ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
People in the community are becoming increasingly excited for the Liberal AirFair, and among the high-flying entertainers will be SRC Airshows.
As group member Stephen Covington tells it, the act will be very entertaining for everyone in the audience.
“The Rolling Thunder act was put together just a couple years ago, and that's the act that includes the plane and the jet car. The act is a full story, with the plane acting as a dragon and the jet car in the role of the dragon slayer, and the story's great especially for the younger audience members,” covington said. “I've been flying for 25 years and doing air shows for about 12 years, and the gentleman who drives the jet car has been driving jet vehicles for nearly 30 years and participating in air shows for about 15 years. And we've known each other for a long time being in the air show industry, and that's how we came together for the act, and we've been together ever since.”
Covington said he was honored to be asked to be part of the AirFair festivities.
“We're excited to do every air show we're part of, we love getting out and flying and interacting with the crowds, especially the kids. Also, we've never been to Liberal before, so it'll be great being part of a show new to us,” Covington said. “It was at the big International Council of Air Shows (ICAS) convention late last year when they found us, which is where air show coordinators all come together to hire acts for their events, and then it was in the spring when we were officially contacted and hired to be part of the Liberal AirFair. We were really happy to be hired, and it'll be great to be part of a show where we're not spending multiple days on the road like some other shows we typically fly in. The Liberal AirFair will be new for both us and this year's audience there in town, so it should be a great experience for everyone. In the industry, there are three jet vehicle performers, so when an air show hires a jet vehicle, it's typically just the vehicle, and the planes are separate and have their own act. There was one day I was thinking about how good of an act it would be to combine the two, and that's how the story came together, and it's been great. We've made some tweaks throughout the years, and it continues to be a big crowd favorite, and the goal was truly to put together as cool an act as possible.”
Covington added he hopes to see a big audience at the AirFair.
“Air shows are so fun, and if you've never been to one, you're in for a treat. When you look up and see a plane doing loops and spins and other crazy stunts, it's just a neat sight to see, especially with older planes,” Covington said. “There are just things at an air show you don't get to see anywhere else, so it's a one-of-a-kind experience. With my plane, I have a surface-level card, so it'll be a high-speed, surface level aerobatic act to start, and then a little later on is when the jet car comes in and does its thing with the fire and noise, and then we 'battle' as the story goes on. Then at the end, we race down the runway.”
Overall, Covington said, the day should be filled with fun.
“It's going to be a full day's worth of great entertainment, and the acts are also pretty diverse, so I think people will have a great time seeing what we're all able to do in our respective aircraft,” Covington said.
