99
The first night air show I produced was in Terre Haute, Indiana in 2003. We had a jet truck, Steve Oliver, Gene Soucy and pyro, but we had not yet thought about putting all these elements together. I went on to produce several night shows like this all around the country, but we didn’t start combining elements until I was the airshow director at Oshkosh. We started with combining pyrotechnics to the fireworks show. We experimented with drones, but the technology wasn’t there yet. We then added airplanes to the show, followed a couple years later with the big fireballs that have become a fan favorite.
I left Oshkosh after ten years to come to SUN ‘n FUN in 2023 where Gene Conrad had just taken the reins of the Aerospace Center for Excellence, the parent organization of SUN ‘n FUN. I call Gene “My enabler!”, as he took the restrictor plate off and let us really expand on what was becoming the night show phenomenon. The first thing we did was improve the sound quality, so the track that gives you the goosebumps, happy tears and all the other feels, hits you in the chest and makes you a part of the experience. We also doubled the amount of ground based pyrotechnics involved. Additionally, we also added drones to the show, which took a lot of collaboration with the FAA to build separate safe areas for the airplanes to operate in while providing vertical and lateral separation from the fireworks and now drones.
201