Then it taxied backwards.  And did a 3-point turn inside the 200-ft width of the runway.

That pilot is my new hero, because I can barely parallel park my 15-ft Honda Accord.

Let’s just say: I’m a newly admiring fan of the C-17.

After the C-17 there were F-16s.  My D300 was set to 6fps, and I chattered away every time they flew over.  Even with the best of technology, however, one should note a basic limitation of the standard photographer–the rate at which he or she is able to rotate skull and gray matter atop a spinal column, taking into effect the extra drag of a DSLR with a telephoto lens.  You’ll note the effects in the second photo on the right.  My max rotational speed appears to be slightly less than the required (slightly less than) 1,000mph.

(For the technically astute out there, no, I’m not going to use my vast store of trigonometric identities to translate the jet’s speed to the rotational speed of my head.)

The airshow was awesome.  I don’t know how else to describe it.  There aren’t many things in this world I’m willing to trade for experiences like getting off that base–2 hours in the hot sun and unmoving lines.  But two Thunderbirds (F-16s) thundering barely a few hundred feet overhead at afterburner is enough to make me scream and melt like a teenage girl at a Hannah Montana concert.  My chest, my whole body shook with the sound and shockwave.  It was exhilarating.

I’ll have more to say about the airshow in upcoming posts.  Check out this photo for now.  The tails on those F-16s look to be about 5 feet apart, which is more like a half-inch when you consider the speed at which they’re traveling.  Those guys are insane!

(Yes, mom, I put on sunscreen.  Almost everywhere!)

The last time I went to the Hill AFB Airshow (way back in June 2006, images here), I was only 26 and still innocent.  Also, I was mainly using the Tamron 70-300 macro lense.  In my opinion, one of the worst lenses ever made.  You’ll see all of my images have terrible fringing (Wikipedia article; long story short: the purplish hue along areas of high contrast).  Not just fringing, either, but I’ve always felt like something was off about the color in those images.  I’ve never been able to subjectively identify the problem, but let’s just leave it at this: it was a bad lense.

The one good thing about that lense was that it went out to 300mm, and on my digital SLR with 1.5x magnification factor that became 450mm.  In my current camera bag, the best I’ve got is my trusty 80-200 f/2.8, which will take me out to 300mm.  Not bad, but not 450mm.  I thought about renting the Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 from Pictureline but ended up not making the time to head out there.

Regardless of all these geeky NAS issues, I’m going to an Air Force base and I am going to see some of the most amazing aviation in the world!  Word is there will be appearances by F-16, F-22, F-15, B-52, C-130, … it’s enough to cause heart palpitations.  I’m sure you understand.