Pacific Air Show 2024 plus fooding

Pacific Airshow

October 2024

Morning practice - did not look this good in reality.

Then the sun disappeared for a few hours... and reappeared just in time for the F-22 Demo Team.

Next up, USAF Thunderbirds.

USAF Thunderbirds afternoon practice.

Low bomb burst maneuver.

Tight formations by the end of the season.

The delta.

Dehaze is doing a lot of work here.

The delta.

Low bomb burst maneuver again.

Low bomb burst maneuver breakaway.

I forget the name of this one.

Afternoon sun through the canopy.

The delta.

USN F/A-18F Rhino Demo Team finished up the day.

Kin Craft Ramen and Izakaya.

Beef tongue was really good but also quite expensive.

Tom yum seafood ramen.

Unagi, pork belly, chicken thigh yakitori.

Unagi close-up. Inside.

Inside.

Outside.

Yummy Noodle.

Cold cucumber.

Spicy won tons were okay.

Green onion pancake also middling. Inside.

Inside.

Bad weather pretty much tanked the Pacific Airshow this year. Morning session got in the USAF Thunderbirds diamond practice, then a bit of USMC MV-22 Osprey, but not much as a layer of low clouds moved in for several hours. We could hear the FedEx 757, North American B-25 Liberator, and something GE F414 powered overhead (not sure if it was E/A-18G Growler or F/A-18F Super Hornet), but we couldn't see them. When the clouds finally lifted around 3:00pm we at least got the USAF F-22A Raptor Demo team to come out and do a great show, along with the full USAF Thunderbirds display, which was superb as always.

Unfortunately the weather lead to some major disappointments that won't get another chance, in particular the USAF A-10 Thunderbolt II Demo Team is disbanding after this season as the A-10 fleet is being retired. The Pacific Airshow is also one of the only shows big enough to get both the US Navy E/A-18G Growler Demo Team and the F/A-18F Rhino Demo Team and the US Navy F-35C Demo Team and the USAF B-1B Lancer and the USAF KC-135 Demo Team all at once! *whew*

So. Alas. This year was disappointing. Fingers crossed next year is better, although with all the GA tickets this year valid for Friday next year, it might be packed! And missing the A-10 Warthog is very sad.

Dinner at Kin Craft Ramen and Izakaya. I'd been before but neglected to order their seafood tom yum ramen til today. It's good and showy, but perhaps a bit less good and showy than hoped. Which is fair, since that much hype is rough. The yakitori, especially the pork belly, isn't bad, and the beef tongue is excellent, although not cheap. Traffic still looked bad when I had finished up at Kin Craft Ramen, so I ran a few errands, then found myself in the same plaza as Yummy Noodle. Their cold cucumber was pretty good, the spicy wontons just okay, the green onion pancake also was pretty middling. Still, not the worst meal, and they had zero wait, which was a plus.