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Post by nuuumannn on Mar 28, 2023 11:04:59 GMT 12
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Post by nuuumannn on Mar 28, 2023 11:11:45 GMT 12
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Post by nuuumannn on Mar 28, 2023 11:21:33 GMT 12
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Post by Calum on Mar 29, 2023 13:17:02 GMT 12
Some nice shots there Grant. I like a lot the low angle static or taxiing shots
I've given your Flicr a follow. Pity Australia seems to be uncooperative with decent weather for airshows in the past 3 to 4 years. Every one I've been to has been gloomy. Looks like this wasn't much different.
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Post by planecrazy on Mar 29, 2023 13:57:12 GMT 12
Wow great pic's especially the F35 and F22, when I first saw one of these I wasn't much of a fan,
shots like yours are turning me around, great set of pic's. Great to see the Canberra as well, thank you.
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Post by johnnyfalcon on Mar 29, 2023 17:30:43 GMT 12
Damn! Those F-22 control surfaces are getting a workout!
Some great pics and attendees there. I'm feeling ashamed at the lone RNZAF 757 pic in the context of its company...
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Post by Mustang51 on Mar 29, 2023 18:00:31 GMT 12
You shouldn't. The Kiwis were there and represented. Not everyone has F.22s
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Post by johnnyfalcon on Mar 29, 2023 18:19:59 GMT 12
We don't have a DC-3 either...
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chrisr
Squadron Leader
Posts: 102
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Post by chrisr on Mar 29, 2023 19:37:10 GMT 12
Would be interested to hear your criticisms of the flying display. Out of interest.
Aside from the F-22. F-35 (Wanaka next year please), Black Falcons and Canberra the Super Hornet display was such an amazing display (even better than Ricardo Travens 2007 display) it almost stole the show.
Also props to the RAAF for having 3 F-35's in the flying display, you can tell they are proud of it.
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Post by 11SQNLDR on Mar 30, 2023 12:18:01 GMT 12
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and by the look of the sellout crowds it was clear that the public had been starved of an airshow for quite some time! A taste of things to come - the mighty AH-64E. This did some landing trials on HMAS Canberra   |
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Post by 11SQNLDR on Mar 30, 2023 12:26:13 GMT 12
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Post by 11SQNLDR on Mar 30, 2023 12:36:31 GMT 12
The MQ-4C is going to be an amazing bit of kit for the ADF, supplementing the P-8 fleet.   |
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Post by nuuumannn on Mar 30, 2023 14:55:25 GMT 12
Some nice shots there Grant. I like a lot the low angle static or taxiing shots I've given your Flicr a follow. Pity Australia seems to be uncooperative with decent weather for airshows in the past 3 to 4 years. Every one I've been to has been gloomy. Looks like this wasn't much different. Thanks Calum, following you back. You have a great set of images! The weather was iffy, with a couple of fine days. I was driving from Melbourne each day and Tuesday and Wednesday it was raining when I left the city, but had dried out at Geelong. Friday was sunny but I didn't go on that day and Saturday had occasionally fine spells. Low angles both bring sky into the shot and reduce background clutter, it's also a good way of avoiding barriers put up around the aircraft. This F-35 shot has been deliberately messed with in post-production but the dark cloud and low angle add drama to the shot.  _DSC2234 |
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Post by nuuumannn on Mar 30, 2023 15:01:17 GMT 12
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and by the look of the sellout crowds it was clear that the public had been starved of an airshow for quite some time! Looks like you went on one of the fine days. Wednesday arvo was fine but the trade days were generally grey. Saturday was a sellout, it was the only public day I went to as I flew home on Sunday. Did you have to wait long in the traffic? I heard a lot of complaints from people spending long times queuing. |
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Post by nuuumannn on Mar 30, 2023 15:11:16 GMT 12
Damn! Those F-22 control surfaces are getting a workout! Some great pics and attendees there. I'm feeling ashamed at the lone RNZAF 757 pic in the context of its company... The 757 wasn't there as part of the show. It flew to Avalon from Wellington on Thursday taking peeps over for a jolly, and it parked at the pax terminal. Don't underestimate the 757's ability to perform as part of a display as it can hold its own. I saw one of them performing at RIAT in the UK one year and it definitely stood out in a field packed with lots of whizz bang stuff.  DSC_0492 |
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Post by nuuumannn on Mar 30, 2023 15:58:11 GMT 12
