Airshow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An airshow is an event at which aviators display their flying skills and the capabilities of their flying machines to the crowd. Airshows without aerobatic displays, with only aircraft displayed parked on the ground, are called static airshows.
Most airshows are held for commercial motives, gaining income from onlookers or from companies hoping to sell aircraft. Others are held on military bases and are mostly paid for by recruiting budgets, and some are held to raise funds for charities. Usually they are arranged at airfields in which case a variety of static aircraft and helicopters might also be on view. Less often shows are held over the sea near coastal cities or resorts. Where space allows, other entertainments and market stalls may add to the attractions on offer.
The year's airshow schedule is usually defined during the end of the preceding year. The lineup of pilots and aircraft to be in attendance at each airshow is tentatively determined around February and March, but can change at any time. With a handful of exceptions (such as the mid-winter airshow at MCAS Yuma, AZ), the airshow "season" starts in March-April and ends in October-November. During the months that follow, airshow organizers will invite airshow performers to their shows, and performers pick which airshows they will fly.
While adverse weather rarely causes an airshow to be cancelled, wind and/or low visibility may delay the start of an airshow, and may sometimes cause the cancellation of most flight demonstrations. Many performers have a "high show" routine, a "low show" routine, and a "flat show" routine, to take into account the possibility of different cloud heights. When all flying is cancelled, spectators can view static displays and may be invited to talk to the pilots. Shows at military bases are liable to be cancelled or postponed during periods of international tension
Airshows usually open their gates very early, giving spectators a few hours to wander around the static displays before flying starts in the late morning or early afternoon. Flying usually continues until late afternoon or early evening, or even later at some airshows, especially evening airshows which may go into the night. In evening airshows, airplanes fly which are especially lit, which release flares or fireworks or other pyrotechnics, or which have bright afterburners. When airshow organizers decide to have an evening airshow - which is rare - it is usually held on Friday night, preceding the main airshow weekend.
While military installations will usually ask spectators to leave once the flying ends, most airshows that take place in non-military airfields do not. This allows the public to watch the aircraft depart the airfield at the end of the day (many aircraft on static display do not fly during the show itself, only during arrivals and departures) and to photograph static-display aircraft and departing aircraft with good sunset lighting and with fewer people obstructing their shots.
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[edit] Attractions
Before the second world war, airshows were associated with long distance air races, often lasting many days and covering thousands of miles. While the Reno Air Races keep this tradition alive, most airshows today primarily feature a series of aerial demos of short duration.
Some smaller airshows may display only general aviation aircraft, some aerobatic aircraft, and a warbird or two. However, most airshows will feature warbirds, aerobats, and demonstrations of modern military aircraft, and many airshows offer a variety of other aeronautical attractions as well, such as wing-walking, radio-controlled aircraft, water/slurry drops from firefighting aircraft, simulated helicopter rescues, etc.
Some airshows ("Static" airshows) feature primarily aircraft on the ground with the occasional fly-by. While most airshows also feature hours of flying demonstrations, a greater number and variety of aircraft can often be seen on static display, parked in the spectator area so that airshow goers can see them up close and talk to the crew. The exception to this are airshows held over the water at coastal cities, which often have no static displays at all.
Airplanes used in aerobatic demos have powerful piston engines, light weight and big control surfaces, making them capable of very high roll rates and accelerations. A skilled pilot will be able to climb vertically, perform very tight turns, tumble his aircraft end-over-end, perform manoeuvres during loops, and even hover his aircraft like a helicopter with the nose pointing straight up.
Solo military jet demos feature one single aircraft, usually a strike fighter or an advanced trainer. The demonstration focuses on the capabilities of modern aircraft used in combat operations. The display will usually demonstrate the aircraft's very short (and often very loud) takeoff rolls, fast speeds, slow approach speeds, as well as their ability to quickly make tight turns (in order to evade an enemy, or to turn around for another pass at a ground target) and climb quickly, and their ability to be precisely controlled at a large range of speeds. Common manoeuvres include aileron rolls, barrel rolls, hesitation rolls, Cuban-8s, and double Immelmans.
