Joint Base Andrews Open House

After years of cancellations and cutbacks, the Joint Base Andrews air show took place again today. As a military ID card holder, I was eligible to skip the park/bus ride and I drove onto the base and parked on the east side, away from the exhibits. There were buses to shuttle around to the west side, but I saw so many people hanging out by their cars on the east ramp that I just decided to stay and watch the show from there, sitting in my car between acts. I was able to watch the F-22 demonstration and the Thunderbird routine, among other acts.

F-22 Raptor

F-22 Raptor

Thunderbirds

Thunderbirds

Thunderbirds

Thunderbirds

I shot the F-22 without a polarizer; the Thunderbirds with a polarizer. It was such a bright day that I was getting F16 and narrower shooting at 1/1000. The polarizer helped to darken things a bit, but in some shots the sky was just too dark blue and I had to try to brighten it. The down side of staying on the east side was that the sun favored the opposite side of the field and the best shots were when the airplanes were banked and showing me the sunny side. The other down side of staying with the car was the lack of concessions, and there were no bathrooms. But there was one other big plus: I was off base within 5 minutes of the end of the show.