Tuscaloosa Airshow   Tuscaloosa, AL   April 4-5, 2009

Story by Carl Wilcox

   This was the first airshow hosted by the Tuscaloosa Regional Airport and it featured the Blue Angels. The organizers of the airshow underestimated the crowd size that would show to see the Blue’s perform. They had speculated on 40,000 people. But an estimated 120,000 to 140,000 fans showed for Saturday's show. This underestimation wreaked havoc on parking, food, and spectator space.

  Bad weather entered the area overnight and the show Sunday was canceled. Rain in the preceding weeks had made most of the planned parking areas unusable which added to the problems of such a large crowd. The crowd lines were not organized and confusion was rampant as to where you could stand. The Tuscaloosa police Department and the many volunteers did a great job with what they had to work with and the turnout that they did not expect. As with any first time event, unseen problems will happen and organizers can learn from errors made and make the next airshow better.

  With that said, lets talk about flying. Once the two KC135 tankers flew over the day got better. Then a fly-by by a B-52 and a C-17 demo dazzled the spectators. The show featured acts like the Red Eagle’s, Greg Koontz's Cub comedy act and the Super Decathlon, the T-6 Texan “Rig Red” (or as it was called on this Saturday “Role Tide”), Michael Wiskus’ Geico/Lucas Oil Pitts, AeroShell T-6’s, 23rd Air Command’s A-10 demo team, East Coast F/A-18F Super Hornet demo team, U.S. Army’s Golden Knights parachute team, the U.S. Air Force jet car, a great selection of warbirds, and of course the Blue Angels. The huge crowd didn’t move from their seats until the last blue F/A-18 landed.

  The static aircraft for the crowd to walk around was outstanding. Numerous planes lined the area with pilots on hand to answer questions and show off their aircraft. At this show the performers were close to the fans which made a lasting impression on all. After the comedy act, Greg Koontz parked his pickup, with yellow Cub on top, in the middle of the crowd and signed autographs for the airshow fans. Tuscaloosa has announced that in a few years they will host another airshow with the Blue’s as their featured act. This year was a learning experience for all the individuals involved in this show. I feel that the next airshow in Tuscaloosa will be more organized, the biggest problem other than the weather was the underestimation of us who call ourselves “airshow nuts”. If you’re in the area for the next airshow held in Tuscaloosa Alabama be sure to attend, but don’t be in a hurry to leave.