photo: Skydive Dubai
The actress Michelle Rodriguez definitely lived up to the title of one of her films and lived Fast and Furious by jumping out of an airplane at the ever popular Skydive Dubai. The host to more and more celebrity skydives.
After attending the annual Dubai Beach Polo Cup with fellow F&F co-star Tyrese Gibson and retired football star Diego Maradona, Michelle headed off to the drop zone where she completed her skydive. She has been in Dubai UAE for the last few weeks filming the 7th Fast and Furious film.
This was not a first time jump for Michelle, she went skydiving in 2006 at Skydive Perris in Southern California for G4TVs show "Icons".
The annual Sun 'n Fun International Fly In and Expo is celebrating its 40th birthday this week April 1 - 6! Held every year at Florida's Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (LAL). It is one of the largest airshows in the world. If you plan on flying in, don't worry about the airport being full, they have never had to turn airplanes away.
The theme for this year is "A Fair in the Air to Remember". Some of the highlights include:
- Airshow performers everyday this week
- A performance by the Blue Angels - Fri., Sat. & Sun. - April 4-6 (4pm-6pm)
- Historic and current aircraft static displays
- Take a flight in the world's first mass produced airliner the 1929 Ford Tri-motor ($75)
- Attend the 1st annual Dinner with Legends Banquet
- Visit 100s of exhibitors including, AOPA, EAA, Pilatus, Beechcraft, Soloy Aviation, Cessna, Piaggio, ForeFlight, Garmin, Flying Magazine, Quest Aircraft, SiriusXM just to name a few.
- See one the few Night Airshows in the world. Includes a fireworks show - Sat. April 5 7pm-9pm
- Attend the job fair. Recruiters from major, regional and corporate flight departments will be there.
- Fly in a B-17 Flying Fortress. 1 of only 11 still flying! ($475)
- Hot Air Balloon launch - Sat. April 5 (rides available)
General admission ticket prices are: Adults - $37, Youth (11-17) - $15, 10yrs and under - Free. Preferred seating is an additional $20. Well worth it I think. It gives you seating on the flightline, bag storage, a shade tent, access to bathrooms and free water all day. You can purchase your tickets online here.
If you're flying there and have an extra seat or two or if you need a seat, Sun 'n Fun has a page/forum to help you out. Here is the link.
Unfortunately I will not be able to make it out there this year. But I hope some of you can!
This will be a very busy weekend as far as air shows are concerned. The highlight of this weekends air shows is the NAF El Centro Air Show. The world famous Blue Angels will kick off their year long performance schedule here. If you can not make that air show, don't worry, there will be plenty more and I will be posting every one of them here.
There will be two more west coast shows, the Luke AFB Open House and Air Show and the MCAS Yuma Air Show. Jasper Texas will be having its annual Fly In and Air Show. Titusville Florida will be showcasing lots of warbirds at its Tico Warbird show and the Thunder in the Valley air show will be happening in Columbus Georgia. Have fun everyone!
The United States Parachute Association (USPA) designates the second Saturday in March of every year to be its Safety Day and this year that happens to be on March 8th. Started in 1997, it is the day that all of the USPA drop zones around the country gather up their employees and skydivers to review safety issues. Many of the skydivers are a little rusty from not jumping much (if at all) during the Winter months and is why it is held at this time of year.
Various people will speak, including the DZO, DZM, S&TA and Jump Pilot. If that happens to be you, be sure and write down at least an outline of what you want to speak about. As pilots we are taught that safety is #1, so do not simply stand up and say a couple words. Take advantage of the fact that you have everyone's attention on the topic of safety. Personally, I usually talk about Weight & Balance, Safety Belts, Emergency Procedures (ie. departure/en route climb engine out) and Prop Awareness during hot fueling, to name a few.
The only problem with Safety Day is that it's only one day a year. If I owned a drop zone we would have safety meetings every month.
The Red Bull Air Race is returning to the skies starting February 28 - March 1 2014 in Abu Dhabi UAE. I haven't personally seen them since 2007 in San Diego, a stop that has been removed from the schedule for 2014. I will catch up to them in Las Vegas in October. You can purchase tickets on the Red Bull Air Race site now. General admission tickets are only $39 and Reserved seat tickets are $59 and include a Hangar Pass. I hope to see some of you there!
The Blue Angels have just announced their 2014 airshow schedule! They will be flying from March through November. I'm going to try and make the San Francisco CA or Houston TX show. Hopefully I'll see you there!
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