Jet demo teams perform many of the same manoeuvres seen during solo military jet demos, but they perform these manoeuvres in large synchronized groups, while in close formation or during opposing passes. These manoervres are performed simultaneously by a group of two to nine aircraft while they fly together, often less than two meters apart, or by two or four aircraft simultaneously as the aircraft fly at each other (seemingly in a colision course) from opposite directions. The demo teams usually split up for most of their routine, with a larger formation performing gentle loops and rolls, and a smaller group of aircraft performing opposing passes and higher-speed/higher-g manoeuvres. Teams include the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds of the USA, the Snowbirds of Canada, and the European teams such as the Red Arrows, Patrulla Aguila, Frecce Tricolori, or Patrouille de France. These are usually the highlight of an airshow – the loud, fast, and exciting demos spectators will remember, the acts that can reliably draw large crowds to any airshow.
Warbird demos allow modern audiences to familiarize themselves with the sights and sounds of aviation of times gone by. These may include limited aerobatics or mock dogfights, but more often consist of a series of straight-line passes made by one or more World-War-2-era aircraft. Many warbird demos will feature large formations of warbirds, as would have been seen during World War 2. Often, the end of a warbird demo will coincide with the beginning of a modern military aircraft demo, and the old aircraft will fly along the new aircraft in what is known as a “Heritage Flight” (US Air Force) or a “Legacy Flight” (US Navy). This is a chance to see the great advances in aviation technology that have been achieved over the past six decades.
Helicopter demos usually focus on the search-and-rescue operations - such as lowering a rescuer via a cable, attaching the rescued person to the harness and then returning them both to the helicopter. Military helicopters may drop soldiers or vehicles, and fire weapons, during these rescue operations. Fire-fighting water-drops may be included. Helicopter demos may show off the agility and maneuverability of the helicopter and its special tricks - these are usually performed with light two-seater helicopters.
Other attractions: Airshows can also feature air races, skydiving/paragliding demos, skywriting, wingwalking demos, glider demos, aviation record attempts, hovercraft, replicas of some of the earliest aircraft, new-technology demonstrator prototypes, cargo-transport or even airdrop demos, battlefield simulations (including soldiers, ground vehicles, helicopters, airplanes, and pyrotechnics), fire-fighting aircraft (which drop water or slurry), and remote-controlled aircraft. Interesting ground vehicles, such as vintage cars, race cars, modern muscle cars, military vehicles, and even the occasional jet-powered car or truck, may be seen. Sometimes a "race" is staged between a ground vehicle (typically a muscle car or a jet-powered vehicle) and an aircraft (typically a warbird or an aerobatic airplane).
[edit] Safety
Airshows, while spectacular to watch, present an increased risk to both spectators and aviators. Accidents occur, sometimes with a large loss of life, such as the 1988 disaster at Ramstein Air Base in Germany and the 2002 airshow crash at Lviv, Ukraine. Because of these accidents, safety regulations governing airshows have become increasingly more defensive, especially in the US, leading to greater safety but to less-dramatic performances. Due to the Ramstein incident, Germany went as far as to ban airshows altogether, but this ban was later lifted, and strict regulations put in its place.
Airshows usually feature a series of aerial demonstrations that take place over the runway at an airfield, or over the water by a coastal city. At airshows held in US airfields, crowds are restricted from being within 500 feet of the runway, and some aircraft cannot fly within even larger distances of the crowd. While helicopters and slower aircraft may fly at 500 feet from the crowd, faster jets may be required to keep a 1500 ft distance except during takeoffs, landings, and a few straight-line passes. Aircraft may only fly over the crowd or at less that 500 ft distances if they are flying in a straight line or in a “banana pass”, where the aircraft starts out flying away from the crowd and turns towards the crowd, "cutting the corner" of the area where the crowd is allowed. (If the “banana pass” maneuver must be aborted or if control is lost, the energy of the aircraft will take in a line tangent to the turn, away from spectators).
