Dayton Air Show pivots with inaugural Flight Fest: Gary Sinise band to perform
Jun. 17—For decades, the closest most Dayton Air Show visitors could get to performers was craning their necks up at aircraft dancing 1,500 feet above the Dayton International Airport tarmac.
This year, the CenterPoint Energy Dayton Air Show is pivoting. In lieu of the Friday parade in Vandalia, the show is hosting Flight Fest, 6 to 10 p.m. Friday at the Vandalia Recreation Center.
There, guests might actually bump into a favorite pilot.
Scott Buchanan, chairman of the U.S. Air and Trade Show Board, which produces the show, said Flight Fest is free but tickets are required. Guests will have a chance to meet pilots and hear the Lt. Dan Band, featuring actor Gary Sinise, who has long supported U.S. service members.
"That will be probably the biggest difference," from previous air shows, Buchanan show. "Giving the jet teams and the military more access to the public."
The show has always had strong ties to the Air Force and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, he said. "This is just a natural progression of that."
One of the reasons the Air Force Thunderbirds flight demonstration squadron exists at all is to boost recruiting. "It allows them access to the public, and it allows the public access to them," Buchanan said. "It gives them a whole evening of 5,000 or 6,000 people they don't normally get."
Parking for Flight Fest will at and around the Hareless Hare brewery at 738 W. National Road. Buchanan said there will be shuttles to the recreation center at 1111 Stonequarry Road.
Go to daytonairshow.com/vandalia-flight-fest/ for tickets and details.
High-flying (and static) fun
The show itself will be Saturday and Sunday on the east side of Dayton International Airport. The ever-popular Thunderbirds are set to headline both days.
As always, performances and flights depend on weather, maintenance issues and conditions. The current National Weather Service forecast calls for sunny skies with highs in the 90s both days. Wear sunscreen and hydrate, Buchanan advises.
Expect perennial fan favorites such as a C-17 Globemaster flight, a nod to the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson, the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team, and more. The Red Bull Air Force, with its inverted helicopter flight, will be back. Kevin Coleman will return with his brand of aerobatic derring-do.
What's new? A lot. The B-29 "Doc" restored Superfortress bomber- one of two still flying — will visit Dayton for the first time. And for the first time in a couple of decades, the world-famous Goodyear blimp will be present and flying. Or hovering.
"They'll actually be flying in the show," Buchanan said.
There's enough on the ground to keep the aviation-curious occupied for hours. An F-35 Lighting from Luke Air Force Base is expected, as well as F-16s from the Ohio and New Jersey Air National Guards.
Buchanan hopes a C-5 Galaxy from Dover AFB will be on hand, too, but he cautioned those can be tricky to secure these days.
Even the U.S. Navy is planning an appearance, with its Strike Group "multi-scenario, mixed-reality experience," designed to give users a glimpse of Navy STEM careers.
Veterans will be honored by the Ford Oval of Honor Thursday evening at Wright Brothers Aero on show grounds, and those honorees will be invited to a show chalet Sunday.
"We should have a lot going on," the chairman said.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 show and light rain dampened the event in 2021, although attendance that year was regarded as solid.
Then attendance skyrocketed.
The 2022 show hit a record, 83,000 attendees over two days, before the 2023 show bested that record with 85,000.
The 2024 50th anniversary show drew 75,000.
Parking and traffic are always a challenge. With a number of people roughly equivalent to six sold-out University of Dayton arenas being funneled into the airport area over two days, visitors are advised to arrive early and be patient.
Attendance has been down slightly at other air shows this year, but Buchanan said he is not concerned. "We should do pretty well."
John Cudahy, president of the International Council of Air Shows, said shows have seen some weather challenges so far in 2025, but the crowds still tend to be big.
"It feels to me almost like a rediscovery of air shows, and that's good for the business," he said.
Aerobatics pilot Rob Holland was preparing for a Virginia air show in April when his custom MX Aircraft MXS crashed while landing at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton, Va. Beyond that, though, there have been no safety incidents, Cudahy said.
For tickets and other information, visit daytonairshow.com.
------
If you go
What: 2025 CenterPoint Energy Dayton Air Show.
When: Saturday and Sunday. Gates open at 9 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. both days. Look for performances generally to start around 11 a.m., weather and conditions permitting.
