Latest news with #T-38Talon
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Beale Air and Space Expo: Know before you go
The highly anticipated Beale Air and Space Expo June 7 and 8 takes attendees on-base to watch cutting-edge aircraft take to the skies. Here's everything you need to know before going. In the Air There'll be no shortage of things to do and see during the Expo. Dozens of aircraft will perform throughout the day, including the U-2 Dragon Lady, the T-38 Talon, the Air Force Thunderbirds, the Navy F-18 Rhino Demo Team and more. A few featured performers include Australian professional aerobatic and air race pilot Aarron Deliu, Vicky Benzing piloting a 1950 Boeing Stearman bi-plane, and 'Scratch' Mitchell in a T-33 Shooting Star. USAF Parachutists will also perform. On the Ground Thirty-seven aircraft from various military branches and bases will be on static display on-ground, including the U-2 from Beale AFB, the F-35A from Luke AFB in Arizona and the U.S. Navy T-33 'Blue Angel' Shooting Star from Salt Lake City. You can view civilian aircraft as well, like CalFire's FH-60 Firehawk. Precision Exotics will showcase 'dream cars' like Lamborghinis and Ferraris. Hands-on learning and activities will be available for kids of all ages at the STEM zone. Future aviators, engineers and scientists can engage with interactive exhibits, flight simulators and more. General Admission General admission is free, but if you plan to drive, you must secure a parking pass online. The parking pass is free and good for all occupants in the vehicle. Drivers will be routed to available parking areas and may require a shuttle service (complimentary) of more than 20 minutes. Parking passes are not available day-of and have to be secured online. Parking opens at 8 a.m. on the day of the event and gates will be closed to incoming traffic at 1:30 p.m. Premium parking closest to the entrance is available with the purchase of Elevated Experience packages. Elevated Experiences There are three Elevated Experience packages available: Ground Level Access ($35 per vehicle): This package gives you one complimentary premium parking pass for the Skyline Lot (good for all vehicle occupants), one commemorative poster when your pass is presented at the BMLC Booth and a dedicated security checkpoint. The Flight Deck Package ($50 per person, children under five years free when accompanied by paid admission) grants access to a shaded viewing area on the flightline. You can bring your own chairs but no open umbrellas are allowed. With the purchase of two Flight Deck packages, you can receive a complimentary premium parking pass for the Skyline Lot. If you only want to purchase one Flight Deck package, you can get a preferred parking pass for $15. Flight Deck packages also come with in-and-out privileges (no seat-saving) and a dedicated security checkpoint line. The Recce Town Experience is the most elite package. Prices vary: $195 for adults and $100 for children ages five to 12. Children under five are free when accompanied by paid admission. You'll be granted access to a premium flightline viewing area with a spacious tent for shade and outdoor seating for viewing. With every two Recce Town Experiences purchased, receive one premium parking pass in the Skyline Lot. If you only want to purchase one Recce Town Experience, you can get a preferred parking pass for $15. Also included is access to a luxury bathroom with air conditioning, a commemorative air show poster, light snacks, a buffet lunch, two complimentary tickets for alcoholic beverages (ages 21+), access to a full bar for additional drinks, complimentary water, in-and-out privileges and a dedicated security checkpoint line. A table for eight can be reserved for $2,500 per table for either day. Volunteers People 18 years and older can volunteer at the Expo in a variety of ways, including guest navigation and behind-the-scenes logistics. Identification Everyone 18 and older must keep a valid federal or state ID on them at all times. Those who do not have an ID can use one of the following: Employment Authorization Documents (Form 1-766) Permanent Resident Cards, aka Green Cards (Form 1-551) Foreign passport bearing an unexpired immigrant or non-immigrant visa or entry stamp and arrival-departure records (Form I-94, Form I-94W or DoD issued CAC w/ Blue Stripe. You are not required to present your ID for base access on the day of the Expo, but you may be asked for it at any time while attending, so keep it readily available. Prohibited Items Weapons of any kind, including pocket knives, pocket tools, scissors, box cutters, billy clubs, large heavy chain link jewelry or belts, mace and pepper spray Firearms of any kind Toys that resemble firearms, including laser pointers Illegal drugs Marijuana Alcohol Backpacks (diaper bags are subject to search) Bikes, skateboards, rollerblades Walkie-talkies, HAM radios, scanners RC aircraft and drones Flammable items and fireworks Pets (except for service animals) Spray paint and silly string Outside food, coolers, grills or glass containers Glass bottles Liquid without factory seal intact (baby bottles are exempt) All vehicles are subject to search. Banned items will be confiscated and/or cause visitors to be turned away at the gate. For more information, tickets, volunteer signups and more, visit
Chicago Tribune
18-04-2025
- General
- Chicago Tribune
Heidi Stevens: Memories of a dad who wasn't mine, but shaped my world, as his family grieves his death
