News on aviation is short - Thank goodness no crashes.  Jim
     Air show to draw 200,000 - Stage set for 2-day extravaganza
 By Gina Stafford, News-Sentinel staff writer
     The thought of a weekend spent hosting more than 200,000 visitors
 - several of whom will need places to park their jets - might rattle
 even Martha Stewart's most confident clones.
     But for the McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base's 134th Air Re-
 fueling Wing, such a weekend is a much-anticipated time to shine.
 That time comes Saturday and Sunday at the Dogwood Arts Festival Air
 Show.
     "Hosting an air show means dealing with a lot of details unique
 for us, while it also means typical responsibilities incumbent on any
 good host of any nice event," said Lt. Col. Art Powell, public-
 affairs officer for the 134th.
     "We have to make our guests comfortable and their visit enjoyable.
 The air show gives us a chance to do that by reaching out to East
 Tennessee and showcasing our base and what we do."
     In-flight refueling of military aircraft is the 134th's specialty,
 and Powell said "standard tanker operations" will go on as usual this
 weekend. The air show also happens during an Air National Guard
 training weekend, and Powell said those training operations will
 continue.
     Not part of the daily grind around the base, however, has been
 finding accommodations both for the show's featured pilots and their
 support staff -- not to mention their aircraft.
     "Still, that's basically a lot of bread-and-butter issues -- when
 do they arrive, how many people and planes, where to put those planes,
 where will the people stay, and how will they get back and forth to
 the air base," Powell said.
     "For the (U.S. Air Force fighter jet pilots) Thunderbirds, for
 example, there's about a 75-person entourage and a full list of
 safety-related issues. Plus, there's helping coordinate public-
 relations appearances for them at schools, hospitals and receptions
 in their honor.
     "Then you have to house their show planes -- eight F-16s, and a
 C-141 transport (jet) that carries personnel and equipment to shows.
 Most of that equipment has to do with maintaining jets, which we
 don't do here."
     Powell said the handful of civilian aerial acts, which mostly
 involve one pilot and one aircraft, present similar needs to base
 officials, albeit on a smaller scale. Long before those needs came
 up, however, months of kinks had been worked out just to secure the
 show line-up.
     "In the first place, it's a great matter of pride and a very
 competitive thing -- getting teams like the Thunderbirds to your
 base," Powell said. "They fly only so many shows each year, and
 there are always many more requests than dates."  The Thunderbirds'
 last crowd-pleasing performance here was three years ago.
     Those without invitations to sit in a "VIP" booth might want to
 bring lawn chairs, which are allowed. For "security reasons," coolers
 are not. Dogwood Arts Festival Executive Director Bob Neel says
 concession booths will abound. They'll also generate proceeds to
 help local community groups.
     "It's amazing; the concessions alone are requiring about 1,000
 volunteers a day," Neel said. "We've brought in a concession company
 that does air shows, and they've subcontracted the labor to lots of
 different organizations like band boosters' clubs, Little League
 parents' groups and various others who'll get a percentage of the
 money taken in."
     Another 100 volunteers will direct traffic in parking areas. As
 for nearby street traffic, Alcoa Police Department Lt. Ronnie Sellers
 said he'll have "every officer on duty working it except patrol
 officers." Alcoa will be joined by officers of the sheriff's' depart-
 ments of Blount and Knox counties, the Knoxville Police Department,
 the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the airport patrol.
     "It'll be a long couple of days," he said. "But we know what
 we're up against because we've been through it before. We don't have
 any negative feelings about it."
     Noting the standard prohibition against parking along Alcoa High-
 way, Sellers warned motorists against leaving vehicles anywhere but
 in parking areas.
     "There'll be no parking on any street or shoulder, and people
 should take seriously that any cars left unattended on any shoulder
 will be towed," he said.
     Signs will direct visitors to air-show parking. After the show,
 signs will direct motorists along specially created exit routes,
 Sellers said.
     "That many people trying to move around in one area is just going
 to be something of a mess," he added. "It's going to mean extra traf-
 fic throughout the day, in particular in the evening when it's over.
     "Be patient is the only advice we can give. It may take until 7
 (p.m.). It may take until midnight. ... Anybody in that big a hurry
 sure doesn't need to go to the air show."
     Neel said Federal Aviation Administration officials and "an air
 boss" will share air-traffic supervision duties. During scheduled
 show hours -- 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day (gates open at 9 a.m.)
 -- air traffic will be a combination of featured performers plus in-
 coming and outgoing commercial flights at McGhee Tyson Airport.
 Planners and commercial carriers have been working out an air-sharing
 schedule since the show line-up was set in December.
     "The FAA maintains traffic control when commercial flights are in
 the air, and the airlines have been very cooperative in allocating
 show time slots," Neel said. "When the show's acts are flying, control
 is turned over to an air boss who's not in 'the' airport control tower
 but is in a mobile tower at show center. The rest of the airport is
 closed when the aerobatics are going on."
     To spectators, the arrangement means they'll hear the show an-
 nouncer directing them to watch the show planes' loops, dives and
 other stunts -- when he's not pointing out the commercial jets'
 takeoffs and landings.
     People flying in and out of Knoxville will get to be part of the
 show, according to airport spokesman Mark Neuhart.
     Like the event's military hosts, Neuhart said airport officials
 look forward to the show as a chance to promote the facility and the
 airlines serving it.
     "Most people don't realize how busy our airport really is, that
 we have over 100 flights in and out of McGhee Tyson every day, that
 we have 11 different airlines serving 13 nonstop destinations,"
 Neuhart said. "But it will not mean any major disruption or incon-
 venience to our passengers -- just that those departing Saturday or
 Sunday will literally have a bird's-eye view of the crowd."
     Neel said officials now can only hope for success in the one
 area they can't control -- the weather.
     "Everything else is secondary to that -- and safety," he said.
 "If rain delays us starting, we'll still get everybody in. They're
 here to perform, and all of them want to. These people aren't going
 to bellyache about 'their time' being gone.
     "And the nice thing is, we've got till 8:30 at night. So long as
 we can work with the commercial traffic to get them in, we will,"
 Neel said. "We're just looking forward to two beautiful gorgeous,
 days."
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