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Urs Schnyder |
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Urs Schnyder |
The home boys
Neville
Ferreira flies the South African designed and built Slick 540. He
started flying late, getting his pilot’s license when he was 30. He then
quickly concentrated on aerobatics, and some of the
remarkable flying could be seen during his display.
Danie Terblanche did some
crazy flying act, disguised as an 80 plus year old who has accidentally
got airborne. His flying showed that you don’t need a high performance
machine to capture the
attention of the crowd.
Ivan van der Schaar paid for his flying lessons by cleaning aircraft at the local airfield. Se soloed when he was 17 and later went on to become a pilot with Comair. He flies his beautifully restored Stearman biplane at airshows around the country.
Neville Ferreira in his Slick 540 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Neville Ferreira in his Slick 540 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Neville Ferreira in his Slick 540 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Neville Ferreira in his Slick 540 (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Crazy flying with Danie Terblanche (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Crazy flying with Danie Terblanche (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Crazy flying with Danie Terblanche (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Crazy flying with Danie Terblanche (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
A local, Ivan van der Schaar grew up in Nelspruit (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
A local, Ivan van der Schaar grew up in Nelspruit (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
A local, Ivan van der Schaar grew up in Nelspruit (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
A local, Ivan van der Schaar grew up in Nelspruit (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aerobatic surprises
Normally aerobatic teams fly alone. This time however the Cows, Goodyear and Team Extreme took off together and surprised everyone by forming a Balbo of eleven aircraft over the airfield.
The Goodyear team is another one of the established teams in South Africa. Established in 1985 they fly the Pitts Special have since displayed in many countries, from Botswana to the Arab Emirates. They are led by Dennis Spence and Glen Warden.
The Balbo made up of the COWS, Team Extreme and the Goodyear team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Balbo made up of the COWS, Team Extreme and the Goodyear team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Balbo made up of the COWS, Team Extreme and the Goodyear team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Balbo made up of the COWS, Team Extreme and the Goodyear team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Goodyear sponsored aerobatic team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Goodyear sponsored aerobatic team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Goodyear sponsored aerobatic team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Goodyear sponsored aerobatic team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Goodyear sponsored aerobatic team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Puma Flying Lions as they call themselves are the only aerobatic team flying the historic Harvard. The size and age of the Aircraft lends itself to smooth flowing aerobatic figures. The sound of the engines is more mature, unlike the wasp like howl of the modern aerobatic aircraft.
The Puma Team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Puma Team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Puma Team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Puma Team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Puma Team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Puma Team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Air Force participation
Loud, fast and short was the display of the two seat Gripen. Even with the big external Tank it was presumably at the limit of its range, so there was only enough time for three overflights of the airfield. The Gripen returned later in the day however for a repeat performance.
The Casa 212 was stationed at the airfield for the duration of the airshow. This made it possible to have a closer look at it on Friday already. It was in fact the same aircraft and pilot that had performed the supply drop at the Zwartkop airshow. This time however it was used as a transport for the Air Force parachute team Golden Eagles.
The Golden Eagles did several jumps during the day. During the last jump however, the parachute of the leader became uncontrollable during the descent and he drifted into a wooden area. This gave the Oryx that was on static display its chance of action. It quickly got ready and took off on a rescue mission. It managed to display to the audience how rescue missions are done, by bringing back the leader of the Golden Eagles.
The Gripen for a change with a large external tank (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Gripen for a change with a large external tank (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Gripen for a change with a large external tank (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Gripen for a change with a large external tank (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Casa 212 of the Air Force that dropped the golden Eagles. (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
No denying this is a transport aircraft. (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Final flypast before landing (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
On Friday, preparing for the busy schedule on Saturday (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Rolling after landing (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Air Force Parachute Team Golden Eagles (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Formation flying by parachute (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Once on the ground, you have to carry all that equipment (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Take off for the rescue mission (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Back from the rescue operation (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Back from the rescue operation (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Working on Fire
Right in the middle of the airshow proceeding, a siren sounded and the speaker announced that there was a fire reported and the airshow needs to be interrupted, in order to let the necessary forces get into the air and proceed to the fire.
First a spotter plane took off, followed by the four bombers. Next four Huey’s followed and disappeared from sight, while the airshow continued. It gave everyone a good impression of how such missions are happening.As it turned out, it was a surprise of the working on fire teams. When the aircraft returned, the bombers displayed how a coordinated drop of water works. Immediately after landing their tanks were again filled, to be ready for any emergency. The Hueys meanwhile also came in to land again and one of them gave a short display. Also in attendance was the Blackhawk, that is intended to replace the Huey’s. Its advantage over the Huey is of course its greater load carrying capacity. It can carry 3,5 tons of water in the underslung bucket. Compared to the Huey it has a much longer rope on which the bucket is attached. The reason for this is to allow the Blackhawk to hover over the fire and therefore to improve the accuracy of the drop. The rope is so long to prevent the downwash from the rotors to fan the fire.
Spotter plane taking off (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Bomber taking off (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Towards the target (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The bombers in line abreast starting their run in and drop (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
A lot of water concentrated on a single spot (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
A bomber dropping its full load (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Huey’s with the water bucket (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Huey after the mission (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The new Blackhawk on presentation (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The new Blackhawk on presentation (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The new Blackhawk on presentation (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Blackhawk with the water bucket at the long line (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Blackhawk dropping the water (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Highlight in the dark
With the sun setting, the Puma aerobatic team took to the air again. As it got dark, they performed their aerobatics, illuminated by their landing lights and a flare on the rear of the fuselage. This to the music of Luciano Pavarotti’s “Time to say goodbye”. How fitting!
After the display the aircraft
continued to beat up the airfield to the film music of “633 Squadron”,
before they landed and rolled up in front of the audience where they
switched off their engines to the applause of everyone.
Meanwhile a big truck with a live Rock band had been moved in front of the
crowd. While the Pume team taxied away and the band played Highway to hell,
the big firework started.
The Puma Team performing their spectacular night action(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Puma Team performing their spectacular night action(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Puma Team performing their spectacular night action(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Puma Team performing their spectacular night action(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Puma Team performing their spectacular night action(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Puma Team performing their spectacular night action(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Puma Team performing their spectacular night action(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The finale to a great day(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The finale to a great day(Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
This was a great airshow, and we hope it is not the only time we do a report about it. The idea of mixing Rock music and aircraft was also a good one. My thanks go to Monica Fourie from Kishugu for her help.