United States - Nevada - Aviation Nation 2008 - Nellis AFB, North Las Vegas - 11/08/08

[IL_NY]

According to the ACC demo schedule, it looks like they pulled the P-38 from the heritage flight. 

This is very disappointing, seeing my first ever flying P-38 was one of my reasons to come from the NY area to see this show. Others have remarked here and on ASB about the schedule being a little light this year, here's hoping they can still add some performers. A 3-ship heritage flight is kind of lacking for such a major air show!

[dlindley]

Traveling from VaBeach for the first time to this show. Done Oceana/Langley/Andrews aton of times, so looking foward to something new. Any tips or hints as i will be there the tues before the show all the way to the mon after. looking foward to the show.

[BigRedDogATL]

Traveling from VaBeach for the first time to this show. Done Oceana/Langley/Andrews aton of times, so looking foward to something new. Any tips or hints as i will be there the tues before the show all the way to the mon after. looking foward to the show.

David:

I have attend the Aviation Nation show for 3 of the last 4 years and plan on being there again this year. There are several things that I always do that I can share with you.

1) Rent a car  - I always rent a car and have it when in Vegas. If you were going to stay exclusively on the Strip area a car wouldn't be needed. But since you are going to go out to Nellis, you really need a car. You could take a taxi out there, but it would cost a fortune and you would have a devil of a time finding a cab to get back to your hotel. Or find someone to carpool with. I will have a car and will be staying at the Hilton, if you want to carpool with me.
2) Get there early - On the days of the show, arrive real early to the parking lots at the Las Vegas Speedway. You will drive north on I-15 and get off at the Speedway exit and park there. A big tip is that when I park, I snap a quick picture of the area that I parked in. Since I am driving a rental car and not really used to the area or car, the photo helps me find the car again at the end of the show and not wander around for 45 mins like I did my first year while I hunted the rental car.
3) Get a folding chair - The day before the show I go by a Sports Authority or WalMart store and pickup a folding chair to bring to the show. I can normally spend less than $10 for it and it is worth 5 times that much to have a chair to sit in between flying acts. After the Sunday show, I drop the chair off at a local Goodwill or Salvation Army drop-off box, so it ends up with someone else.
4) Wear Good Walking Shoes - The flight line static display area at Nellis is longer and bigger than I have seen at any other show. You will do massive amounts of walking and standing during the two days of the show. Good shoes are a must.
5) SunScreen - Even though it will be November, put on sunscreen as you will need it.
6) Water - Nellis and Las Vegas are in the desert and has very low humidity. You need plenty of water to keep hydrated.
7) Lens - Bring both a good wide angle for use on the statics and a good telephoto for the flying acts.
8 ) Money - Don't lose it all at the Casinos before the show. You will need $3 per day to pay for the shuttle bus from the Speedway parking over to the base (no walking is allowed). You will also need money to purchase food and drink at the show. BTW, buy or bring some bottled water early in the day. Last year they ran out of bottled water for sale by early afternoon.
9) Patience - Bring plenty of it with you. Lines are long and slow to get through security to board the buses to the show. Last year there was a 2 hour line to get a bus back to the parking after the show was over. This show usually has over 100,000 people per day attend, so be prepared for a crowd.

If you decide to visit the base on Friday to view arrivals of statics or the practice show, there is a great place at the end of Cheyanne just past Nellis Blvd, where you can park on the shoulder and shoot photos across the golf course and straight down the runway. Last year I shot the Sunday show from that area (to avoid the hugh crowds) and caught some great shots as the planes pasted right above me to land. You can see the photos at my Smugmug gallery.

This show is a normally a great show for static displays. Bring plenty of digital film because you will need it. I averaged about 3,000 photos per day last year, so I bring a computer with an external drive with me to off load photos at night back at the hotel.

I hope this helps a little. If you have any other questions, like other great things to photograph in the Las Vegas area on your other days, just send me an email and I will respond.

 

[IL_NY]

Clifford,

It will be my first time at Aviation Nation too. Thanks for the great information.

When you say get there early, how early do you mean?

Regards

[BigRedDogATL]

Clifford,

It will be my first time at Aviation Nation too. Thanks for the great information.

When you say get there early, how early do you mean?

Regards

Last year I pulled into the Speedway parking lots at about 7 am and there were already enough people ahead of me in line for the security scan to board buses, that it took me about 45 minutes to get to board a bus once they started running the buses.  This year I plan to pull into the parking lot sometime between 6:30am and 6:45 am. (unless my Thunderbirds contact is able to get me a media pass so I can bypass alot of the lines).

For all the first timers, I will arrive in Vegas on Thursday afternoon and if you want to try to get together before the show I will be happy to share my experiences with the show and Vegas itself. I have been visiting Vegas for over 25 years and used to have to be there on business every 4-6 weeks with my last job. So I know the city pretty well and know plenty of non-tourist places to go and great spots for photography.

