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Post by ErrolC on Oct 28, 2018 19:59:47 GMT 12
Last of mine for now. <snip> For those who attended WDU2018, I have provided some feedback to the event organisers about a number of the things that worked well, worked not so well, and those that caused some angst at the event. In particular the oh so squeezy and cramped nature of the premium grandstand seating and lack of creature comforts in reasonable proximity to one large premium grandstand. Response from organisers has been accepting of the comments and a desire to do better in 2020. An interesting note is that it has been suggested that they consider a dedicated grandstand and associated area for the dedicated pro-am photographers in the crowd, where the wielding of large lenses and space to manouever to "get the shot" would be part of the arrangements - without annoying the general airshow watchers. Interesting on the last. I took my newer smaller 70-300mm lens (rather than 80-400, which is twice the size) primarily due to crowding concerns. As is happened, there were a couple of unoccupied seats at the end of a row that I used most of Saturday rather than my allocated seat. They definitely have some issues with the permanent infrastructure, but it is good that they are taking things on board. At Omaka, I spend most of Saturday outside the Gold Pass stand, as it is more crowded that day (plus I like a variety of angles). |
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Post by Gavin Conroy on Oct 29, 2018 11:42:07 GMT 12
Good on you Errol taking the smaller lens as that's the way it should work, you deal with what you get.
A lot of complaints are received by photographers after shows, some just moan no matter what facilities are put in place and even when a special stand is put in some fight and argue anyway.
Last time I went to RIAT I was too late to apply for a media pass so was given a pass to a stand full of photographers and saw enough to just be part of the general public for the second day and enjoyed things a lot more!
An elderly guy a few seats away needed a toilet break, I could not believe the abuse he got when he stood up, was plain wrong.
Then in the Goldpass area at Flying legends they have a line painted on the grass where you don't cross if you want to stand, otherwise people seated cannot see but time and again it is crossed by people with cameras
and many repeat offenders who get moved on by security and then complain.
So it is a tough one really, I am yet to see it work properly, would be great if it could.
Some photographers think the show is just put on for them, get real without the 99% of public that go to just enjoy it there would be no show.
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Post by tbf25o4 on Oct 29, 2018 11:53:24 GMT 12
I agree with Gavin's last comment. The "arrogance" of some photographers at airshows beggars belief. A little courtesy and co-operation and all can get that "money" shot
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 29, 2018 12:18:11 GMT 12
There are always two types on the media stands I have found when I have had the privilege of having access to them - those who get on with the job, keep to themselves, get their photos and enjoy the show. Then there are those who push to the front to get the best shots, and spend most of the weekend big noting about other airshows they were recently at and making unfavourable comparisons about the one they are currently at; and after the show you never see their photos anywhere oddly enough.
Try being a video guy on the media stand. It's far worse than taking photos, you get all the foreign photogs' moaning about how such and such air show was better on your sound track and their huge lenses swinging into your shots....
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Post by Calum on Oct 29, 2018 22:14:45 GMT 12
Last of mine for now. . An interesting note is that it has been suggested that they consider a dedicated grandstand and associated area for the dedicated pro-am photographers in the crowd, where the wielding of large lenses and space to manouever to "get the shot" would be part of the arrangements - without annoying the general airshow watchers. I'd certainly pay for that, especially if it was on the other side of the airfield (Although I can see that being problomatic from a safety perspective |
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Post by Gavin Conroy on Nov 1, 2018 17:36:31 GMT 12
Hornet take off at Temora, first time I had seen a Hornet using that runway.  6779867698 by Gavin Conroy, on Flickr |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2018 22:58:46 GMT 12
As a modeller who has an RAAF Hornet on the bench, it's fascinating to see the different shades in the paint job. Cracker shot, Gavin!
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Post by Mustang51 on Nov 2, 2018 8:25:17 GMT 12
And I can hear the noise even now.............
