Thunder over the Boardwalk: Atlantic City Airshow coming soon

Earplugs will be back in style on Aug. 13 as the annual Atlantic City Airshow returns to full volume after last year’s federal sequester grounded two of its biggest draws.

The Army Golden Knights parachute team and the United States Air Force Thunderbirds are back after their one-year hiatus, which has organizers expecting this year’s show to be as big — and loud — as ever.

“We had a good show for what we were up against last year,” said airboss David Schultz, who has been directing the show since it started in 2003. “It’ll be a louder show this year, with (the Thunderbirds’) six F-16s in the air.”

The show typically draws about 800,000 people to Atlantic City’s slice of the South Jersey Shore, but only drew about half that many last year without the military acts on its schedule. In 2012, its last year with military acts, the show had an economic impact of $42 million according to P.J. Rebovich, spokesman for event organizer Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce. He did not have numbers for last year’s show.

And while that 800,000 figure may sound like a promise of chaos on the roadways, Rebovich said that number includes Brigantine, Atlantic City, Ventnor and Margate, and with the South Jersey Transportation Authority well-experienced in handling airshow traffic, the impact to any single artery shouldn’t be too severe.

The show will come ten days after Lady Antebellum’s hotly-anticipated beach concert and thirteen days after Blake Shelton’s, capping off a two-week stretch of good returns for a city that’s seen a lot of bad news lately.

“It’s great exposure for us,” Rebovich said on behalf of Chamber President Joe Kelly. “It shows we’re quite a patriotic town and always welcoming visitors and doing big things, like this show and the free beach concerts the Atlantic City Alliance is pulling off.”

The show will begin at 11:50 a.m. with tow-banner planes, followed immediately after by a pair of jumps by the Golden Knights in what should be one of the day’s grandest spectacles. A 1:10 demonstration of a Marine Corps Harrier jet should be a highlight, as should the aerobatics performances of civilians Andrew McKenna and Jim Beasley at 2:16 p.m. and World Unlimited Aerobatic Champion Rob Holland at 2:26 p.m. The Thunderbirds’ show-closing performance will start at 3 p.m.

While visitors will be spread throughout Atlantic City and nearby towns, travel into the city could prove difficult, so the Chamber is offering park-and-ride shuttle service to and from Mile 4 on the Atlantic City Expressway for $20. Shuttles will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Before summer began, Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian promised the city would be flush with fun, free events for visitors and local alike, and he said the airshow is just another part of fulfilling that vow.

“We’ve been delivering that every day and every weekend,” he said. “We had a great weekend last weekend and I think that’s what you’ll see every weekend, from now until the kids go back to school in September.”

For more information on this year’s Airshow, visit acchamber.com/event/atlantic-city-airshow

Original Source:  http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com