USAF Thunderbirds 2011 Official Airshow Schedule Update 2

NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, NV - The U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, "Thunderbirds," publicly announced their 2011 air show schedule. The team is scheduled to perform nearly 70 shows in 25 states, 1 U.S. territory and 10 European countries. They will kickoff the 2011 season by performing a flyover for the 53rd running of the Daytona 500, Feb. 20.

"The entire team is excited to announce our schedule for 2011," said Lt. Col. Case Cunningham, Thunderbird No. 1, Commander/Leader. "Our team is anxious to get on the road to represent the nearly 700,000 Airmen serving today. We take pride in all they do, and the manner in which they are doing it, with integrity and excellence, while placing service before self, time and time again."

The second year commander says it will be an awesome opportunity to engage with our Allies across the Atlantic. "We look forward to illustrating the selfless commitment and visible pride America's Airmen have in what they are doing, and what they stand for, both at home and overseas," said Cunningham.

The U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron is an Air Combat Command unit composed of eight pilots (including six demonstration pilots), four support officers, four civilians and about 110 enlisted people performing in more than 29 Air Force specialties.

A Thunderbirds' aerial demonstration is a mix of formation flying and solo routines. The pilots perform approximately 40 maneuvers in a demonstration. The entire show, including ground and air, runs about one hour. The air show season lasts from March to November, with the winter months used to train new members.

For more information about the Thunderbirds, visit www.airforce.com/thunderbirds or follow us on Facebook (U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds) and Twitter (USAFThunderbird).

The schedule posted to this blog is subject to change without notice and is weather permitting, for everyones safety.

Stay tuned to the MMP blog and check the "Milcom Blog Guide to Airshows" section on the right hand side of this blog for links to other schedules and field reports from readers during the airshow season.

Don't forget to checkout our 12th annual Air Show Guide that will appear in the March 2011 issue of Monitoring Times magazine. It will be loaded with the latest frequencies (for US and foreign teams), combined schedules, and radio equipment recommendations to make your air show experience an enjoyable and pleasurable one.

The web version of our March guide won't be posted to the MT website until mid to late April. This is done as a courtesy to our subscribers and readers who pay the freight. So get your copy of the March issue before it sells out when it is released in the last week of February. Better yet, get a subscription and don't miss a single exciting issue of Monitoring Times magazine.

2011 Show Schedule

February 2011
February 20 Daytona Beach, Florida - NASCAR Daytona 500 Fly-By

March 2011
March 19-20 Luke AFB, Arizona - Thunder in the Desert - Luke AFB 70th Anniversary Airshow
March 26-27 Tyndall AFB, Florida - Tyndall AFB Era of Airpower Airshow 2011

April 2011
April 2-3 Ceiba, Puerto Rico - Ceiba Air Show 2011
April 9 Charleston AFB, South Carolina - Charleston Air Expo 2011
April 16-17 Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina - Wings Over Wayne Airshow 2011
April 30 Beale AFB, California - 2011 Beale Air Show and Open House

May 2011
May 1 Beale AFB, California - 2011 Beale Air Show and Open House
May 7-8 Smyrna, Tennessee - The Great Tennessee Air Show
May 14-15 Langley AFB, Virginia - Air Power Over Hampton Roads
May 21-22 Andrews AFB, Maryland - Joint Service Open House Andrews 2011 Air Show - The Blue Angel/Thunderbird Reunion Air Show, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AndrewsAirshow
May 25 USAF Academy, Colorado (Invitation Only Event) http://www.usafa.af.mil/

June 2011
European Tour
June 4-5 Çiğli Air Base, Izmir, Turkey - Çiğli-İzmir Air Show: 100th Anniversary Turkish Air Force
June 8 Baneasa Airport (Aurel Vlaicu International Airport), Bucharest, Romania
June 11-12 Jesolo AB, Venezia Province, Italy - Seafront Air Show
June 15 Karup AB, Denmark - Thunderbirds Display
June 18-19 Turku AB, Finland - Turku Air Show
June 21 Baltic's Flyover
June 25 Graf Ignatievo AB, Bulgaria - Thunderbirds Display

July 2011
European Tour (continues)
July 2-3 RAF, Waddington, UK - RAF Waddington International Airshow
July 6-7 Koksijde AB, Belgium - Belgian Air Component 65th Anniversary Airshow
July 9-10 Off Weekend for the Team
July 16-17 Off Weekend for the Team
July 23-24 Dayton, Ohio - Vectren Dayton Air Show
July 27 Cheyenne, Wyoming - Cheyenne Frontier Days Air Show 2011
July 30-31 Travis AFB, California - http://www.travis.af.mil/

