STEWART AIRPORT – By all accounts, the fifth annual New York International Air Show at New York Stewart International Airport this past weekend was a huge success.
Show spokesman Chris Dirato said tens of thousands of people attended both days, but he would not provide a more definitive amount saying it was company policy not to do so. However, at one point Saturday, an announcement came over the PA system that claimed over 150,000 in attendance. Sunday’s crowds were similar to the eye.
Among those in attendance Sunday were Janice and John Field of Florida as well as their daughter-in-law Andrumedia Field of Connecticut. The three were in attendance to support Andrumedia’s husband, John Field Jr., who works at Pratt & Whitney, a primary manufacturer of the parts used in many planes. John Jr. declined to be interviewed or photographed for this story.
“For a long time he’s been looking at all the planes and he’s really excited about the show,” Andrumedia Field said of her husband John.
“I’ve never been to this air show before but we’ve been to others at Jones Beach on Long Island. She enjoys “seeing the planes and the tricks and being supportive,” said Andrumedia.
“We’ve been to a few other air shows but not this one,” John Field said. “I was former Navy in Vietnam on a destroyer escort during the war,” Field added of his family connection to the military.
Planning will begin soon for next year’s air show.
“It has been highly successful and this year being probably the best of the five thus far and the plan is we are going to start working on 2020 in short order,” said Dirato.
Several air and ground displays wowed the crowds with the US Navy Blue Angels, the US Air Force F-35 fighter jets demo team and the Royal Air Force Red Arrows stealing the show.
At one point during Saturday’s aerial performance, the 911 center in Putnam County lit up with phone calls as the F-35s roared over Carmel and residents thought they were under attack.