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Post by ErrolC on Nov 3, 2018 17:26:46 GMT 12
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Post by colford on Dec 2, 2018 14:40:42 GMT 12
Temora Aviation Museum had their last scheduled Aircraft Showcase for 2018 on yesterday. Weather prediction was for a dry, clear day, with plenty of blue skies, so I packed the camera bags into the car and made a day trip over and back. It was already quite warm when I arrived just on 10.00AM, but quite a contrast to the skies at Warbirds Down Under 2018 back in October, it was pretty much 10/10ths big blue skies. Light to strengthening breeze into the face of the crowdline. Lineup for the day's flying comprised Tiger Moth, Winjeel, Wirraway, Boomerang, T-28 Trojan, Cessna O-1 Birddog, Cessna O-2, Spitfire Mk.VIII and Spitfire Mk.XVI. Flying commenced at 11.00AM and had concluded by 2.00PM. During that time the breeze picked up, the temperature soared - it had just hit 32 degrees C at 2PM - and there was definite heat shimmer evident. The pilots noted that as the day went on the air was becoming more turbulent with rising hot air and a few 'willy-willys" making landing tricky, leading to at least one go around on landing. During the streamer cut with the Tiger Moth, some of the cut pieces of the 'streamer' were caught in a strong column of rising warm air and disappeared upwards at a rapid rate of climb - more than the Tiger could muster. I was learning a big new lens, so was playing around with settings and how it handled. Took a lot of photos, quite a few didnt work as I say had the 'L' plates on for this occasion, plus later in the day at longer ranges the heat haze was evident to the eye and being magnified by the lens for the long distance shots. They had hoped to include some of their jets in the lineup, but lack of jet qualified pilots for various reasons meant no jets. The commentary was also not up to its usual polished patter as regular commentator 'Ando'was off sick, so there were a few moments of awkward questions and answers and times where corrections to commentary had to be made. (Note to Ando - you need to give Lars a copy of a good book about the history of the Winjeel and colour schemes it wore in RAAF service.) After the conclusion of the day's public program it was the planned TAM staff and volunteers Christmas Party and Presentation Evening. A number of museum volunteers who had reached milestones in their service with the Museum or who had distinguished themselves in various ways were to be recognised, a lucky few being given rides in some of the Museum's aircraft. Still present in the maintenance hangar, is the Hawker Hurricane from Scone. Unfortunately it did not join the day's flying line up. Anyhow, here are a few selected from the photos that I took, that worked.  Tiger Target by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Tail of the Tiger by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Close Formation by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Winjeel Inverted 2 by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Winjeel Pass by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Winjeel Taxi In by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Wirraway Inverted Smoke by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Wirraway Smokin by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Wirraway Inverted by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Wirraway Trail 3 by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Trojan Party Trick by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Trojan Pointed Down by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Dusty Spitfire by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Spitfires Head On by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Spitfire Pair by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Spitfires Climbing Into the Blue by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Hurricane Yearning for the Blue by Colin Ford, on Flickr As an aside, parked up at the very top of the taxi way that goes up past the TAM main heavy maintenance and storage hangars were a couple of the large race transporters belonging to a couple of the Australian Supercars race teams, including Red Bull/Triple8 Racing. Sale is apparently no longer available for non-aviation use, so Temora has now been nominated as the airfield for use for aerodynamics testing purposes. So on Monday there was to be some side by side testing of new aerodynamics for new aero kits and new body shells between Ford, GMH-Holden types for the 2019 season. Next aircraft showcase at Temora is scheduled for 16 March 2019. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 2, 2018 14:51:55 GMT 12
Great stuff Col!
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Post by ErrolC on Dec 2, 2018 15:08:26 GMT 12
Neat Col. Love the inverted Trojan!
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Post by colford on Dec 3, 2018 16:20:26 GMT 12
The trick of the Trojan extending his gear as he completed a roll is described as his "party trick". Following sequence gives an idea of what it is like. Apologies in advance, a couple of the photos are in less than perfect focus,learning new lens and as he rolled he was moving away from the viewer.  Trojan Gear Out 1 by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Trojan Gear Out 3 by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Trojan Gear Out 5 by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Trojan Gear Out 7 by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Trojan Gear Out 9 by Colin Ford, on Flickr  Trojan Gear Out 12 by Colin Ford, on Flickr Then completes a tight curving carrier approach to short finals......  Trojan On Approach by Colin Ford, on Flickr And back to where he started.  Trojan Taxi In by Colin Ford, on Flickr The Trojan put on a good display, from memory I think it was Steve Death at the stick.  Trojan Inverted by Colin Ford, on Flickr |
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Post by planecrazy on Dec 4, 2018 9:23:50 GMT 12
Nice really like the inverted shots with the sun on the underside, also the party
trick undercarriage out while inverted. Many years ago I saw Nigel Arnot do the
same thing in the ex AFC Yak 3. Entered a roll with gear up while inverted the
gear came out then when she leveled off gear was down, very cool!