It started as a Facebook messenger note. My longtime friend Wendy, who I've known since elementary school — through endless dance recitals and summer camp adventures and a million bad haircuts and a handful of breakups — wrote to tell me her dad had died suddenly. He would have turned 80 on April 14. Roger DuClos added light and joy to my childhood in a way that is hard to quantify. He taught me to water ski. He made us laugh in church. He had the kindest smile and an adventurous spirit and the patience and quiet competence that made you believe — nope, made you know — you'd be fine. If you tried the scary thing. If you didn't exactly fit in. If you needed a little extra help. If you laughed when you weren't supposed to, like in church. He was a pilot for Delta Airlines, like my own dad. A career he came to after serving in the military, like my own dad. He was an Air Force instructor pilot on the T-38 Talon (which probably made teaching a scared, skinny kid to waterski seem like a breeze) and before that a football player on scholarship at the University of Arizona. I didn't know all of that when I was a kid. I knew he was a pilot. I knew he was my friend's dad. I knew he was my dad's friend. Wendy and I quickly started a trip down memory lane the day she wrote to tell me her sweet dad died. She and her older sister, Jennifer, and I hit the dad jackpot. (The mom jackpot too, I should add. An embarrassment of riches.) Our dads came to our endless dance recitals and drove us to practices and showed up at our games and taught us stuff that probably tested their patience and made them wonder if their quiet competence skipped a generation. But they hung in there nonetheless, bless their hearts. There's a Maya Angelous saying: 'People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.' My dad taught me to change the oil in my car and swap out a flat tire and tie a whole bunch of different knots like they teach you in the U.S. Navy. And I can't tell you that I retained a lot of those details, sadly. But I can tell you that I'll never forget how those lessons made me feel: Believed in. Invested in. Trusted. Capable. Cared for. Worth his time. Loved. Wendy and her wonderful mom and sister have been going through her dad's stuff, sorting through a life, planning for a memorial. She sent me an old snapshot of our dads together. I texted it to my dad, who promptly texted back that it looks like it was taken when Roger was getting ready to leave for Delta Airlines 757 school, probably July 1997 or 1998. I texted that to Wendy. 'Tell your dad we found the 767-400ER manuals,' she wrote back. 'In case he wants a refresh.' Her dad saved everything. 'Every test he ever took in the military,' she wrote. 'EVERY. TEST.' One day I was in my parents' living room telling stories and my dad quietly left the room and returned with a receipt for the Volkswagen Beetle — two-door, leatherette trim, custom orange paint job — that he bought for my mom on Jan. 27, 1967, exactly one month after their wedding. It cost $2,054.17. (The custom orange paint job was an extra $110.) There's a mixture of resourcefulness and aptitude and nostalgia in those found objects. And they add up to something magical. 'Even the broken stuff has labels explaining that it's broken but he might use it for parts for something else,' Wendy wrote. 'He legit has a label on every phone cord … RAD lvg rm cord AZ. LCD ktchn cord WI.' What's it like to see his handwriting, I asked. All those labels. All those tests. 'It makes me cry,' she wrote. 'We used to tell him how uncanny it was that his handwriting and Santa's were the same.' I'm guessing they'll stumble upon some of Santa's old notes soon. It takes care and organization to hang onto old stuff. But it also takes an understanding that all the little moments and objects and artifacts, no matter how minor, have value. They add up to a life. Wendy's dad sewed his Walmart watch back together when the band started to fray. 'Because the watch part wasn't broken and why buy a new watch when you can sew the band with red thread,' she wrote. 'He still had a tube TV because it was still working and the DuClos family doesn't buy new stuff unless it was broken and couldn't be fixed by dad.' What a gift to go through life watching so much be fixed by Dad. I'm forever grateful for my own dad's modeling in that department. And I'm increasingly aware — as I'm saying more goodbyes to the grown-ups who populated my childhood and showed me what it looks like to take care of your people and made me laugh and made me think and loved my friends into their current, beautiful selves — that I've been lucky beyond belief. Loving, safe grown-ups shape a kid's world in such profound, permanent ways. I'll miss Mr. DuClos. My missing barely belongs in the same universe of what his family is going through. But I know I get to carry him around in my heart, where he lodged himself early — especially that look when he was about to make us giggle even though we were supposed to be solemn. Life has enough solemn.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
See photos of Air Force's most secret NorCal base. How you can visit it too
