2011 Performers Highlight - F-22 Raptor
 A good pilot knows that there is always room for improvement; there is a never-ending quest to take the next step. America's best and brightest aeronautical engineers felt the same way and they took the next step when they created the F-22 Raptor.
The Raptor is the future realized, a plane so versatile, so capable and so hard to comprehend, no two descriptions are ever the same. Witnessing the Raptor in action begs the question, was the technology that allows this plane to do what it does, invented before the words to adequately describe those actions were?
The Raptor defies the fundamental principals and forces that govern flight. When the Raptor makes bank turns, the deftness of which might only be exceeded by a hummingbird, or hovers sideways in mid-air, everything any high school physics teacher ever taught about thrust, lift and drag comes tumbling out of the sky; the Raptor, however, cruises forward, reinventing the possibilities of manned flight.
The F-22 Raptor employs a state-of-the-art thrust system that allows the aircraft to pivot 360 degrees in all directions at practically any speed. This remarkable aircraft comes fully stocked with the most sophisticated weapons, navigation and computer systems to ever take the sky and, with afterburners, is said to be able to top Mach 2. To top it off, the F-22 is cloaked in the world's newest stealth technology, including a thin neoprene-like, radar-absorbing coating that makes the plane virtually undetectable by even the most advanced radar systems.
A description of the F-22 Raptor could go on to depict a litany of technological innovations, a roster of unreal statistics and specifications, and a flight manual's worth of aeronautical limitations shattered. However, words will never do the F-22 justice. The only way to fully grasp what this plane can do, the paradigm shift it represents and the new era it beckons is to see it in action, is to see the sharp turns and mind-boggling maneuvers first hand.
Even then, maybe the only way to really do the F-22 Raptor justice is to watch it race skyward, imagining Isaac Newton looking (not that far) down and questioning anything he ever said about gravity, while the Wright brothers high-five each other behind his back, as if they always knew it was possible.
Come and witness and feel the power of the aircraft as it performs Friday through Sunday September 16-18, 2011 at the National Championship Air Races.
More Performers for 2011
 The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds will perform their spectacular routine on Thursday, Sept. 15 with possible arrival show on Wednesday and departure show on Friday. Stay tuned for more details.
The Navy Leap Frogs - This Navy Parachute Team, made up of fourteen jumpers, leap out of aircraft at an altitude of more than 12,000 feet.
Eddie Andreini's Stearman Superbatics is a fast-paced 15-minute show with a thunderous charging take-off, double roll grabs and a special "I HUGE!" spectacular.
David Martin- After earning a place on the United States Aerobatic Team in 1997, he has attended four World Aerobatic Championships winning an individual gold medal and three team bronze medals.
 The Patriot Jets Team first debuted in 2003 as a two-ship team and continued to add Jets until 2006 when they became a team of fast-paced, formation flying, choreographed six-ship diamond formation aerobatic maneuvers.
One of the most diverse and unique airshow performance offerings in the industry, Jim Pietz's Aerobatic Beechcraft F33C Bonanza is flown to its limit with dazzling, low-level maneuvers and unexpected thrills.
The ShockWave Jet Truck runs at over 300 miles per hour (mph) racing airplanes and holds the world record for things like a quarter mile for trucks at 256 mph in just 6.36 seconds and full size trucks at 376 mph.
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April 2011
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