There were pretty much just two sounds you would’ve heard this weekend at the California Capital Airshow. 
 
Sound of a jet zooming overhead 
 
…and… 
 
Sounds of crowd ooh-ing and ahh-ing

Military and civilian pilots strutted their stuff thousands of feet in the air – and just a few feet off the ground.
 
Play-by-play of the Collaborators: “Look at this, ladies and gentlemen – Ben Freelove on his way into the right wing.  Eric Tucker into the left wing.  And rolling right around into the slot position and putting on the breaks, Bill Stein.  Back in the diamond formation.  Let’s hear it for the collaborators!” 
 
The weekend wasn’t just about what was in the air.  It was also about what was on the ground.  You could check out planes and helicopters being used right now in the Middle East – and also some of the jets showing off at the airshow. 
 
Ramirez: “(The) F16 is a duel-role fighter. It can be air-to-air or air-to-ground. It’s actually nuclear-capable. It goes up to Mach 2, which is really, really fast.” 

Senior Airman Jason Ramirez was with an F16 Falcon fighter jet – also known as the Viper. 
 
Ramirez: “One of the key elements of an F16 is its ability to move very quickly.  And its turning radius is, it can almost outurn any aircraft in our inventory right now.” 
 
Play-by-play of the F16: “At Show Center, he will bank sharply into a tight turn capable of pressing him into the seat with a force of up to nine times his normal weight.”

Sound of the F16 flying overhead 
 
Heavy winds forced a few acts to take Sunday off.  But for the thousands of people who came to Mather Airport in Rancho Cordova over the weekend, the real draw was the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels.  Sacramento resident Mike Crawford brought his family to the event.  His dad was in the Air Force, so Crawford grew up with these shows.
 
Crawford: “I definitely like when they do the crawls and then they do the G pushovers.  I like how the stunt planes are able to do flips.”
Ben: “And what are you looking forward to the most?”
Crawford: “My daughter’s face when she sees the Blue Angels.”
 
Sound of Blue Angels zooming overhead 
 
And judging from the faces in the crowd, Crawford’s daughter was hardly the only one impressed.