Austin was treated to not one, but two aircraft flyovers last month.

The Air Force Thunderbirds were originally scheduled for the afternoon of May 12th, but threatening weather delayed their plans by a day. Their publicized route started over San Antonio and then came north along I-35 to Austin. According to the flight map, they might pass our neighborhood three times as they flew over the Austin metro area. About ten minutes before the Thunderbirds’ scheduled arrival, Bill and I stepped outside and positioned ourselves in a nearby empty field with flat vistas in all directions. Quite suddenly, six jets flying in formation roared by our location. I had time to shoot only one decent photo—the banner for this blog entry—plus this one that’s just a little too early. (Note to self: remember to use Burst Mode for future flyovers.) We saw the Thunderbirds three times as they criss-crossed over Austin, but only that first pass came close to us.

Our second flyover was a few weeks later on Memorial Day. This time, the planes were World War II aircraft from the Commemorative Air Force – Central Texas Wing based in San Marcos, TX. This flyover also had a San Antonio-Austin route and was also delayed by iffy weather. I had almost forgotten about it until a loud buzzing noise around 4:30 PM prompted me to run outside. Two vintage planes passed right over our street, followed by a squadron of four planes about 10 minutes later. Once again, I failed miserably on the photography front while trying to avoid rooftops. Austin might have another CAF flyover on July 4th, so I might have another chance to practice flyover pictures. [Burst mode, burst mode…]

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