All eyes will turn to the sky for Ocean City’s Air Show Weekend on Sept. 15 and 16. All events are free to attend.
The celebration starts with the Ocean City Airport Festival on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The festival features a ground display of unusual airplanes ranging from World War II to the present. The event will feature a parachute jump from Team Fastrax, “America’s Skydiving Team.” It also will include food, music, classic cars and kids’ activities, including the Ocean City Board of Realtors’ popular Bubble Mania.
The skydiving team will perform at the Airport Festival at some time after noon, depending on wind and weather conditions. The new half-mile “Runway Run” will return and is open to all ages. It offers a chance for anybody to cover ground normally traversed only by planes.
The festival takes place at the Municipal Airport at 26th Street and Bay Avenue. Additional parking for the festival will be available at Shelter Road (off Tennessee Avenue) with free shuttle service provided.
A new addition last year, the Parachute Pyrotechnic Show, will return at 8 p.m. Saturday. The show consists of several highly trained and specially licensed Team Fastrax parachuters exiting an aircraft 6,000 feet above Ocean City’s beach and Boardwalk. Brilliant white or multi-colored projectile pyrotechnics are then ignited as the parachuters fly in formation, creating a dazzling display for spectators on the ground. The jump will end with a landing on the Seventh Street Beach and will be viewable along the entire Boardwalk.
The Boardwalk Aerobatic Air Show will bring some of the best stunt pilots and aerobatic champions in the world to put on a show over the beach and Boardwalk between Sixth Street and 14th Street starting at 1 p.m. Sunday. The tentative lineup includes:
- Fastrax Parachute Team with National Anthem: teamfastrax.com
- Redline Aerobatic Team Teaser
- Texan Flight – Jersey Jerks 4 Passes
- Kevin Russo: kevinrussoairshows.com
- N.J. Air National Guard UH-60 SPIES/FRIES Demonstration
- U.S. Coast Guard MH-65D Dauphin Search and Rescue Demonstration
- Paul Dougherty: doughertyairshows.com
- David Windmiller: windmiller.com/home
- Mark Murphy FG-1D Corsair “Godspeed”
- Redline Aerobatic Team Full Show – Jon Thocker & Ken Reider: redlineairshows.com
Thousands typically soak up some of the final days of the calendar summer as they watch the spectacle from the beach and Boardwalk. The show is best viewed from the area between Fifth Street and 14th Street. There is no rain date for any of the shows, and air performances may be canceled if weather conditions do not allow for safe flying.
