Recent Air Shows in Arizona (part 2) by www.AirShowsReview.com

We had the opportunity visit recently two air shows in Arizona. The first one was at Davis-Monthan AFB, we have reported about that air show yesterday. Today, we will cover the second one held at MCAS Yuma. The shows differed vastly in size, performers and in quality of the actual show.

2010 MCAS Yuma

Location: Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona
Admission: FREE
Parking: Free on site
Value: Excellent

Featured performers included the F-16 Viper West Demo Team, AV-8B Harrier Demo Team and The Patriots.

MCAS Yuma Air Show is held at the Marine Air Station which shares the grounds with the Yuma International Airport. The 2010 MCAS Yuma Air Show, in Arizona was only a one day affair. The show took place on March 27, exactly a week later of the Aerospace and Arizona Days 2010 Air Show in Tucson that was held at Davis-Monthan AFB. While the MCAS Yuma Air Show was smaller in scale than the D-M AFB, it was better organized, was much friendlier with helpful staff, especially from the Public Affairs Office, and just as importantly it had a Schedule of Events that was fairly accurate! The weather was typical Arizona weather in March, mid 80’s, sunny, although the wind was quite gusty at times.

The show itself was a bit short on top performers; the F-16 Viper West Coast Demo Team was one and if we count the Marines AV-8B Harrier as an official team, which may not be, who were based out of Yuma, they would be the second. There was one aerial refueling pass with a Hercules Tanker and an AV-8B Harrier, which would have been more interesting if the demo would have been a bit longer, say one pass each way or even several passes in each direction! The Heritage flight consisted of the F-16 and a F-4, too bad the F-4 Phantom was a fly-in guest and it did not land or was on static display at the show itself! There were a couple of civilian performers like the Patriot Jet Team, great performers flying very low with tight turns, Paul Stender’s Jet Outhouse and Jet School bus that raced with the T-33 “Ace Maker”; the T-33 won! There was an R/C demonstration too and a couple of Pitts S-2 who did some aerobatics in between the above performers. Over all the performances were good, especially the Marines AV-8B Harrier demo, and the Patriots with some very low level flying, who stood out overall. Static displays included: several F-5 painted in aggressor’s colors, F/A-18 Hornet, F/A-18 Super Hornet, several A-10s, a B-52 bomber, and a KC-135 Tanker, a Polish built PZL TS-11 Iskra (Spark) jet trainer from the mid-sixties, and several AFV’s from the Yuma Testing Grounds.

Yuma is one of those rare shows were the sun is behind the lens most of the time, thus making photography of performers a breeze, with good results as long as the focal length of the lens is in the 300-400mm range. There was a children’s play area, and there were plenty of concession stands with typical fast foods available at such venues. There were plenty of portable toilets and were well dispersed. Parking and Security were handled very professionally and quickly. As for show announcement, I cannot comment on it, as I was in the old control tower above the crowds and static display area, which gave an excellent view of the flight line but away from the loudspeakers, and it was a bit windy thus I was not able to hear the loudspeakers, but since there was a schedule, it was easy to follow the performers. Approxinately 20, 000 people attended the air show.

This was my first visit to the Marine Air Station Yuma, and I was very much impressed by their professionalism, and I wish to thank the PAO staff, especially Gunnery Sgt. Lisbon, Lance Corporal Benson, and Lance Corporal Diamant for their hospitality and cooperation, and Capt. Dolan who spoke with our Coordinator at The Magazine.

Some of the participating performers were:
F-16 Viper West Demo Team
Marines AV-8B Harrier
SAR Helicopter Demo
Heritage Flight with F-16 and F4 Phantom
Patriots L-39C Team
T-33 Ace Maker
and many others including static displays.

Rating: over all rating when taking everything into consideration was an excellent 9 out of 10. I highly recommend the MCAS Yuma air show to all! Go Marines!

The Viper West Team led by Maj. David Graham.

The Marine Harriers at Yuma.

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