Continuation from the previous post. I shall have more photos than words this time as the photos themselves show what's going on.
While the two eagles are busy making flybys towards each other, the other six were preparing for something spectacular. 5 on 1. The blue smoke trails clearly indicate the aircraft that will be performing. The sole Eagle flies onwards at HIGH speed.....
Getting ready for the next move
Ready? NOW!!
.......and pierces through the smoke trail of the oncoming lead aircraft.
Another low fixed-formation flyby
They are very skillful pilots, being able to fly in close proximity with each other, maintaining close in formation, and retaining the intended shape of the formation. It's interesting to be able to see the planes flying through pockets of sunlight. You get to see bright patches of the smoke trails at certain parts of the smoke trails and dark spots on other stretches.
Flying in pairs
There was never a dull moment, from the elegant displays to the roaring sound of the engines when they flew by, to the nail biting head-on fly bys. Some were just slow and steady while others were fast and smoky. The displays mostly consist of either a group of 5-6 for the larger displays, or a single / double aircraft doing solo-ish performance.
The next one was a Helix (or something like that). A spectacular sight indeed, seeing a pair of aircraft rotating round the centre aircraft.
Blue smoke
Red smoke
Note that the two leading aircraft are inverted. So the pilots must be looking at each other and thinking "Hey... How you doin..". The two spiralling aircraft, while flying at a slightly lower speed due to the need to rotate was still able to keep up, flying at almost full thrust. Twisting and turning, round and round and round.
Mini Diamond formation
Another colourful fly by. The sun was bright, bringing up the yellow belly of the aircraft, accompanied by red and blue smoke. I was wondering why they were flying without any rolls or hard turns. It was a slow flight from the right to the left of the centre stage. Then I found out. All of us were BLOWN AWAY when a single T-50 jet flew at FULL SPEED pass the centre stage. Totally unprepared for it, therefore no shots available.
Though these four aircraft had a bigger role to play in later sessions as shown below. They were getting ready for another nail-biting maneuver.
Looks like a Ram. Note the position of the Red and Blue -smoked aircraft
They made a ram horn out of nothing but smoke trails. Kudos to the planner.
Criss Cross - Reds to the right, blues to the left
4-way split
The approach and the criss-cross followed by the split creates an interesting effect at the base of the split. Had to avoid quite a number of heads popping up to share the excitement and the happiness of seeing this move. Not an easy task as there were many people in front of me who are much much taller.
High G climb/turn
One of the Eagles did another fast move. With full afterburner, it effortlessly climbed, twisted and turned to demonstrate its high maneuverability. See the orange glow of the engine exhaust and the wind movement pass the wings. You can even see slight flexing of the wings near the wing tip.
Victory formation
And to close such a grand performance, they performed the victory split, which looks like a peacock when it is flaunting its beautiful feathers. What an AMAZING performance. I enjoyed it and would have attended the second available show of the ROKAF.
Witness an AWESOME and SPECTACULAR aerial display? Checked, and wanting more of it
That's all for the aerial display and the visit of the first day. Whoo. Took a number of posts to get the first day done, but it has been a wonderful feeling re-living the moment. Thank you for reading this and hopefully enjoying it as much as I did. Day 2 of the airshow is in the next post.
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