Air show just a part of Drum festivities

FORT DRUM — Exhilarating may be the best word to describe flying 1,800 feet in the air and looking straight down at the ground.

That is how Mark D. Miller, a pilot with the Lima Lima Flight Team performing at the second annual Mountainfest Air Show, spends his free time.

Mr. Miller is the newest member of the six-man team that will perform an 18-minute show today and Sunday afternoon. The pilots fly in formation, twisting and turning above the ground. The planes dive toward one another at full speed, spreading smoke across the sky.

"Formation flying isn't what pilots are trained to do," said Mr. Miller, who began flying lessons in 1989 and became a pilot in 1996. "They learn to operate their aircraft independently, but here you give all control to the lead pilot and work together."

Mr. Miller is from Montgomery, Ill., and joined the team about a year ago. He keeps a memento book of every person who has ridden with him in the T-34 plane that was built in 1954 and used by the Navy and Air Force to train pilots.

The Lima Lima Flight Team is just one of the acts performing this weekend. The others are a CF-18 Hornet demonstration by the Canadian Air Force, the Iron Eagle biplane acrobatic act and the Gary Rower Vintage Air Show in a 1942 Army Air Corps PT-17.

The gates to the show open at 9 a.m. today and Sunday.

Today, the 10th Mountain Division Special Troops Battalion will be welcomed home during a ceremony and there will be a Salute to the Nation at 11:30 a.m. The main portion of the air show will start about 1:30 p.m. and go until the Jo Dee Messina concert begins at 6 p.m. Rounding out the day will be a twilight air show that ends in a 30-minute fireworks display.

Gov. David A. Paterson will join the festivities today, attending the Salute to the Nation and welcome home ceremony for the 1,000 soldiers who spent 12 months in Iraq. The governor's office said he is scheduled to speak at 11:30 a.m.

On Sunday, the air show will start at 11:30 a.m. and end about 3 p.m. Visitors can reach Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield from Route 26 or by County Route 29 in Philadelphia. The free event is open to the public.

There also will be static displays of military aircraft, including cargo planes and several helicopters and military vehicles on the ground.

Concessions will be available throughout the day. There will be 11 Family Readiness Groups providing the food, which will range from catfish to cotton candy. All proceeds will go back into the groups so they can develop events for soldiers and families.