I have never seen anything like this before

[Mike Griffin]

Beautiful

http://www.youtube.com/embed/NmNps7-4Yv4

[Mike Griffin]

dang, I'd pay cash money to see that. Do you think the AMA would frown on shooting fireworks off a Vector 40?

MM

Not if they did not know about it... 

[Dan McEntee]

   They have added a second night show on Wednesday this year. I leave Tuesday morning for Oshkosh and the KidVenture venue and will be staying through to Sunday morning. If you have never been to Oshkosh, you owe it to yourself to go for at least a day or two. This year will be my 14th year. Do what I do and buddy up with some friends to share the travel costs and have a ball!
   It a real toss up as to which act is the best, but Matt Younkin's lit up twin Beech is just TOO cool! It will probably be cooler temperature wise this year than ithas been the last couple of years, and the heat blast from the "Wall of Flame" might feel good this year!
   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[Chris McMillin]

Twin Beech or biplane, that is tough. Ag Cat's aren't pretty, but they are biplanes. Which IS cooler?
Chris...

[Dan McEntee]

Twin Beech or biplane, that is tough. Ag Cat's aren't pretty, but they are biplanes. Which IS cooler?
Chris...

     We've talked about this before, that the Ag-Cat is a perfect air show plane. Big, slow and LOUD and right in front of the crowd! Soucy does a great job of keeping it going from one trick right into another. Very smooth and flowing, which I like a lot. Add darkness and the fire works, and it accentuates that. Very cool, but if you haven't seen Younkin's routine at night with the way he has lit lit up. you are missing something! He flies the same way, but can't keep it as tight as the Ag-Cat. It's a toss up for sure.
   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[Larry Renger]

How the heck do they keep from lighting off the covering on that biplane.  I would expect a LOT more fire than that, and not in a nice way either! 

[Dan McEntee]

   I'm going to make an uneducated guess that the pyro effects are specifically designed to be used on an airplane in flight. . If it's made just right, attached just right, and deployed just right, it's not a problem because they are always moving away from the sparks. Each act uses pretty much the same effects, it looks like, and the main differences is in the presentation by the pilot and the type of airplane they fly. Didn't we all want to do this as kids? Ever tape sparklers to your dime store gliders?  I haven't heard of any other night shows in this country, other than a guy in a T-6 with lights on his plane that were controlled by computer and set to music, and he was at a local air show here in St. Louis several years ago. With all the upheaval and head banging between EAA and the FAA recently, one has to wonder how much longer Oshkosh will go on? At the risk of sounding like politics, our Commander in Chief should send his family on fewer extravagant vacations at our expense and use to money to keep the military teams and air show assistance in place.
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee 

[Matt Colan]

A couple friends of mine and I helped Manfrd Radius wire his glider with the sparklers a few hours before the night airshow at New Smyrna airshow.  The night airshow at Sun n Fun was spectacular and Manfreds performance was beautiful with his glider routine and music playing.  After the night airshow, I got to hang out with Matt Younkin and Kyle Franklin and a couple others including briefly meeting Jane Wicker.

I can only imagine what the night airshow at Oshkosh must be like. I hope I'll be able to make it in a couple years

[Dan McEntee]

  So there are other night shows! Just never heard about them, I have seen Manfred Radius do his routine here, and he is outstanding with the inverted ribbon cut at the end. Does he do that at night? If so, he has incredible depth perception! Unimaginable!
    Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[Allan Perret]

 So there are other night shows! Just never heard about them, I have seen Manfred Radius do his routine here, and he is outstanding with the inverted ribbon cut at the end. Does he do that at night? If so, he has incredible depth perception! Unimaginable!
    Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

Inverted ribbon cut in a Glider ? ?
 

[PerttiMe]

Inverted ribbon cut in a Glider ? ?
 

Sure, why not. Just needs a little speed.
I haven't seen a glider do an inverted ribbon cut, but I've seen Christoph Zahn finish his glider performance with a knife edge pass before making the last turn for landing.
And that is in a glider designed in 1930s

[john e. holliday]

Depending on the airfoil and elevator why not.   I know a SIG Kaydet with clark Y type airfoil will  not do an out side loop.   But I have done out side loops with a SIG Riser and the plane lived thru it.

[Matt Colan]

  So there are other night shows! Just never heard about them, I have seen Manfred Radius do his routine here, and he is outstanding with the inverted ribbon cut at the end. Does he do that at night? If so, he has incredible depth perception! Unimaginable!
    Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

Hi Dan,

I haven't seen Manfred do the inverted ribbon cut.  He didn't do it at the night airshow in Sun n' Fun, and he didn't do it at New Smyrna airshow because it was incredibly windy.  Jason Newburg that day took off and smashed his aileron having to make an emergency landing.

[Dan McEntee]

  Manfred Radius does a type of aerial ballet with smooth, rolling maneuvers with smoke generators on the wing tips. To finish his show, the few times I saw him, he has a typical limbo type ribbon atop two poles held by volunteers. He makes a diving high speed pass in one direction and goes under the ribbon. It might be 25 or 30 feet high. He then pulls straight up, and when his speed falls off, drops the nose over forward, dives straight down, pulls out inverted, then cuts the ribbon by pushing the nose away from the ground, and cuts the ribbon with the sailplane's V type tail feathers. It has to be seen to be fully appreciated. The he pushes negative back up for more altitude, rolls back upright, and turns a short final for landing. Real pure example of energy management!
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Matt Colan]

  Manfred Radius does a type of aerial ballet with smooth, rolling maneuvers with smoke generators on the wing tips. To finish his show, the few times I saw him, he has a typical limbo type ribbon atop two poles held by volunteers. He makes a diving high speed pass in one direction and goes under the ribbon. It might be 25 or 30 feet high. He then pulls straight up, and when his speed falls off, drops the nose over forward, dives straight down, pulls out inverted, then cuts the ribbon by pushing the nose away from the ground, and cuts the ribbon with the sailplane's V type tail feathers. It has to be seen to be fully appreciated. The he pushes negative back up for more altitude, rolls back upright, and turns a short final for landing. Real pure example of energy management!
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

And Manfred is one of the coolest guys you can meet as well. He's also somewhere in his 60s I believe doing these glider aerobatic routines.