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Text: |
Chakrit Samithinan |
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Pictures: |
Chakrit Samithinan & Saichol Kraiamat |
Calidus B-250 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
Boeing B-52H (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
Flying Display
The Flying Display was overshadowed by the tragic crash of Wing Commander Namansh Syal of the Indian Air Force with the indigenous Tejas fighter jet on the last day of the show and the surprising absence of the previously announced Black Eagles team from South Korea who apparently did not get permission from the Japan Government to refuel their aircrafts on the way to Dubai. In this context, one wonders why no alternative countries were used for refueling.
HAL Teyas Mk. I (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
HAL Teyas Mk. I (Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
HAL Teyas Mk. I (Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
Tejas 5 seconds before crash (Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
The big question looming ahead of the airshow was whether Fursan Al Emarat who were known to be in the process of transitioning from the Italian MB-339 to the Chinese Hongdu L-15 Falcon would make their debut at the Dubai Airshow. The reason for doubting this was the complete absence of reports on the progress of the transition and of photographs showing the livery of this new Fursan mount. A few days before the official opening of the airshow, the team was seen practicing for the show with 7 aircrafts sporting a very attractive livery. Thus, the question had been answered positively.
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
As is customary in Dubai, the opening flying display is totally in the hands of the UAE, the so called UAE Flypast. Due to its unique composition, the writer feels that a detailed description may be of interest to the readers. Paul Johnson from the Flightline UK reports very well described this unique flypast as follows:
UAE Flypast - a mix of military and civilian aircraft celebrating the development of aviation across all seven Emirates. The first formation was formed of 10 helicopters from the UAE Joint Air Command and featured pairs of Boeing AH-60D Apaches, Bell 407s and Eurocopter AS565s followed by a trio of UH-60M Blackhawks and a Boeing CH-47F Chinook. The next element saw the UAE’s military transport and border security aircraft grouped together with an Airbus CN205 leading a pair of de Havilland Canada DHC-6s, a pair of Cessna C208s, a Lockheed C-130H Hercules and a pair of Air Tractor AT-802s. The flypast then switched to the UAE’s major airlines with their most modern aircrafts. Emirates led the trail of airlines with the Airbus A380-800, Airbus A350-900and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. Etihad Airlines then followed with their own Airbus A380-800 before flyDubai closed the civilian segment with one of their Boeing 737-MAX8 narrow body airliners. Closing the flypast were the UAE Air Force with four very tightly spaced formations. The first saw an Airbus A330MRTT Voyager leading four Mirage 200-SEADs flanked by a pair of F-16E Desert Falcons. Four more F-16Es featured in the next formation this time led by the SAAB GlobalEye. Next came the Boeing C-17A Globemaster III with another quartet of F-16Es before a final formation of four Mirage 200-SEADs. A seriously impressive start to the week.
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Airbus A350-900 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Boeing 737-800 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Boeing 777-300ER (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Airbus-A380 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Featured in the Flying Display but not necessarily every day were the following teams and aircrafts:
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Teams |
Single aircrafts |
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Dassault Mirage 2000-9DAE (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
Dassault Mirage 2000-9DAE (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan)
Dassault Mirage 2000-9DAE (Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
Dassault Mirage 2000-9DAE (Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
General Dynamics F-16E Desert Falcon (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Highlights of the air show
The highlights of the flying display were clearly the Fursan Al Emarat Team and the Sukhoi Su-57. While Sergey Bogdan, the Sukhoi Chief Test Pilot, demonstrated the Su-57 in his own spectacular style unmatched by anyone else, the Fursan Al Emarat team surprised the crowd with a very professional and colourful display which had retained the character of the traditional Fursan display with colorful smoke and many of their favorite manoeuvres. The L-15 mount however also adds a new characteristic to the team’s display, i.e. a very loud and distinctive howl from their AI-222 engines. The livery, while completely new, has retained the main colours black and gold representing the seven Emirates which constitute the UAE. No doubt, the new livery is even more stunning than the old one and is very photogenic, particularly when hit by sunlight.
Also ranking high on the list of best displays were the UAE’s Mirage 2000 and the French Rafale the latter having been flown by Captaine Jean-Brice “Mimouss” Millet. The F-35A was put through its paces by the well-known Melanie ”Mach” Kluesner, the Commander of the F-35A Demo Team based at Hill AFB in Utah, USA. Her display is both dynamic and fluent with the aircraft always in sight of the crowd.
