missed—and you couldn’t miss it if you tried. Come Wednesday, August 20 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., the skies above Atlantic City will be filled with fighter jets, bombadiers, helicopters and biplanes. The Horizon Blue Cross blimp will sail through the clouds, a lumbering counterpart to Air Force Stratotankers, Strike Eagles and F-16 Flying Falcons. “Thunder Over the Boardwalk” is “the signature event of the summer,” says Jeffrey Vasser, executive director of the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority, and people can get a good view of the action from Ocean City to Brigantine and beyond. The best view of all is probably from 5,000 feet up, says retired Navy Commander Dan McClung, who flies the one-of-a-kind “scratch-built” Talon Eagle. “The sheer fact that so many people come out to see you flying, you can’t help but be inspired,” says McClung, founder with Buck Roetman of Red Eagle Air Sports in Arley, Alabama. McClung and Roetman specialize in breath-stopping aerial maneuvers like multiple loops and snap rolls, and trademark moves like the squirrel cage, the tuck-under break and one called “Topcoat This.” Their mid-air antics defy not just gravity but human endurance. In an inverted flat spin, McClung says, “I circle Buck at seven g’s all the way down.” G-forces, he explains, can either force the blood from your head or try to eject you from the aircraft. Nine g’s can make a 100-pound woman feel like she weighs 900 pounds. Sixteen g’s of force applied to the human body for 60 seconds is potentially fatal. Flying at that intensity and speed is a blast, says McClung. It’s also his passion. “This is closer to a disease than a job,” he says. “Once you’ve got the aviation bug, you can’t get rid of it.” Marty Sheehan would certainly agree. The Delta Airlines pilot attended his first airshow in 1976, started flying small planes at 15, and later flew fighter and reconnaissance jets for the Marines. Today he flies rebuilt Russian and Chinese military trainers with New Jersey’s Red Star Pilots formation team out of Hackettstown. The Red Star team includes four to six civilian pilots. Some are former military. Others are from professions like real estate. There is even a cranberry farmer. Together, in tight formations just 500 feet above ground, they perform diamond formations, echelon (diagonal) formations and other jaw-dropping synchronized stunts. Then Sheehan does his solo show, executing the thrilling inverted hammerhead stall, in which the plane soars “straight up, runs out of speed, then pivots on a dime” to plunge earthward, pulling out of the dive at the last possible moment for maximum thrills. “It’s a lot of fun,” says Sheehan. “To fly in the ‘air show box,’ the three-dimensional box over the water that we perform in, is really awesome, and the view of Atlantic City and the waterfront is spectacular.” As a pilot, Sheehan is also an appreciative spectator. “We only travel 150 to 180 miles per hour, not too fast,” he says. “The Thunderbirds go around 700 miles per hour. You don’t get a chance to see something moving that fast that close to the ground very often. It’s pretty impressive. And it makes an enormous amount of noise.” The whole extravaganza is brought to you by the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, the Greater Atlantic City Chamber, the 177th Fighter Wing of the New Jersey Air National Guard, David Schultz Airshows of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Bureau. “You couldn’t ask for a better venue,” says Schultz, who labors year-round on the one-day event, in which pilots take off from up to nine airports in increments of as close as 40 seconds. “We try to keep the public guessing where the demonstration will start off. We’ve had B-2 Stealth bombers make a sneak attack over Boardwalk Hall. They never have an idea where the next one will come from.” Air traffic controllers known as air bosses survey the scene from the top of Trump Plaza, to “maintain visual separation and makes sure anything the public sees is totally seamless,” Schultz says. “We want to have ‘aviation overload’ every year.” While the beach and Boardwalk are great vantage points, so is the water. Hundreds of pleasure craft come to get a matchless view of the action. But boaters better not get “in the box,” warns Schultz. “If you bust the box, I have to stop the show, and we will embarrass you.” That said, Schultz adds, “We’ve never once had to do it.” Elisa Monroe, director of member events for the Convention & Visitors Authority, credits the success of the show to the organizations, sponsors, and volunteers committed to making it better each year. “I’ve received so many wonderful calls from past attendees who tell me they’ve made the Atlantic City Airshow an annual tradition,” she says. “That makes all the work worth it!” 2008 Atlantic City Airshow Schedule (Schedule is tenative and subject to change) a10:00 a.m. Horizon Blue Cross Blimp of New Jersey Flybys 10:30 a.m. US Army Golden Knights Parachute Team Flag Jump w/National Anthem 10:38 a.m. US Army Golden Knights Parachute Team Mass Exit Show 10:48 a.m. USAF-ANG 177th FW F-16 Fighting Falcon Flyby (4-ship) 10:50 a.m. USAF-ANG 108th ARW KC-135 Stratotanker Flyby 10:52 a.m. USAF-AFRC 514th AMW KC-10A Extender Flyby 10:53 a.m. USAF-AFRC 514th AMW C-17A Globemaster III Flyby 10:55 a.m. New Jersey Air National Guard Composite Flyby (KC-135 & F-16s) 10:57 a.m. Greg Poe FAGEN MX-2 & Tim Weber GEICO Extra 300 2-ship Aerobatics 11:10 a.m. FAA William J Hughes Technical Center Convair 580 Flyby 11:12 a.m. FAA William J Hughes Technical Center Bombardier Flyby 11:13 a.m. FAA William J Hughes Technical Center Convair 580 Flyby 11:15 a.m. FAA William J Hughes Technical Center Bombardier Flyby 11:17 a.m. Ed Hamill USAF Reserve Bi-Plane Aerobatics 11:30 a.m. US Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey Flybys 11:33 a.m. US Coast Guard HH-65 & HH-60 Search & Rescue Demonstrations 11:47 a.m. USAF-AMC 436th AMW C-5B Galaxy Flyby 11:50 a.m. Matt Chapman Embry Riddle CAP580 Aerobatics 12:02 p.m. NJ State Police S-76A+ and Bell 206 Demonstration 12:07 p.m. Jim Beasley Jr. P-51 Mustang Demonstration 12:17 p.m. USAF F-15E Strike Eagle Demonstration 12:30 p.m. USAF F-16CJ Viper Demonstration 12:44 p.m. USAF Heritage Flight (F-15E, F-16CJ, P-51) 12:55 p.m. US Navy MH-53E Super Stallion Flyby 12:57 p.m. US Marine Corps CH-46E SeaKnight Flyby 1:00 p.m. Tim Weber GEICO Extra 300 Aerobatics 1:14 p.m. USAF-ANG 193rd SOW EC-130J Commando Solo Flyby 1:17 p.m. Northeast Raiders Formation Team (YAK 52/CJ-6) 1:30 p.m. US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet Demonstration 1:43 p.m. US Navy Legacy Flight (F/A-18F & F4U Corsair) 1:52 p.m. Greg Poe FAGEN MX-2 2:05 p.m. US Army Golden Knights Parachute Team Full Show 2:30 p.m. Red Eagle Airsports 2:50 p.m. USAF Thunderbirds 4:00 p.m. Gates Close, Airshow Ends

By Casino Connection Staff

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