General admission parking: Take exit 64 on Northwoods Boulevard from Interstate 75. Follow signs to appropriate lots. Stay in the right lane. Be prepared to walk once you've parked.
Tickets: daytonairshow.com/tickets/
Flight Fest
When: 6-10 p.m. Friday.
Where: Vandalia Recreation Center, 1111 Stonequarry Road.
Tickets. Free at daytonairshow.com/vandalia-flight-fest/
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
a day ago
- USA Today
'This is just who I am': Pixar's new 'Elio' explores loneliness
'This is just who I am': Pixar's new 'Elio' explores loneliness Show Caption Hide Caption Zoe Saldaña talks new Pixar movie 'Elio' Zoe Saldaña reveals why she can relate to the emotional message in her new Pixar film 'Elio.' 'Elio' is the latest Pixar animated adventure to explore friendship, loneliness and the importance of human connection. Our 11-year-old hero just to has to go out of this world to find his best pal. In the sci-fi family film (in theaters June 20), Elio (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) is an orphaned youngster who lives with his Air Force major aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) but the quirky kid has a hard time getting along with her or other children. So much so that he yearns to be abducted by aliens. Wanting to belong and thinking one's place is somewhere else are themes that touched Saldaña about the project. 'Kids can be pretty rough with each other. And adults, because we're juggling so many things and also dealing with our own sorrow, it's hard to completely understand children or give them time and space,' says the recent Oscar winner. Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox Elio's dream comes true and he gets beamed up to a spaceship of the Communiverse, an organization with representatives from across the galaxy, and the kid has his mind blown by so many colorful and interesting creatures. They think he's the leader of Earth – and he doesn't go out of his way to correct them – but Elio really comes out of his shell when he makes fast friends with the blobby and gregarious Glordon (Remy Edgerly). 'Elio' takes the 'Are we alone?' question that we ask about our place in an uncharted universe and the possibility of alien life, and then riffs on it being something we ask ourselves when feeling isolated or unloved. One of 'Elio' filmmaker Domee Shi's favorite moments is in the beginning, with Elio stretched out on the beach in the middle of a sandy crop circle that reads: 'Aliens! Abduct me!!!' 'It's like you want him to achieve his goal, but then you also feel bad that he wants to leave Earth,' says Shi, who wrote and directed the movie alongside Madeline Sharafian. 'He's tenacious. He's got one of the crazier drives out of any of the Pixar characters." 'Elio' trailer: Boy meets alien BFF in Pixar's sci-fi movie A lonely 11-year-old boy dreams of being abducted by aliens and winds up on a spaceship in Pixar's animated sci-fi comedy "Elio." The fact that this kid is pretty much done with our planet is "a tragic reflection of what's going on in the world today,' Sharafian adds. 'We've seen it maybe with Carl Fredricksen (in 'Up') and some other of our adult characters that there's this kind of bah-humbug feeling about the people around them. But to see it in a character so young is sort of heartbreaking. 'It was up to us to decide: Why does he feel this way about Earth and how can we change his mind?' But it wasn't just Elio feeling forlorn. Olga, who dreams of being an astronaut, and her nephew get in arguments, and it's because she's worried about Elio, though he doesn't see that. 'She's doubting she even has the ability to be a good parent for him,' she says. 'And instead of him seeing that as this almost cry for help, he sees it as 'She doesn't want me.' ' From a more cosmic perspective, Glorgon's dad Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett) also wants to feel part of a community, specifically the Communiverse, but his aggressive nature is alienating. Because Hylurgians are a race of soft, squishy worm aliens, Grigon wears battle armor to shield himself and make him look strong and tough. 'Elio also has this internal armor that he's put up in himself, too, after his parents passed away,' Shi says. 'And this turning point for his relationship with Gordon is he lets his armor down.' 'Elio' reminded Kibreab, 14, of feeling lonely during COVID lockdown. 'It was sad because you couldn't really see friends, couldn't hang out with them,' he says. 'It was mostly on FaceTime. I couldn't see my sister often like I do now. And it was hard to find friends and find things to do during that time.' Also, it's sometimes difficult for Kibreab to find peers because he does online school. 'I don't see kids that often. And when I do, maybe sometimes they'll think I'm strange because of being me,' he adds. 'A very important part that this movie talks about is just being yourself and to never change because of someone else. And I think that's kind of how I tapped into Elio.' Saldaña also sympathized with Elio because she lost a parent when she was 9. Discovering and bonding with like-minded people in the art community helped Saldana face moments of loneliness. 'It turned out that there are people that feel lonely, too, (and) misunderstood that were really extroverted in their artistic selves but very introverted in their personal selves,' Saldaña says. 'I was able to realize that, one, I wasn't alone. And two, there's nothing wrong with me. This is just who I am.'
