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Urs Schnyder |
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Urs Schnyder |
On the 11th and 12th of May the Kishugu Lowveld air show took place at the Nelspruit Airfield. Nelspruit is located in the eastern region of South Africa and is more or at less on the doorstep of the World famous Kruger National Park.
The air show is hosted by Kishugu Aviation, which has its headquarters based at the Nelspruit Airfield. Besides providing a wide number of aviation services all over Southern Africa, they also run a flight academy that provides training for private and commercial pilots. They are best known however for their Working on Fire activities on behalf of the South African Government. For this purpose, they use 12 UH-1H Bell Huey helicopters, 4 Air Tractor 802 "Bomber" aircraft series and 14 Cessna "Spotter" planes. This has led to establishment of branches in Australia, Chile and Brazil.
The theme of this year’s air show was “rock the runway” which is to be taken literally because besides the flying, rock music did play a huge part of the air show. The airshow promised a wide variety of events, from aerobatics to races between aircraft and cars to hot air balloons, big fireworks display, and a live rock show.
Prelude
The Friday is also called Scholars day, because children from surrounding areas are transported to the airfield in busses where they have a chance to get into contact with aviation. This year there were over 2000 who together with their teachers who visited the different exhibitions which the resident companies had put up. They had a chance of getting first had information about the job opportunities in aviation. In between they had the chance to watch the validation flights of the different airshow participants.
The first to hit the runway on Saturday were the members of the Harley Davidson club who tied in nicely with the theme of the day: Rock the Runway.
The Airshow Graffitty (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
From the smallest – (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
- to the bigger, everyone gets in touch with aviation. (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
A Unit of Firefighters from Working on Fire (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Military borrowed the Aero Club Hangar for their display (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
A clever idea to collect the rubbish, Cardboard boxes. (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Harley Davidson parade (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
From light to heavy
There was a great variety among the participants. Danie Terblanche used the trees at the opposite side of the runway to play around with the audience. You would never know when and where he would appear with his Robinson R44 light helicopter. He showed what can be done with this small machine in the hands of a good pilot.The Kitfox normally comes as a kit to build yourself and is the size of a Piper Cub.
The Bathawk is designed and built at the Nelspruit Airfield. Because of its good visibility and low cost, it is used for conservation work and antipoaching patrols. The aircraft is very agile as could be seen from the demonstration at the display.
Little Annie by contrast is rather the old dignified Lady that has no taste for sudden or crazy movements. This is of course not surprising given the size and age of the aircraft whose main purpose it is go give air experience flights to underprivileged children. And who knows, some of them might be encouraged enough to attempt a career in aviation.
The pilot of the Embraer 190 from Airlink has already achieved that career. He displayed the elegant lines of this aircraft in a good manner. His initial pass over the runway looked very low, an impression that was assisted by the airfield being situated on a plateau with the surrounding areas being much lower.
Danie Terblanche demon-strating the Robinson R44 agility (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Danie Terblanche demon-strating the Robinson R44 agility (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Kitfox comes in a do it yourself kit (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Kitfox comes in a do it yourself kit (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Kitfox comes in a do it yourself kit (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Bathawk is a locally made aircraft (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Bathawk is a locally made aircraft (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Bathawk is a locally made aircraft (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Bathawk is a locally made aircraft (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Bathawk is a locally made aircraft (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Antonov AN-2 Little Annie (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Antonov AN-2 Little Annie (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Antonov AN-2 Little Annie (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Antonov AN-2 Little Annie (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
I tell you, the sign said we have to pass on the left of the tree. (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Embraer 190 of Airlink showing its elegant lines (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Embraer 190 of Airlink showing its elegant lines (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Embraer 190 of Airlink showing its elegant lines (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Embraer 190 of Airlink showing its elegant lines (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The Embraer 190 of Airlink doing a touch and go (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
An unlikely pair
After
a solo display of the Aerospatiale Gazelle, they got ready for the race with
a Jaguar F-type.
The excitement of the audience rose. One might have thought that the result
will be easy to foretell with the helicopter the winner. However, reality
proved this wrong. They tried several times and the Jaguar won every time.
This must have been rather frustrating for the pilot of the Gazelle.
Gazelle showing off how agile it is (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Gazelle showing off how agile it is (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Gazelle racing against Jaguar along the runway (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Gazelle racing against Jaguar along the runway (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Flying is more fun without racing (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Flying is more fun without racing (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
A good mix
The local Skydiving team showed a huge South African flag while descending. One is left to wonder how they handled it during the jump out of the Aircraft.
The Police force is using the Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter for a variety of tasks. The extremely short takeoff run of the aircraft is noteworthy.
The L-29 Delfin was unfortunately only flying on Friday during the validation. Its colour scheme is such an extraordinary piece of work that it deserves showing, even though it didn’t appear at the airshow itself.
The local parachute team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The local parachute team (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The extremely big flag (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The PC-6 Turbo Porter is flown by the SA Police (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The PC-6 Turbo Porter is flown by the SA Police (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The PC-6 Turbo Porter is flown by the SA Police (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The PC-6 Turbo Porter is flown by the SA Police (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The L-29 with the most extraordinary paint job (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The L-29 with the most extraordinary paint job (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The L-29 with the most extraordinary paint job (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The L-29 with the most extraordinary paint job (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The L-29 with the most extraordinary paint job (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Aerobatic supreme
Even though the Team Extreme is a rather young formation compared with some other teams, they give a good display. Compared with other teams they are the only one with different aircraft. They also each sport a different colour scheme which makes them very colourful.
The Cows by contrast all fly the Pitts Special and were established in 1985 under the leadership of Scully Lewin. Three of the aircraft are painted with the team’s sponsors name very prominent, but the fourth is spotted like a cow in white and black with white and red underneath.
Nigel Hopkins and Marc Hensman, both members of the Team Extreme also gave a twoship special demonstration of their aerobatic abilities.
The only team with different aircraft (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The only team with different aircraft (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The only team with different aircraft (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The only team with different aircraft (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The only team with different aircraft (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The only team with different aircraft (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The only team with different aircraft (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The COWS aerobatic team flying Pitts Special (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The COWS aerobatic team flying Pitts Special (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The COWS aerobatic team flying Pitts Special (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The COWS aerobatic team flying Pitts Special (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The COWS aerobatic team flying Pitts Special (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The COWS aerobatic team flying Pitts Special (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The COWS aerobatic team flying Pitts Special (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
The COWS aerobatic team flying Pitts Special (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Formation flying with Nigel Hopkins and Marc Hensman (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Formation flying with Nigel Hopkins and Marc Hensman (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Formation flying with Nigel Hopkins and Marc Hensman (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Formation flying with Nigel Hopkins and Marc Hensman (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)
Formation flying with Nigel Hopkins and Marc Hensman (Picture courtesy Urs Schnyder)