March Field Airfest

Thunder Over The Empire

May 1-2, March ARB KRIV – Riverside, CA

Main Page – Schedule – ASB Discussion

Though without the Air Force demonstration team the Thunderbirds, March ARB has set an impressive line-up for its 2010 Thunder Over The Empire. Among the line-up is the civilian L-39 team the Patriots, making their first visit to the base after being shut out of the Miramar air show for 2010. On the military side the big headline performer is the F-22 Raptor making its second demonstration appearance at the base.

The list of performers is one to be excited about.  In aerobatics we have five of the best; John Melby, Ron Harrison, John Cullver, Tim Weber and Tim Decker.  Calfire returns with their demonstration of the  OV-10, S-2 and DC-10 aircraft. On the Military side we have the F-15, F-18, F-22, F-86, KC-135 and C-17 demonstrations. It was recently revealed that the USAF haritage flight will consist of the F-22, F-15, F-86 and P-38. Truly a great lineup!

Gates open at 8am, opening ceremonies begin at 10am with first aircraft in the air at 10:15am. Get there early as traffic gets quite heavy around the base. It may take about an hour to get parked. Parking is generally on grass/dirt so plan accordingly. It is a long walk from main parking to the flight line. March generally has full security measures, expect metal detectors and K-9, generally this is within one of their hangers.

One of the downsides of the show at March ARB is the position relative to the Sun. The flight line faces into the sun most of the day, creating a huge glare problem for cameras. The view isn’t too bad naked eye, but it sometimes gets hazy.

We will be there and hopefully come out better than Riverside. We have a new camera on the way and have worked around the issues plaguing our video camera.