Wall Street Journal
a day ago
- Wall Street Journal
‘Elio' Review: Pixar's Accidental Abduction
Some of us feel alone in this world, but not necessarily in all worlds. Take 'Elio,' a misfit pre-adolescent boy who lost his parents and is being raised by his aunt, a major in the Air Force who monitors space debris at a high-tech military base. Elio would like very much to be abducted by aliens and forget about everything that went wrong on this planet. Because it's a Pixar movie, Elio does indeed meet extraterrestrial beings, in a kooky series of adventures embedded with delightfully odd-looking blobby-wobblies that might be gifts from the universe's trippiest toy store. Unlike last summer's smash 'Inside Out 2,' 'Elio' isn't a first-rate Pixar offering, but thanks to sumptuous animation and a warm spirit, it's a cute 'Wizard of Oz'-style journey to the beyond and back. Outer space is cool, but there's no place like home.
New York Times
a day ago
- New York Times
‘Elio' Review: Pixar's Fantastical, Familiar World
Colors pop, lines flow and an alien world shimmers like the Vegas strip after dark in Pixar's latest, 'Elio,' a lackluster science-fiction adventure about a lonely boy and extraterrestrials who come in peace, except when they don't. By turns appealing and drearily familiar, the movie offers the expected visual pleasures and characters who range from the gently exaggerated to the hyperbolic. Some have rubbery countenances and curious appendages; others have enormous eyes that water with emotion. Yours may glaze over in boredom. A morality tale with far-out friendlies and a glowering, growling Marvelesque villain, 'Elio' has predictable Pixar bright spots, but the story is a drag. It tracks the title character (voiced by Yonas Kibreab), an 11-year-old who's been recently and mysteriously orphaned. He now lives with his aunt, Olga (Zoe Saldaña), an Air Force Major who monitors space junk at the coastal California base where she's stationed. Loving yet clueless, she is at a loss on how to raise a child, especially one who's unhappy and feels out of place with her or anywhere. (Her parenting book is studded with a rainbow of sticky notes.) Less comically, Olga is especially ill-equipped to deal with a grieving child, a failing that she shares with the filmmakers. Orphans are a storybook staple — from Disney's original 'Snow White' to 'Lilo & Stitch' — though not on Planet Pixar. Yet to judge by this movie's at times abruptly fluctuating tones and eagerness to dry every tear, Elio's greatest issue isn't that his parents are dead but that the filmmakers are uncomfortable with his grief. Early on, while out with his aunt, he hides under a table and weeps. Soon, though, the story has revved up, and he's humorously sending messages into space begging to be taken away from Olga, Earth, everything. 'Aliens abduct me!!!,' Elio scrawls on a beach, before lying down and grinning hopefully at the sky. After some more narrative busyness, character development and scene changes, the filmmakers grant Elio's wish and send him off on his hoped-for cosmic adventure. One evening, while Olga is at work and Elio waits for deliverance, he is pulled from the beach on a beam of light, an image of alien abduction with a suggestively rapturous religious undertone. Once he achieves liftoff, the movie starts to as well. It grows more vividly hued and nicely unbound, and Elio is soon careering through bursts of color and graphic forms, much like the astronaut in the oft-copied lysergic star gate sequence in '2001: A Space Odyssey.' Elio predictably exits our solar system and ends up in the Communiverse, a sparkly, kaleidoscopic alternative realm where the directors Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi modestly cut loose. (The script is by Julia Cho, Mark Hammer and Mike Jones.) A jumble of landscapes rich in lightly phantasmagoric embellishments, it functions as a kind of hangout and otherworldly United Nations for extraterrestrials. There, Elio zips past terrains with an array of biomorphic and geometric forms. He also, via a translator, chats up others, including a talking, floating blue supercomputer, Ooooo (Shirley Henderson), a kind of A.I. Jiminy Cricket, if one that tends to look like a dialogue bubble with eyes and a mouth. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
