The 2018 Cleveland National Air Show presented by Discount Drug Mart will be the perfect place for families to touch down on Labor Day Weekend (Sept. 1, 2 & 3) at Burke Lakefront Airport in downtown Cleveland. Spectators inside the gates will experience an aviation theme park of sorts, including the Blue Angels “walk down”, narration with music, Shockwave Jet Truck, unique display aircraft, virtual reality experiences and more.

The Air Show features the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, whose spine-tingling performance will begin on the ground in front of the spectators with a highly choreographed “walk down” preflight routine as the Blue Angel pilots climb into their F/A-18 Hornets, start them up and taxi out for take-off. After the show, fans will get the opportunity to meet the Blue Angels up close and in-person when they sign autographs in front of their planes.

Air Show fans inside the gates will experience the professional narration and music choreographed to all of the flying performances. As the planes soar in the Cleveland skies the narrator will provide a colorful commentary describing the maneuvers, history and aircraft.

Adding to the excitement is the world-famous Shockwave Jet Truck. This custom-built race truck is equipped with 3 huge J34-48 Pratt & Whitney Jet Engines. Shockwave will spew smoke and flames as it screams down the runway racing an airplane that is flying above it at 300mph. Spectators will feel the intense heat, smell the smoke and feel the roar of the turbines. Shockwave will also be on static display so fans can meet the driver and get a close up look at the three jet engines which produce 36,000 horsepower.

The Air Show grounds will be a living aviation museum filled with 45 unique display aircraft including military, vintage and commercial planes. Air Show visitors will have the chance to go inside the planes, meet the pilots and explore aviation first hand. Military display aircraft will range from a U.S. Air Force C-5M Super Galaxy…the largest aircraft in the USAF inventory, to a U.S. Navy E-2 Hawkeye to a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook.

The Air Show will offer spectators of all ages the opportunity to explore interactive and STEM based educational displays. Participants who visit the U.S. Navy Virtual Reality Experience will strap on Oculus Rift headsets and navigate a high-speed craft while extracting Navy Seals. Kiddie Hawk Air Academy Trainers will give children ages 4-9 a sense of flight, albeit only a few feet off the ground. And visitors to the Go Army Experience will maneuver a challenging robotics course using a real Army XL Recon Scout robot.

The Air Show line-up also includes the U.S. Air Force F-16 Viper Jet Demonstration, C-130 Hercules Demonstration, U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team, aerobatics, wingwalking and more. The 2018 Air Show is part of the inaugural Grunt Style Air Show Majors tour uniting the most prestigious air shows in the country.

Advance General Admission tickets are $23 for adults, $14 for children ages 6-11 ($2 more at the gate) and free for children 5 and younger. Advance General Admission Tickets and Reserved Box Seat Tickets are available online. For more information, please visit www.clevelandairshow.com or call (216) 781-0747. Advance General Admission Tickets are also available at local Discount Drug Mart stores.

The Cleveland National Air Show has been Northeast Ohio’s Labor Day Weekend Tradition since 1964, attracting 60,000 to 100,000 visitors to Burke Lakefront Airport and making it one of the region’s largest annual events. It is produced by Cleveland National Air Show, Inc. a 501(c)(4) not-for-profit Ohio corporation that relies on sponsorship and community support to offset the costs of producing the event. The Air Show has an annual economic impact of $7.1 million+ on the City of Cleveland.