Vectren Dayton Air Show will go on rain or shine

Vectren Dayton Air Show today, Sunday. Weather may force some adjustments to schedule, official says.

The show will go on, rain or shine, this weekend, Vectren Dayton Air Show organizers say.

The two-day air show kicks off today and has rain in the forecast, but aerial performers haven’t canceled Friday — except for a fly-by of the Wright “B” Flyer, said Terry Grevious, executive director of the Vectren Dayton Air Show.

Friday was a dry run of what turned out to be a wet day that canceled practice performances of the Air Force Thunderbirds, the Breitling Jet Team and the Army Golden Knights at Dayton International Airport.

But a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet demonstration and air show acrobatic performers Sean D. Tucker and the Jack Link’s “Screamin’ Sasquatch Jet Waco” took to the skies, Grevious said.

“It may be we can do the whole show, it may be we delay a little bit” or fly part of the show, he said. ‘We’ll just have to wait and see what Mother Nature brings us.”

WHIO meteorologist Rich Wirdzek said today’s forecast shows rain and thunderstorms as remnant moisture from Tropical Storm Bill rolls into the Miami Valley from the southwest. “The chance for rain will be in a broad window, from anytime in the morning through the afternoon,” he said. A lull is expected in the evening and at night. High temperature will be around 80 degrees.

On Sunday, Wirdzek said, “There will more times of dry weather and some more sun as well.” Thunderstorms were

expected in the afternoon. “These storms may reach severe limits with high winds and hail,” he said. The high temperature will be in the mid 80s.

Pilots need a minimum of 1,500 feet altitude and five miles of visibility to operate for most acts, Grevious said. Organizers may adjust the show schedule to compensate for weather conditions.

“We really don’t know yet,” Grevious said. “We’ve had forecasts like this before, and we’ve been able to run the whole show.”

A “few” aircraft that had been expected to be part of a ground display canceled, such as a P-51 Mustang, but the majority of planes that were anticipated will be on the tarmac for visitors to see, he said.

One planned feature, the Sky Soldiers, which offered static displays of Huey helicopters as well as rides offered for a fee, withdrew because of weather, according to organizers.

Two of the biggest ground displays, a C-17 Globemaster III cargo jet and a KC-135 Stratotanker aerial tanker, were at the airport Friday awaiting air show visitors.