2024 MCAS Cherry Point Air Show

[JawsJr]

Alright thanks! Im definitely eager to hear what the MAGTF demo will look like! The king stallion definitely seemed like an interesting addition

[awal2049]

MAGTF today consisted of the following (the show may differ):

1x F-35B Lightning
1x AV-8B Harrier
2x F/A-18 Legacy Hornets
1x AH-1Z Viper
1x UH-1Y Venom
C-130J refueling pass with AV-8B + 2x F/A-18

I imagine the CH-53s will still participate tomorrow as planned. The Hornets did some really high speed pop up attacks today. Blue note howl game was strong.

The F-22 popped a grand total of TWO flares today, both during the tailslide. Hopefully we see more during the weekend. RAZZ also followed up the tactical pitch with a low speed MRT and a second pitch to conclude. Something a little different.

The Blue Angels flew a high show in a light drizzle for a while, which was cool to see. Switched to a flat show half way through. Vapor was crazy.

Going to be a great weekend for sure.

[smwelch]

MAGTF today consisted of the following (the show may differ):

Good to hear about the MAGTF, thanks for that report!

The F-22 popped a grand total of TWO flares today, both during the tailslide. Hopefully we see more during the weekend. RAZZ also followed up the tactical pitch with a low speed MRT and a second pitch to conclude. Something a little different.

That seems to be a RaZZ specialty during Friday shows. It was rumored he would use flares, so I'd expect quite a bit more.

[ClickJ]

I spent hundreds of dollars, drove a thousand miles, and waited in some of the worst air show traffic I’ve experienced only to be denied entry because my 60-600 lens was too long.

A guy told the Marine going through my bag to have me extend the lens, and told him it was too long. I had them both confirm this wasn’t mentioned anywhere at any time, but it was “too long”, the Marine apologized, the guy giving him instructions turned his back to me and and refused any further information or clarification.

I emailed the show asking them to urgently clarify but I don’t expect to hear back in time. So angry and frustrated.

I wish the rest of you better luck

[CultOfTheWyvern]

I spent hundreds of dollars, drove a thousand miles, and waited in some of the worst air show traffic I’ve experienced only to be denied entry because my 60-600 lens was too long.

Wow, what a punch below the belt. Sorry to hear about your experience.

I wonder if this is going to become a running theme at military shows, having some arbitrary maximum for telephoto lenses they let through security without explanation or pre-show clarification. I certainly hope not.

[mstares]

I spent hundreds of dollars, drove a thousand miles, and waited in some of the worst air show traffic I’ve experienced only to be denied entry because my 60-600 lens was too long.

Probably too late to help, but I encountered something similar at Nellis in 2010.At one checkpoint the T/Sgt in charge had imposed his own gear size limit. Long story short, for on base shows, in advance of the show,, put the number of the Base Public Affairs Office in your phone. This can quickly solve the problems caused by arbitrary power trips.... alas likely not gonna help if it is an 'official' but unwritten rule.

All that said, that is terrible, and I hope you can sort something out.

Mark

[passedgas46]

I spent hundreds of dollars, drove a thousand miles, and waited in some of the worst air show traffic I’ve experienced only to be denied entry because my 60-600 lens was too long.

A guy told the Marine going through my bag to have me extend the lens, and told him it was too long. I had them both confirm this wasn’t mentioned anywhere at any time, but it was “too long”, the Marine apologized, the guy giving him instructions turned his back to me and and refused any further information or clarification.

I emailed the show asking them to urgently clarify but I don’t expect to hear back in time. So angry and frustrated.

I wish the rest of you better luck

I'm sorry to hear that. I've personally witnessed a very similar situation at NAS Oceana with photographers not being allowed to bring in telephoto lenses. Security forces even tried to get me with my binoculars "because you can see what's on the rooftops of the hangars". Someone made calls and after ~30 minutes the photographers with the telephoto lenses and myself with my binoculars were cleared. Common sense prevailed.

I wonder if this is going to become a running theme at military shows, having some arbitrary maximum for telephoto lenses they let through security without explanation or pre-show clarification. I certainly hope not.

I seem to recall two airshows, one military (Dyess AFB) and one civilian (Flint, MI), which tried to ban all telephoto lenses. Thankfully the policies for both events were amended and no one had any issues.

It sounds like the Marines doing security were told that morning about banning telephoto lenses and the word never got out to the proper channels (public affairs, etc.). Come to think of it, after reading through the comments on their official airshow Facebook Page, it's much worse.

I feel (and fear) a full-on camera restriction at military base airshows is going to come sooner or later.

[mstares]

I spent hundreds of dollars, drove a thousand miles, and waited in some of the worst air show traffic I’ve experienced only to be denied entry because my 60-600 lens was too long.

Probably too late to help, but I encountered

So having delved into the deluge of Facebook posts, I see that this is just part of a larger, ugly picture... in hindsight my comment was entirely unhelpful... sorry!

Mark

[ClickJ]

I actually did end up having a decent time today, despite not being able to get any food or beverage, merch, or check out the statics. There was a fairly good size area just before security at the end of the runway that we were able to watch the show from that I was afraid they were going to kick us out of too but no issues.

I’m still very frustrated and upset that I wasn’t able to get the full experience that I’d been looking forward to so much (I still have not seen a single mention of their spontaneous rule online in the Approved/Prohibited items), but at the end of the day I put this show on my calendar so I could see the Harrier one last time and I was able to do that.

Now I have to decide if I want to go through that mess again and leave my just-in-case bleacher seat ticket with security to pass on to a lucky soul if they turn me away and do the same thing so did today, or leave the long lens at home.

A big part of this not being a total failure was the spectacular weather - low 70s and a sometimes-chilly breeze…and great clouds to shoot against.

RaZZ popped a lot of flares! I’ve never seen them used before so I am saying that with no baseline, but it was awesome. The MAGTF demo was pretty neat, I don’t get the opportunity to shoot helicopters often so that was probably the highlight of it for me - and the refueling pass was neat too.


Osprey (which I’ve never seen fly) and the Harrier were neat too. I left at the beginning of the Blues, shortly after takeoff so can’t speak to their performance.

[mstares]

Really glad this worked out for you!

Some friends travelled down from Eastern Canada, I was horrified for them as I read the various online commentary, looks like they were lucky enough to dodge the various issues.