The demonstration of the two large airliners were as always quite spectacular when pilots of both aircrafts showed the surprising agility of these two large airliners. The display by the JOBY air taxi was interesting in that it was completely without noise and the precision aerobatics by the ActionFlight team in their two Extras 330 was nice to watch. Not to forget the March Verte Team from Morocco which is nowadays only seen very rarely on the airshow circuit. They gave a very competent and attractive show with their Cap 232 mounts.
The display by the Russian Kamov Ka-52 “Alligator” was the only helicopter display this year. The Indian Suriya Kiran Team showed their usual interesting display with their 9 bright-red Hawk aircrafts. A disappointment was the demonstration of the US F-16 Demo team with Major Taylor “Fema” Hiester, Commander of the F-16 Viper Demo Team. He flew most of the time so high that often, the aircraft was not visible any longer in the strong haze prevailing throughout the week. Last but not least, the Russian Knights were there as well and they are always interesting to watch even though their entire program is kind of slow and lacks dynamism.
Suchoi Su-57 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Suchoi Su-57 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Suchoi Su-57 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Suchoi Su-57 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Suchoi Su-57 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Kamov Ka-52E Alligator (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Kamov Ka-52E Alligator (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
Finally a word about the display of the Indian Tejas aircraft flown by Wing Commander Namansh Syal. The program he presented was reasonably attractive and his aircraft often lit up in an attractive way when hit by direct sunlight. The routine was fairly interesting and included among others a horizontal outside loop at medium-height altitude. It was this outside loop where on the last day, the problem started for Commander Syal. When coming out of the loop, he flipped the aircraft to resume normal horizontal flight as always but for unexplained reasons, the aircraft continued its flight path towards the ground. And under the eyes of thousands of spectators including the writer, the aircraft never recovered and ploughed into the desert ground. It was shocking to watch and tragic to learn the consequences. Commander Syal did not survive. There is no clarity as to why this accident occurred. There are several theories none of which are confirmed. Some sources claimed that Commander Syal tried to use the ejection seat during the last seconds but this is also not confirmed. A very sad experience for all the spectators and other airshow pilots alike. One of the enclosed photos shows the aircraft in the outside loop about 5 seconds before the crash.
After a pause of 2 hours, the program was resumed with the Russian Knights and ended with the final performance of the Fursan Al Emarat Team. Some people including Mayor Taylor Hiester of the F-15 Viper Demo Team very strongly and openly criticized the resumption of the show after this horrific accident but in such an event, it is up to the pilots to decide whether they are going to fly or not. The Russian Knights dedicated their final show to Wing Commander Syal while the Fursan Al Emarat Team probably felt compelled to do their show in view of the large home crowd which had assembled in the nearby Sky View area.
(Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
(Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
(Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Joby JAS4 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Joby JAS4 (Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
March Verte Mudry Cap 232 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Boeing P-8A Poseidon (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Airbus A 350-1000 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Boeing 777X-9 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Comac C.919 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Summarizing the impressions after attending the event on three of the five days, the overall organisation was good but there were no shuttle buses from Central Dubai to the Dubai World Central airport also known as the Al Maktoum airport. Transit time from Central Dubai to the airport was usually 2 hours plus due to very heavy traffic and resulted in hefty taxi expenses. An alternative would have been to take the Metro about two thirds of the way and then take a shuttle bus provided by the organizers which would have taken also about 2 hours on most days. The weather was not as good as two years ago when rain cleaned the atmosphere on two occasions. There was haze everywhere, also in downtown Dubai but particularly over the airfield where the blue sky was only visible at higher altitudes. Consequently, taking good pictures was a particular challenge this year
Surya Kiran Hawk MK.132 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Surya Kiran Hawk MK.132 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Surya Kiran Hawk MK.132 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Surya Kiran Hawk MK.132 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Surya Kiran Hawk MK.132 (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
Surya Kiran Hawk MK.132 (Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
Surya Kiran Hawk MK.132 (Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
Extra EA 300LT Actionflght (Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
Dassault Rafale C (Picture courtesy Saichol Kraiamat)
Dassault Rafale C (Picture courtesy Chakrit Samithinan
The writer wishes to thank the organizers for looking after the Press corps in a much improved manner if compared to two years ago.
