May 16, 2008
Getting to Andrews Air Show Won't be Easy
The annual Andrews Air Force Base Joint Service Open House and Air Show starts today and runs through Sunday. Metro says they're ready for the large crowds: they plan to use 190 free shuttle buses to ferry attendants to and from the base, which is closed to civilian automobile traffic. The shuttle buses will depart both from the Branch Avenue Metro station, and from FedEx Field.
Of course, the big event coincides with ongoing switch replacement work at Mt. Vernon Square, so Green line riders aren't going to have an easy time getting to and from Branch Avenue. Green Line trains will leave Branch Avenue only every 24 minutes toward the Greenbelt station. You can read more about the weekend delays on the Yellow and Green lines here, but if you plan to take public transportation to the event, you should really just factor in a huge chunk of time and check your impatience at the door.
The Joint Service Open House is running from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, Saturday and Sunday, and will feature performances from the Blue Angels, Golden Night's parachute team, and more. Just remember, the last shuttle bus heading to the show leaves at 2:30 p.m., so if you want to catch the Blue Angels, make sure you get there before then. Full schedule is here.
Photo from the 2007 Joint Service Open House and Air Show by SuperTopher
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The F-22 will do it first full demonstration at Andrews.
Is it going to shoot some missles into the crowd? If not, it won't be full demonstration.
"Attendants," really? Is that some kind of stewardess joke I'm not getting?
F-22 did a pretty full demo last year.
I'm parking at Fedex - that's the other option besides Metro.
One other thing, today is for people with DoD IDs only and they're actually allowed to drive on-base.
Q,
Andrews is saying it has performed before, but it is going to do some sh!t that has never been seen by the public before. Thrust vectoring manuvers, can make that plane do some crazy things.
Getting to Andrews Air Show Won't be Easy
Of course it will. The highway to the danger zone runs right by there.
The Friday open house and show is ONLY open Department of Defense personnel and school-sponsored childrens groups.
Sat. and Sun. are open to the public.
According to the security list, I can bring a camera ....bag. That's a bit of a loophole, isn't it?
I wonder if it will be the female B-2 pilot flying that machine? I'd love to be her in a bar:
"...well, yes it can be exciting...so, what do you do...?"
Heh, the guy who was planning to impress her with his fancy biz card announcing that he's an expert on Business Litigation would go into a permanent state of wilt.
Golden Knights parachute team. The Golden Nights are more watersports-oriented.
BTW seeing a B-2 flyover is a once in a lifetime.
It's a very peculiar black that just looks like part of the sky is missing, doesn't make perceptible noise, and is airliner-sized. A true pants-wetter.
yeah, went over my 'hood last year on it's way home. The sound is what sent me outside to look.