We can also arrange to carpool to the show. It is always good to have someone else along who can alternate holding spots at show center while the others visit the static displays.

[M.M.]

A big tip is that when I park, I snap a quick picture of the area that I parked in. Since I am driving a rental car and not really used to the area or car, the photo helps me find the car again at the end of the show and not wander around for 45 mins like I did my first year while I hunted the rental car.

That's really clever -- and not just for Nellis, either.  Good idea! 

(Just don't lose track of which card the photo is on.  )

-M.M.

[BigRedDogATL]

That's really clever -- and not just for Nellis, either.  Good idea! 

(Just don't lose track of which card the photo is on.  )

-M.M.

Since I shoot with 7 8gb Ducati cards and they all look alike, I made sure to number each card, one through seven. I always start each day's shooting with card one and use them in sequence, so I know the photo with the car location will be on card one. Doing this also keeps me from putting a full card back into the camera and missing shots because of it.

Another thing I do is when I go by a WalMart to buy the folding chair, I stop by the fabric department and by a foot of brightly colored ribbon. I then tie that ribbon to the car's radio antenna and can use it as another spotting feature to find the rental car. I have also found this useful during non-show days when I try to find the rental car in a Casino Hotel's parking lot.

[dlindley]

Since I shoot with 7 8gb Ducati cards

Wow!!! Thats aton of GB's. Thanks for the tips, looks like a long day airshow. Done the buses at Andrews, but haven't heard great things about the buses at Nellis.

[jmosher]

I went two years ago to Aviation Nation and the buses are ridiculous. It took over two hours to board one just to get into the show. It's the reason I have not been back. The above poster states last year it also took two hours, this and the fact the Thunderbirds engine start and taxi nonsense is scheduled to be twice as long as the F-22's Demo, I think I will skip this year too.

JM

[BigRedDogATL]

I went two years ago to Aviation Nation and the buses are ridiculous. It took over two hours to board one just to get into the show. It's the reason I have not been back. The above poster states last year it also took two hours, this and the fact the Thunderbirds engine start and taxi nonsense is scheduled to be twice as long as the F-22's Demo, I think I will skip this year too.

JM

For some reason, I expect that this year's show is going to have fewer people attending it. Last year was a very special show and it was the Capstone event for the Air Force in 2007. This year I don't know of anything special at Aviation Nation as the two really special shows this year were Quebec's 400th Anniv (which I attended) and NAS Oceana's 50th Anniv show (not an Air Force show).

With the economy the way it is and high gas prices, I also suspect fewer people from out of town will come to Las Vegas for the show. And for some reason the hotel rates for show weekend have gotten way too high. The same room at the Hilton I booked at the beginning of August for $99/night is now going for $280/night. I know there is a big convention in town the week before the air show, but other than the air show I don't know of anything special going on that weekend to drive the hotel rates up so much. So unless people booked early, like I did, it will cost too much to go and hence attendance will be down. IMHO

Last year was the only time I really had a problem with the shuttle buses. They never released the official attendance that I could find, but I heard somewhere that over 200,000 people attended on Saturday. Again as with anything, arrive early enough and getting a shuttle to the base isn't a problem. Then use the time after the Thunderbirds finish to visit the static displays and let the bus lines thin out. It is always fun to be hearded off the base as the MPs make a sweep through the show area to kick the civilians off the base after the closing time.

[IL_NY]

There also appears to be much less interest in this show on FenceCheck as well. Last year this time there were already 15 pages in the preview thread!

Chuck Ramey was very helpful in last years thread by bringing us up to date information about the show and answering peoples questions. Here's hoping he or one of the other organizers might stop in here and update us.

[BigRedDogATL]

There also appears to be much less interest in this show on FenceCheck as well. Last year this time there were already 15 pages in the preview thread!

Last year's show was a very special Air Force 60th Anniv. show and hence got a lot of attention. This year's show is just a normal regular Aviation Nation show, with no really special acts to draw extra interest and generate buzz. Also with the economy down, and prices up, a lot more people skip this show. IMHO

[nokiN]

..luckily I made my 1st appearance at Aviation Nation last year, so now I know the routine and where the better shots can be taken   Everything I did last year was counterproductive   ..and while I like the big crowd, a few less won't bother me, maybe it will cut 20 min off of the 3hr bus wait post show   I have faith that this will still be a great 2008 Aviation Nation!!  Can't wait!

[Anthony Richards]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know when the static list will be made public? Or actually, is there a number I can contact to make a general inquiry about the performers/static?

[dlindley]

Does anybody know the status of the P-38 for the HF? The acc site dropped it a while back but the show site that was updated 10/17 has it. Happy to see a B-52 is listed as doing a flyby.