Would be interested to hear your criticisms of the flying display. Out of interest. Aside from the F-22. F-35 (Wanaka next year please), Black Falcons and Canberra the Super Hornet display was such an amazing display (even better than Ricardo Travens 2007 display) it almost stole the show. Also props to the RAAF for having 3 F-35's in the flying display, you can tell they are proud of it. Yup, it was great to see the F-35 get the kudos it deserves - don't believe the bad press, most of it is ill-informed tosh riding a wave of public ignorance - I've seen a few F-35 displays by RAF and USAF, and the Aussies certainly put theirs through the ringer. it's a great jet and its manoeuvrability means it can fly in a small display box, which adds to the display if its kept front and centre for the longest. The Aussie Superbug was also good. Regarding critiquing the flying display, the bad - not nearly enough warbirds and too many civie aerobatic displays for my liking, although that latter one is a personal gripe as such things in an airshow context like Avalon just leave me cold. At an exposition (trade show) I wanna see fast jets, airliners and warbirds, not endless aerobatic displays by bug smashers one after another. They're out of context. Leave them for the public days only and spread them out. Regarding the warbird content, common consensus was that it was insufficient given that it was the Temora aircraft under the banner of 100 Sqn RAAF, but there was no HARS content or other privately owned warbirds that makes that country's scene great. Given the RAAF was wanting to show off its heritage, the content was very poor, nothing apart from current stuff in the static and the small amount there in the flying display. Seeing BOB the Mustang was great as it first flew after a resto not long before the show from Essendon. Its display alongside the Spitfire was rather weak and lacked any sort of punch that these aircraft as performers are obviously capable of. Are we spoilt here in New Zealand with the quality of displays put on by our pilots? I think we might be. The Canberra was a highlight for me, I do love a good Canberra. It's a big jet and looks and sounds great in an airshow context, although the display was a bit more sedate than past Cranberry displays I've seen. The A-37 is a great performer and definitely stood out but I missed its displays every day it was performing for one reason or another! The good - definitely the F-22 at the top of the list for me, followed closely by the F-35 and Superbug. Since we have a dearth of fast jet displays here, it's always good to go witness these overseas. It's also always good to see big stuff being displayed; the C-2 was great to see as was the C-17 as always, although the US commentators get old pretty quick - the naming of every support crewmember just drags, especially while the aircraft waits at the end of the runway while it happens... Snoooooze. I would have liked to have seen Airbus put an A400M in the air, but I suspect neither the RMAF or Luftwaffe have crew with display authorisation. I've watched the French and RAF display the A400M and it is a super airshow performer. It has very good low-speed manoeuvrability and it gets thrown about with vigor by them. The MH-60R is a good performer too, mind you, military helicopters usually are, but great so see an S-70 airframe displaying again, but the lack of rotary fliers was a minus. The RAAF combined display, the P-8, MRTT and Wedgetail was great, again, big stuff is good to see. There were a few cancellations and no-shows that would have spiced things up. The Apache was originally going to be a part of the display, so I heard, but it was not listed on any of the published display lists, which changed on a daily basis. The intended water bomber displays never took place. The intent was that on Friday, a civil Chinook, the BAE-146 in the static on Saturday and Dash 8-400 water bombers were going to perform, but this was canned. Oddly, spotter guys in Melbourne reported that on the Monday after the show, the water bombers did low water-drop passes over Avalon as they left the field! A bit late, guys! Anyway, my thoughts. I'm sure there'll be some disagreements. |
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chrisr
Squadron Leader
Posts: 102
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Post by chrisr on Mar 31, 2023 18:50:21 GMT 12
Can't say I disagree with your comments overall.
A few things, the Apache was listed on the attending aircraft page as part of the display until about a month or so before the flying display was announced. It didn't say static only at that stage, so we assumed it was flying. The scheduled flypast of TWO B-52's not going ahead was a bit of a bummer, but hey one B-52 is better than none. Not sure what happened with the water bombers, they appeared on the ground on the Sunday (but didn't fly, although the BAE-146 left and the Chinook was parked over by the hangars), but I would have liked to have seen that.
Not a fan of the civilian aerobatics either, they were particularly tedious on the Friday night. Get to the Wedgetail flare drop already. I wonder if these displays were an attempt to appeal to people who are wowed by aerial tricks rather than fast jets or warbirds. Trying to broaden the airshow attending audience, which makes sense. It was easy enough for me to ignore not to be a problem, but I could do without it.
A funny thing happened on the Friday night when due a delay with the departing Jetstar flight, the organisers decided to proceed with the scheduled fireworks display. Queue 20 minutes of things exploding and flying allover the airfield. This of course delayed the Jetstar departure even further as the organisers had to check the runway for fod. The solution to entertain the crowd? PLay Lynyrd Skynyrd's Freebird at full volume. The result, an audience waiting in the dark while being blasted with southern rock. The Jetstar flight then departed during the guitar solo. As a Skynryrd fan I enjoyed it.
Re: Warbirds, I can see why you would say that. It's not something that bothers me as I go to Avalon for the fast jets and Warbirds over Wanaka for the Warbirds to cover both bases, but it would have been nice to see the Meteor. As a result I always look at the RAAF fast jets being the core of the show, the USAF fast jets being the USAF being candy filling and anything else (Warbirds, Foreign AirForces) being the icing.
There was a rumour online that HARS wanted to be paid for their aircraft to be there or were in a huff about Temora being there under the RAAF banner, but who knows the real story? HARS have been before and will no doubt be there again.
Massive Canberra fan, I've always wanted too see one fly and the display was as good as I hoped.
The only massive downside for me was the carparking which was an absolute disaster. It took hours to get in and out of the car park with little organisation.
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