International Airshow – Avalon, Australia 3rd March 2013

Unfortunately I attended the show on the last day, and a day is not enough to take in at least 50% of what the show offers to the general public. You have to be fairly fit to trudge the distances beginning with the car parks. The authorities could easily provide a shuttle bus, as they do at Melbourne Airport, to shuttle attendees from the car parks to the entrance. I spoke to a few of the people, and this is a factor that dissuades them from coming back. At then end of a tiring day a trudge to the ends of the car park is not an incentive to come back again! The die hards will.

The Souvenier guide leaves much to be desired for $10. It did not have photos of all the planes taking part in the event. For newcomers to the show, and wearing earplugs, it was diffcult to identify which aircraft was what. I am speaking for those not familar with the aircraft taking part in the show, which is not difficult to do and if they need a volunteer – they now have one.

For a photographer like me, I had to shuffle between exhibition areas and the front line to take shots of the planes taking off or landing. Tiered stands in the public area would keep away the hundreds of deck chairs sprawled all over the public viewing area and give everyone an opportunity to have a clear view of the runway.

It surely was an awesome sight to see the aerobatic displays especially by the Breitling Wingwalkers. Those daredevil girls are really, beautiful daredevils.

Boeing Stearman Bi plane

The Breitling Wingwalkers with Melissa Pemberton

The Aircraft in the air that I saw this Sunday (after 11:30 hrs) were the Edge 540, Spitfires, Mustang, Kitty Hawk, Boomerang, Meteor, Sabre, the awesome F22 Raptor that had the crowd fired up, C17 Globemaster, C-130 Hercules, and the SuperHornets.

Australia’s Matt Hall, now a Redbull famous pilot and former airforce pilot of F-18s was there with his MXS. The aerobatics defies explanation and one has to be there to see the passion and believe what these Pilots are capable of, with a 100 % trust in the people who design, manufacture and maintain these magnificent flying machines.