August 2011
August 6-7 Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Milwaukee Air & Water Show, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Milwaukee-Air-Water-Show/44556696911
August 13-14 Portsmouth, New Hampshire - Boston-Portsmouth Air Show
August 17 Atlantic City, New Jersey - Thunder Over The Boardwalk, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thunder-Over-The-Boardwalk/262040578472
August 20-21 Chicago, Ilinois - Chicago Air & Water Show
August 27-28 Waterloo, Iowa - Waterloo Aviation Expo & Air Show

September 2011
September 3-5 Cleveland, Ohio - Cleveland National Air Show
September 10-11 Niagara Falls, New York - Thunder of Niagara Air Show
September 15 Reno, Nevada - National Championship Air Races and Air Show
September 17-18 Mountain Home AFB, Idaho - Silver Wings of Idaho
September 24-25 Hill AFB, Utah - 2011 Hill AFB Open House and Air Show

October 2011
October 1-2 Fort Smith, Arkansas - Fort Smith Air Show
October 8 Holloman AFB, New Mexico - Holloman AFB Open House 2011
October 15-16 Laughlin AFB, Texas - http://www.laughlin.af.mil/
October 22-23 Ft Worth, Texas - 2011 Fort Worth Alliance Air Show
October 29-30 Lafayette, Louisiana - Sertoma Cajun Air Festival 2011

November 2011
November 5-6 MacDill AFB, Florida - MacDill Airfest 2011
November 12-13 Nellis AFB, Nevada - Aviation Nation 2011

Center Tracks Icebergs to Ensure Safety at Sea

By John Ohab, Special to American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON - A multiagency center operated by the Navy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Coast Guard provides continuous tracking and monitoring of ice movements to support national interests throughout the world.

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Gary Premo, a senior ice analyst at the National Ice Center, was interviewed on "Armed with Science: Research and Applications for the Modern Military" on BlogTalkRadio.com on Feb. 11 about the NIC's role in analyzing ice movements for safety of navigation and operations and in monitoring the changing Arctic climate.

"We record the ice change on a global scale. We also provide tactical support to the Navy and government agencies," Premo said.

Premo is an aerographer's mate, jokingly known as "weather guessers" in the Navy. They draw on extensive training in meteorology and oceanography to assess weather situations and provide commanders with tactical support. They can specialize in a variety of fields, including ice monitoring, aviation weather, hydrography, and anti-submarine and mine warfare.

Premo explained the breadth of factors that must be considered when monitoring ice, including variation in climate, currents and topography.

"To know a certain area, you have to know its climatological features dealing with weather, its wind regimes, and you have to know how to read the weather charts," Premo said.

Ice analysts rely on a wide array of satellite imaging and geospatial information technologies housed at the NOAA's Satellite Operations Facility. These tools include high-resolution synthetic aperture radar, infrared imagery, and passive microwave sensors for positional analysis of ice structures.

NIC also developed and maintains a system for naming Antarctic ice structures that have broken free from land. Icebergs that are at least 10 nautical miles at their longest axis are named and tracked through the open water until they melt below this threshold.

"We're actually the agency that does it globalwide. If you see a named iceberg in the news, that's actually us doing it," Premo said.

In addition to tracking ice movements, NIC provides tactical analyses and daily forecasts of ice conditions in the Arctic, Antarctica and the Great Lakes. The Fractures/Leads and Polynyas product is used by the U.S. Navy to identify ice fractures and aid in submarine surfacing. NIC makes daily sea ice edge measurements and ice consolidation data available to the public.

"The edge line is probably one of our most used products downloaded off our Web [site] and used by our customers," Premo said.

Premo described some of the climate changes observed in the Arctic over the past decade, including a decrease in "multiyear ice", the ice that historically survives the yearly summer melt.
"More and more of that multiyear ice has been diminishing," Premo said. "When you actually go into a melt season, that multiyear [ice] becomes smaller and smaller, which is making the Arctic more open water -- "sea ice free" as we call it -- and that's been happening over the last decade."

US Coast Guard International Ice Patrol website
http://www.uscg.mil/lantarea/iip/default.asp

US Coast Guard Maritime Telecommunications (including links to various CG frequencies)
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/