Team Chaos Extreme Airshows

More Record Heat Follows Team Chaos to Battle Creek

The Battle Creek Field of Flight Air Show and Balloon Festival was held over the July 4th weekend. Just the title alone makes you think this is a jumbo-sized event – and it is! While the Air Show is just a small part of a much larger 4-day Balloon Festival, it did feature many top civilian and military acts. Team Chaos was the daytime show finale both Saturday and Sunday. This was the first Michigan appearance for the team and we were delighted to have been invited to such a well run event. Barb Haluszka along with an excellent staff of volunteers did a great job of running a seamless show from the wee hours of the morning until well into the evenings. The en mass balloon launches were held at 06:30 - both AM and PM!

Duncan Aviation hosted the aerobatic performers and did an outstanding job. The Duncan facility at Battle Creek is huge. It handles phase check work for just about every type of business jet large or small. This is a first class facility that caters to very exacting customers. Airshow pilots usually don’t run in these circles so we really appreciated the royal treatment. The very friendly staff gave us the run of the place.

Gordon Webb from the Tora Bomb Squad handled the Team’s Pyro duties. He gladly took on the challenge to make Sunday’s Wall of Fire the biggest and hottest thing in the State of Michigan. One has to use caution when challenging the pyro guys to up the ante. A bigger boom is their dream-come-true scenario – so stand back! Gary and Randy moved over a few feet – just in case. Once again Team Chaos drew thunderous applause from the huge crowd as the Show Finale finished with the awesome Wall of Fire each day.

We enjoyed visiting with our old friend John Klatt. He came by the Bus and introduced Neal to some of his staff. See Photo!! We also discovered a dark side of Gary. It turns out that regardless of whether he is asleep or awake; he never stops dreaming up new maneuvers to try in the MX2. And, in case you were wondering – yes, Gary does dream in green.

Neal, John Klatt and staff.	“Gary Ward, Aerobatic Cartoonist, dreaming up new maneuvers”

Neal really pouring on the smoke!

Next stop for Team Chaos will be Denver, Colo. August 27 – 29, 2010. See you there!!

Big Bang Blasts GMAS

Words can not describe just how huge the Great Minnesota Air Show (GMAS) turned out. And, no one would have ever guessed that this was the first year for the show. It was held over the weekend of June 26 & 27th in St Cloud, MN. Show co-directors Chris Chapman and Bill Towle executed the weekend event perfectly. At one point Gary and Randy looked down from their airplanes and agreed the crowd was one of the largest they had ever seen.

The show did so many things right and the people of Minnesota certainly appreciated the quality of the event. In addition to Team Chaos, the Navy Blue Angles appeared along with a top notch list of civilian performers. We especially applaud the show for featuring a number of very talented Minnesota based performers such as John Mohr, Michael Wiskus, Bryan Jensen and C.C. Gerner. Air boss Wayne Boggs (word of the day: magnanimous) orchestrated all of the air side action while Danny Clisham kept the crowd entertained with lots of airplane and pilot trivia.

Each of the show’s performers was assigned an ‘ambassador’ to help with logistical duties on the hot ramp. Everyone appreciated the resourcefulness and enthusiasm these volunteers provided while making life a little easier for each of us. They were always one step ahead asking if we needed water, fuel or smoke oil – a great bunch of volunteers.

Jeff and Sandy Parnau from World Air Show News (http://www.airshowmag.com/) attended the show. I would suspect we will see some pictures from the show as well as a report in an upcoming issue. The magazine has done a great job of reporting air show news and creating excitement for fans – and it’s available in retail outlets such as Barnes & Nobel.

Commander Greg McWherter, Blue Angles Flight Leader offered a nice compliment to the Team when, during dinner, he referred to Team Chaos as one of the “top civilian acts in the country”. The guys were humbled. The Team Chaos finale definitely causes the biggest spontaneous crowd reaction anyone has witnessed in recent years. Experience the St Cloud fans reaction to Team Chaos here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCDvrW98dgo .

Gary attracts media attention every where he goes	Chaos team vehicles pose for WAN shot

Team Chaos adds to the near-record heat in Meridian MS

The city of Meridian, MS celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Key brother’s historic record endurance flight with an air show in their honor on May 22 & 23. Fred and Alan Key spent 27 days aloft in a single engine airplane dubbed “Ole Miss” beginning June 4th 1935.  The record stands to this day. The show created a website which included lots of history related to the historic event.

Bert Zeller lined up a show full of aviation history which included both piston and jet warbirds -some of which are rarely seen any longer, like the F-4 Phantom, TA-4 Skyhawk, and T-2 Buckeye. Bert even flew a couple of the airplanes himself during the show.  Bo Pittman was the airboss who, with the most polite manners ever, kept things moving along the timeline. The compliment of civilian performers was top notch also.

Team Chaos was the featured act and those fans that persevered thru the scorching heat were surprised when things got even hotter during the big race.  Randy spend some time with the show’s  announcer, Rhett Grotzinger, to heckle Gary a bit before his solo and garner some audience support for helping choose him to race the jet truck. His comments about Gary’s senior status backfired as soon as Gary took off and the audience could see he handled the MX-2 in an exceptionally impressive fashion for any age group. The heat did not deter Gary from having a little fun with the crowd and he was able to use the unique terrain features to add even more excitement to his solo performance by disappearing unexpectedly.

The hospitality was on par with much larger shows and the Team enjoyed meeting some of the descendants of the Key brother’s family. One memorable personality that brightened up the ramp at the Friday evening party was great granddaughter little miss Reagan who attended with her grandmother Renee. A passion for aviation still runs through the Key family.  Our hard working Crew Chief, George was able to make some new friends at the party too.

Onion Festival Ends in Cheers – Not Tears.

The 33^rd Vidalia Georgia Onion Festival featured an air show over the weekend of April 24 & 25^th. The Vidalia area is nestled midway between Macon and Savannah, approximately 90 miles from each of these cities. Team Chaos was one of the headliners along with the US Navy Blue Angels and other top performers. Even though rain and thunderstorms threatened to spoil the entire weekend the full show went on as planned both days.

The Vidalia Onion Festival air show is an icon in the community entertainment business. Every piece of the show is well planned and executed perfectly by very enthusiastic volunteers.  For example, while approaching Vidalia airport we looked down to see the most magnificent show line marker ever created for the Blues and A-10 demo.  It was nearly a two mile long sheet of white plastic that could be probably be seen from 30,000 feet.

On Friday night Neal fired up the jet truck for the crowd at the Street Dance and Opening Ceremonies on the campus of Southeastern Technical College. Just before sundown Gary & Randy flew a few circles around the crowd to remind everyone of there would be an air show the next day.

We admired the hard-core air show fans for toughing out the rain in order to stake out premium seating at the show line. They were not disappointed. The rain stopped just in time on Sunday and the show took a half hour delay for low clouds.

At the end of each flying day the Team was treated to some of the best southern hospitality we have ever experienced.  Gary, Neal and Randy were so impressed by everyone’s efforts and hospitality they presented Marsha Temples with a Team Chaos picture in appreciation.

Kudos to Marsha, Craig, Terry, Glen and all the other volunteers for a well done show.