Shortly after we got home yesterday, I heard a loud noise. I looked out my window and saw all 6 thunderbirds flying by. That’s always cool. USAFA graduation is tomorrow, so they did a bit of timing practice for the hat toss flyby and the aerobatic show afterwards.

This morning they did a bit more practice, and I watched them from the roof of our tower– many of the turns to set up for the runs over the stadium were directly overhead.

After flying a new-hire instructor as well as a semi-annual check on one of the air force guys, I met Joanna in the parking lot. We drove over to the stadium at about 1pm for the full up airshow practice. Getting there was a bit tricky, since many of the roads shut down so that there’s no one in the “box”.

We waltzed right up to the press box and then onto its roof. There couldn’t possibly be a better vantage point. The clouds were pretty low, so they were constrained to the “low show” which precludes some of the high altitude maneuvers. After the show, they had to stop while a train went through their “box”, then did another practice flyby for the hat toss.

Anyway, it was like our own private thunderbird show. There were probably only 20 people standing on top of the press box, and another dozen in the stadium. It was weird to see an air show with no one there. I’m not sure where I’m going to watch them from tomorrow– either my apartment, or maybe I’ll see if I can get onto the airfield and watch them from the roof of the tower again. I could get tickets to graduation– but the only part really worth watching is the airshow, and I got to see it without sitting through three hours of graduation. I could go and clap for my students, but I don’t think they’ll know.

Anyway, there’s a some pictures and video clips of the practice at the gallery.