As planemaker to the world, Wichita deserves a world-class air show. To be sure, it gets that at each McConnell Air Force Base open house, which again drew thousands of people last month with its fearless fliers and plane displays. But the community also needs to keep building its signature Wichita Flight Festival, which is back at Jabara Airport today through Sunday.
The festival’s mission isn’t just to entertain, though it does that with name aerobatic acts that treat the sky as their stage. It also celebrates a story unique to Wichita, how its aviation pioneers such as Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech, Lloyd Stearman and Bill Lear built an industry. “The whole event is built on our history,” festival director Janet Wright recently told The Eagle editorial board.
That need “to honor and to educate,” as Wright also put it, rightly has kept city leaders committed to the festival, despite its unexpected $189,000 shortfall last year and past conflicts over its entertainment and former name. “We expect it’s going to grow,” Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer told the editorial board.
This year’s schedule highlights women pilots now and in the era of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, and offers kids’ activities and more than 40 aircraft on display, along with tonight’s kickoff concert by the Commodores. “It provides something for everyone,” Brewer said.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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8 Comments
I wouldn’t go to an airshow ever. Too many of them crash into the crowd. I’d like to know statistically how likely it is, seeing that they’re always in the news, and there are so few of them.
Personally I think the ratio of crashes at these things are far too high and probably should be outlawed.
The River festival committee has destroyed the enjoyment of going to the Flight Festival in their mismanagement of the evening entertainment event. The $65 cost of the entertainment for Friday night is outrageous. The Commodores are overpriced for a 60’s 3rd generation vocal group. For half that price, you would get 3 time as many people.The same radio talking ego’s will get up and pat themselves on the back for what a good job the River Festival Committee did, when all they have done is a very mediocre job over charging for what used to be an entertaining evening.
The reason Wichita Festivals holds an airshow separate from McConnell’s is because they can’t charge for admission to McConnell’s Open House. Wichita Festival’s “Flight Festival” is redundant, and like Acepilot says, outrageously overpriced.
I just hope they don’t anger the command at McConnell with their competing event, and screw *that* up the way they did the Wichita Chili Cookoff. Thankfully, Wichita Festivals is no longer involved and the cookoff is back this year.
Political Mom,
You have got to be kidding…. right?
With that logic, I wouldn’t recommend ever driving again either.
I don’t have the numbers on air show deaths, but I am reasonably sure that you are statistically more likely to die driving to the air show than to be killed at it.
Perhaps all the deep pocketed Aviation Industry in Wichita need to come up with some more jingle to supplement the Air Show that toots their own horn.
I am not interested in seeing private, elite people with too much lower working class’s money spent on their personal hobbies.If you are of the lower working class people you have to realize that the upper class people are the ones that indorse the illegal immigrations.The upper classes are trying to replace the native workers with foreign workers of lesser labor values.The lower working class people need to resist all support of the upper class endeavors.Do not support the rich man’s game, fair is fair.
The Flight Festival is coming up? I didn’t think I had been living in a cave, but maybe I was.
Another “entertainment option” provided for your enjoyment, at your expense, by your local government bureaucrats. I enjoy researching Wichita’s air industry history but I don’t think anything beyond rudimentary information will be presented at this air show.