Inside Look is a Sacramento Bee series where we take readers behind the scenes at restaurants, new businesses, local landmarks and news stories. It's been seven years since Beale Air Force Base, home to the secretive U-2 Dragon Lady reconnaissance aircraft, hosted a public airshow. In anticipation of the event, the Yuba County airbase invited local media for a demonstration of the aircraft on Wednesday and the pressure suits pilots must use to fly it. A glimpse of Beale's other aircraft, the T-38 Talon training jet, was also presented. Media visitors were asked not to photograph a number of base features. The opportunities to see the elusive U-2 might be dwindling, since the plane has been targeted for retirement in 2026 — although extensions to the program are possible. The Beale Air & Space Expo 2025 is scheduled for June 7-8. The show will feature many performers, including the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, which fly the F-16 fighter, and the U.S. Navy's F/A-18 Rhino demo team. The U-2 will also fly. Tickets are $35 and are available at
The Hill
31-03-2025
- General
- The Hill
NTSB investigating close call between Delta flight, Air Force jets near DC
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Monday it is investigating the close call between a commercial Delta Air Lines flight and a group of Air Force jets flying near Reagan Washington National Airport on Friday. In a post on the social platform X, the NTSB said it is probing the 'loss of separation' between the Minnesota-bound Delta Airbus A319 and the group of Air Force T-38 Talon jets flying toward Arlington, Va. The Delta flight, carrying 131 passengers, received on onboard alert that an Air Force jet was close by shortly after taking off from the Washington, D.C.-area airport on Friday. The Delta flight was cleared for takeoff while four U.S. Air Force T-38 jets were flying toward Arlington National Cemetery for a flyover, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA said Friday it was also investigating the incident. The close call is the latest incident near Washington, which in January experienced the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since 2001. A midair collision between an American Airlines passenger plane and Army Black Hawk helicopter near the same airport killed all 67 people on board both aircraft. The Friday incident saw no injuries. After receiving word about other jets in the region, both aircraft took corrective action. 'Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people,' Delta said in a statement on Friday. 'That's why the flight crew followed procedures to maneuver the aircraft as instructed.'
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
A Delta Air Lines plane and a US Air Force jet had a near miss close to Washington's Reagan Airport
Two aircraft were involved in a near miss near Washington's Ronald Reagan Airport last week. A Delta Air Lines plane and an Air Force jet came close to each other, an FAA incident report said. The near miss came two months after a collision close to the airport killed 67 people. A Delta Air Lines flight and a US Air Force aircraft had a near miss near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, just two months after a midair collision near the same airport killed more than 60 people. The incident occurred on Friday, March 28, at 3:16 p.m. when Delta Flight 2983, an Airbus A319, had just received takeoff clearance. At the same time, four US Air Force T-38 Talons were inbound to Arlington National Cemetery for a flyover. The T-38 Talon is a two-seat supersonic jet used to train pilots. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Delta pilot received an onboard alert that another aircraft was nearby. Air traffic controllers quickly issued corrective instructions to both planes, preventing a collision. The FAA has launched an investigation. Flight tracking footage and audio communications, shared by VASAviation on YouTube, show just how close the two aircraft came. Both flights continued to their destinations without further incident. "Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people. That's why the flight crew followed procedures to maneuver the aircraft as instructed," a Delta spokesperson told Business Insider. The near-miss incident came almost exactly two months after an American Airlines flight collided with a Black Hawk helicopter close to the same airport, killing 67 people. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, located just outside Washington, DC, is home to the country's busiest runway, with over 800 takeoffs and landings per day. The airport is the closest of three area airports to the city, about 3 miles south of the White House. Its proximity to Capitol Hill makes it a favorite of lawmakers. Military helicopters also frequently fly low over the nearby Potomac River, transiting between military bases close by and the Pentagon, about a mile north of the airport. Flying into and out of Reagan Airport, with short runways and such heavily restricted airspace nearby, is "like threading a needle," one pilot previously told Business Insider. Following the January incident, Brian Alexander, a military helicopter pilot and a partner at the aviation accident law firm Kreindler & Kreindler, told BI that a shortage of air traffic controllers and increasing airspace congestion had affected safety. "Our whole air traffic control system has been blinking red, screaming at us that we've got it overloaded," he said at the time. More broadly, air traffic congestion has become a growing concern. According to a January report from the National Transportation Safety Board, there were more than 15,000 close calls between commercial airplanes and helicopters from October 2021 to December 2024. Read the original article on Business Insider
