Airshow @ South Africa

Hi All,

We had been to an Airshow yesterday at Waterkloof Airforce base in South Africa. The event was conducted by AAD (Africa Aerospace & Defence). This was the first ever time that I ever went to an Airshow.

All that I have seen before this, is the 5 second video clipping that our Indian news channels show on Independance day and Republic day. 

A huge thanks to the weather, to allow the event to happen. Until 9 AM on the day of the event, there was rain at the venue, and there was a forecast for thunderstorms with rain for the remainder of the day. But as we left from our home in Johannesburg at around 10am , the clouds started clearing out. By the time we reached the venue, there was already a 100 people long queue for entrance and a whopping 3000+ were already inside.

I would like to share some pictures from the event..

The event began with some ground shows..

This tanker.. i have seen it in Arjun movies and Vijayakanth movies (tamil super heroes..) (Hindi audience - please relate to Sunny Deol movies).. The tanker completed 3-4 rounds so that all the audiences do get a good look at the deadly war weapon..

This typical figher jet - I remember seeing it in Avatar, and a hell lot of other "Alien" english movies.. Everything was good except it's noise.. almost equals the sound of 100 thunders.. Just couldn't imagine how it would have been during the wars. Forget the people who die at war.. imagine the people who would be listening to this deadly noise - day in, day out..!! Please , no war... save our eardrums.. :-)

What followed was a display of the domestic and international airlines operated in South Africa. While the flights took off and completed normal runs around the arena, the officials were announcing its technical details like capacity, speed, etc.,

The above one, as you can see, is a flight from the 1time airlines, which is one of the low-cost airlines operated in South Africa.

And below is the prime airlines of South Africa - SAA.

But the real beauty of the day was from the choppers, who entertained with their various stunts and styles.

And one more...

They were flying here and there.. and before you spot them, they are gone.. They entered the sky in a group of 5, then split themselves up, went to a corner each,.. performed some stunts like toppling etc., and came back to the alignments.

There were also some private charters and helicopters on display & sale.

           

                                 

                                     

                                   

The helicopters also did entertain us with some serious action..

And here's another one.. all I know is that these two look different.. 

And here's one that lifted a tanker..

And then there was a mock war-scenario too. A few explosions took place, and it was demonstrated how the tankers will be used during wars , and how the rescue operations take place.

Thick smoke from an explosion as part of the mock-war..

A military tanker in action....

And then an Helicopter rescue operation..



And a final rescue to take back the remaining soldiers after the 'war'..

We were not there the whole day, hence I'm unaware of the events that happened later on. But it was quite a tiring day considering that we had to stand throughout the event to get a good view of the exhibitions. For more information about the event , you can visit http://www.aadexpo.co.za/

I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

If you would like to see more pictures, you can check the below link to my Picassa album.

Airshow, Waterkloof Airbase, South Africa