Great pic's thanks for sharing Colin.........
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Post by hardyakka on Dec 4, 2018 16:29:35 GMT 12
Russian display pilot Gennady Elfimov has a similar special landing trick in his Yak-52. He closes his display by roaring along the runway downwind at 10 feet off the ground. He pulls up to a 45° climb, rolls inverted and keeps climbing to about 3 or 4 hundred feet. He then pulls through and completes an inside 3/4 loop from that low level. While the belly of the plane is facing away from the crowds and no-one can see it, he lowers the gear and flaps. As he pulls out of the bottom of the loop at roughly zero feet he just lands on the runway into wind. It wouldn't need to go too much wrong before a nose-down-dirt-encounter was the outcome, but Gennady has been doing it for a long time and he is still with us. Great stick and rudder skills plus nerves of steel... He and Jurgis Kairys are probably great mates.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 4, 2018 18:57:11 GMT 12
That's nothing, after every operation, No. 19 (Fighter) Squadron RNZAF Commander Harry Wigley would fly low down the runway, pull up at the end into a big loop and at the point where he was at the top of the loop and upside down, he would lower his undercarriage, and complete the loop to land.
This was told to me by Allan 'Skip' Watson who was in the squadron, and he said Harry was very put out when everyone refused his order to do the same thing. He was obviously a very good pilot and also bonkers.
Skip said that all the Kiwi and US groundcrew would rush out when they heard the squadron returning so they could watch Harry's landing each time. He took similar risks in combat too. A real character by all accounts.
And yes, that is the same Harry Wigley who founded Mount Cook Airlines and invented the mountain skiplane stuff.
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Post by colford on Dec 22, 2018 12:50:30 GMT 12
Those who attended Warbirds Down Under 2018 at Temora in October, and who pre-purchased their tickets online, should have received an email in the last week or so with links to the Offical airshow video. Links allow you to either stream high definition video, watch on Vimeo or download a high definition video in MP4 format to your PC and then burn to DVD. The high definition download is 3.19GB, presented in 1920x1080 with a duration of 1 hour, 17 minutes, 41 seconds.
I've already done my download and watched the video and its not bad. Similar to the format and style used for the previous WDU Airshow DVDs released as hard copies by Temora Aviation Museum. Most of the key aircraft present at the event get some coverage, with a few in particular, the Hawker Hurricane and Temora's recently restored A-37 getting their own segments. RAAF Roulettes also get some coverage as WDU 2018 was their last major airshow appearance in the PC-9/A before they are due to re-equip with the PC-21. Some good in cockpit footage included, but I would have liked to have seen more included, particularly given the number of aircraft on the weekend that were sporting camera mounts and cameras. The display performances by Yak-3 'Steadfast' and the Russian Roolettes do not get coverage, although they are shown briefly almost as incidental, or in the background scenes.
For those who did not attend the airshow, Temora are offering an arrangement where you can visit their online store and purchase a download of the video.
As a side note Temora have also released their schedule for their Temora based Aircraft Showcases for 2019. The final schedule is somewhat reduced from that for 2018 and originally put out a couple of months ago. The March, ANZAC Day and May Showcases have been dropped, with the others being:
April 13-14
June 8
August 31
September 28
October 12-13
November 30
Given their commitments to support other Australian airshows in 2019 including the Avalon International Airshow and Wings Over Illawarra, the dropping of the early dates is understandable.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 22, 2018 14:13:38 GMT 12
I think that video was made by New Zealand company leading Edge Media, wasn't it?
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Post by colford on Dec 22, 2018 15:05:46 GMT 12
Dave, Yep, Leading Edge Media are up there in the credits. Forgot to mention in my earlier post, video does have some content on the Temora Aviation Museum engineering staff and the work they do behind the scenes and in front of the crowd before, during and after the airshow. And interview pieces with veterans discussing their experiences with some of the aircraft featured in the video and display flying.
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Post by Mustang51 on Dec 22, 2018 18:19:11 GMT 12
Col.....first time I have seen this so thank you for the vote of confidence in my commentary..........my apologies for not being there but a dodgy fish curry is pretty hard to ignore - especially in an almost five hour drive there or back !
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