The following is a letter I wrote to the Arizona REPUBLIC with reference to a whiney story about "all the problems" at the Luke AFB airshow over the weekend of March 28th and 29th. I gain nothing from this; I had nothing to do with the show.
I was going to let the "Air-show snags bother visitors" from Monday's REPUBLIC just roll off my back. I cannot. I have been an airshow performer since 1977, and I have seen real snags. What people are whining about at Luke AFB are minor inconveniences.
I have announced a couple of the Luke shows, and between base security and the local police departments, the agencies do the best they can.
Granted there are more people and cars coming in recent years, but Luke has two ways in and two ways out. They are both the same ways. Remote site parking is a great idea, but if the shuttle buses aren't kept separate from the cars, traffic will never improve. Open a little-used and little-known-about gate on the west side of the base -- a gate that only snakes and coyotes know about -- and run the shuttles back and forth that way. Make the shuttles the ONLY vehicles which can use it. Isolate shuttles from any other vehicles.
Passing through screening will take some time, but do it offsite, at remote parking. Screen 'em, get 'em onto the shuttles, and move 'em out.
Ten bucks to park? With four people in a vehicle, that's $2.50 each. And the show is FREE! This show would be about a $15 to $20 ticket as a civilian show. So there was a long line? STAND in the line. You are going to see a helluva show!
I announced the show at what used to be NAS Miramar north of San Diego for the three consecutive years following the release of the movie TOP GUN. You cannot fathom the traffic trying to get into that show! It was always the second weekend in August, and cars began lining up pre-dawn for a 9 AM gate opening. (The show started at Noon, thankfully.) Base security used to escort all the performers through the aforementioned little-used and little-known-about gate on the west side of the base. It was a delight. All parking was on-site for spectators back in the 80's, but no one complained about the traffic at the two gates.
Getting off the base is usually complicated by people whining at the cops, "I don't wanna turn left! I wanna go RIGHT...." The sooner people learn to go the way security wants them to go, the quicker they can get home.
What moron brings a gun to an airshow? At a military base? And every newspaper ad and broadcast commercial, not to mention posters, said: "NO Backpacks, No Pets,"etc. Of course there is always some fool who takes the pet back to the car and locks it in. I have personally helped to "liberate" pets from these wheeled ovens.
One other thing. When people call the base, most will ask, "When do the Thunderbirds (or Blue Angels or Canadian Snowbirds) fly?" Unfortunately they are frequently told the target time. Then people will say, "They don't fly until 3 PM, so we can go over around 2:45 and see them." Wrongo. First of all, many many dummies have the same idea, and they will all wind up watching from some distance away, stuck in terrible traffic. Second, the military team is just a PART of a fantastic performance which a bunch of people have spent an awful lot of time and effort to put together. Sponsors have put money into the show so the show can pay for all the performers and the support they require. The answer to the original question should be: "The gates open at 8 AM, the flying begins at 10 AM, and the Thunderbirds are the featured act."
There weren't any "woes." It may have taken longer to get in and out, and you can't legislate against the stupidity of people who bring prohibited items and screw up the flow, but inside, you DID indeed see a world class airshow, safely and professionally managed and performed. Any "problems" as people perceived them will be fixed in time for the next show. And aside from paying ten bucks to park, no one paid a DIME for a day's entertainment, and the day's entertainment didn't cost one taxpayer one cent.
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