By Lauren Wanko
Correspondent
The Air Force Thunder Bird soars through the air at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. It’s a practice run for aerial performers gearing up for this weekend’s open house and air show.
“We have Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Active Guard Reserves, civilian partners here, so this really puts on display America’s strength,” said Col. James Hodge of the U.S. Air Force.
About 250,000 spectators are expected to attend the free, two day event, which includes both military and civilian pilots like Geico Skytypers’ Steve Kapur. His team’s comprised of eight pilots.
“We have six aircrafts in our act we fly diamond with opposing solos and we all come together to finish the routine as a delta,” said Kapur.
Pilot Kapur’s team also sky-types. It’s a form of aerial messaging.
“We fly five aircrafts in a line abreast formation and we have a computer in number one that commands the smoke system in the aircraft – it tells them just when to put out a puff of smoke so we’re like a giant dot matrix printer as we go across the sky,” said Kapur.
Messages can be 1,500 feet tall and as long as six to eight miles long. Today military families got a sneak-peek of the action and an inside look at military aircrafts.
“Awesome,” said 7-year-old Talin Wood.
Major Brian Cummings of the U.S. Air Force is excited to bring his two and a half year-old along for the day.
“It’s a great opportunity to bring him in and give him a taste of what we do here at McGuire,” said Cummings.
What’s the best part of seeing all this? “Seeing how the army people fly and do all the stuff in here,” said 8-year-old Jeremy Gueli.
We’re in the cockpit of a C-17 aircraft- which transports cargo and troops and serves medical evac missions- transporting injured troops.
“At a moment’s notice we’re able to pretty much go anywhere in the world,” said U.S. Air Force Captain Tom Cushing.
Base officials say the air show and open house offers them a chance to connect with the public.
“It gives people an idea of what our men and women are doing on a day to day basis. They see all this money going to a Department of Defense budget and they don’t really know where it goes,” said C-17 Instructor Pilot for the U.S. Air force Jeremy Lydie.
“We get calls people they’re hearing sounds, hey there’s something going on, it’s the training and we wanted to open the gates and show people what it is they hearing,” said Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Media Relations Chief Lemitchel King.
Base Officials says they want these sights and sounds to remind spectators of the sacrifices service members make every day in the line of duty.