Aerobatic maneuvers may only be performed if the aircraft are not heading towards the crowd. All aerobatic maneuvers must be performed inside the "airshow box", a rectangular volume of space with the runway at one edge, extending behind the runway and up to a certain altitude over this area. No people are allowed in the airshow box except those assisting the pilot in his or her act (for examples, to hold poles the aircraft flies between, or to drive ground vehicles associated with the aerial act). This means any roads in the airshow box (such as a highway at one end of the airfield) may have to be closed.
Aerobatic pilots earn certificates that initially only allow them to perform aerobatics at higher altitudes, and only with more advanced certificates can all maneuvers be performed near the ground. Formation flying, as well as flying vintage or high-performance aircraft, also requires special training.
During US airshows, helicopters cannot bank or pitch more than 90 degrees (an imaginary line going away from the helicopter perpendicular to the plane of the rotor cannot point below the horizon).
These safety restrictions make US airshows very safe. While accidents do happen, spectators are not injured if modern safety rules are followed. Mechanical malfunctions and pilot error (most often a combination of both) are responsible for a handful of airshow accidents every year, but even then, most pilots manage to eject safely or to survive their crashes.
[edit] Historical airshows
- 1909 The "Internationale Luftschiffahrt-Ausstellung" was first held in Frankfurt/Main, Germany from 1909-7-10 to 1909-10-17, later becoming the "Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung (ILA)" and as such can lay claim to being the oldest aviation show in the world.
- 1909 Reims Air Meet in France in August 1909. A key aviator was Glenn Curtiss who won the Gordon Bennett Cup. This show inspired John Moisant.
- 1910 Dominguez Field, just south of Los Angeles, California from 1910-01-10 to 1910-01-20. Participants included: Glenn Curtiss; Charles Hamilton; Lincoln Beachey; and Louis Paulhan. The Los Angeles Times called it "one of the greatest public events in the history of the West."
- 1910 Harvard-Boston Aero Meet at the Harvard Aviation Field in Atlantic, Massachusetts, USA, from 1910-09-03 to 1910-09-13. It was the first major air event in the Eastern United States and offered $90,000 in prizes and appearance fees. Participants included: The Wright brothers and the Glenn Curtiss exhibition teams; and Claude Grahame-White. This show inspired: Harriet Quimby
- 1910 Belmont International Aviation Tournament offered approximately $75,000 in prize money. Participants included: Count Jacques de Lesseps; Roland Garros; Claude Grahame-White; Glenn Curtiss; John Moisant; Arch Hoxsey; Ralph Johnstone; and Charles Hamilton.
- 1925-1931 Ford National Reliability Air Tour Offering the Edsel B. Ford Trophy, it was inscribed, "This trophy is offered to encourage the up-building of commercial aviation as a medium of transportation."
[edit] Major airshows
- The world's largest military air show is the Royal International Air Tattoo (RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom), held annually in July. The RIAT gathers an exceptional variety of military aircraft and military display teams from all over Europe, and sometimes Asia and the US.
- The annual EAA AirVenture Oshkosh airshow (Oshkosh, Wisconsin), organized by the Experimental Aircraft Association, is attended by more people and by more aircraft than any other airshow. The week-long event, typically in late July or early August, focuses on experimental aircraft, such as homebuilts and warbirds, but will also feature aerobatics acts, military aircraft, and airliners. The airshow also includes talks by famous or influential people in aviation, as well as a large area with booths where aircraft, aircraft parts, aircraft services, and aircraft memorabilia are sold, advertised, announced, or traded. The other major yearly airshow organized by the EAA is "Sun 'N Fun", held every April at Lakeland, Florida.
- Airshows in the US that display the widest variety of modern military aircraft (helicopters, jet fighters, bombers, cargo aircraft, stealth aircraft, etc) are typically the ones held at Andrews AFB every May, NAS Oceana every September, MCAS Miramar every October, and Aviation Nation at Nellis AFB every November. Each of these airshows will feature nearly all frontline aircraft in service with the US armed forces. The annual airshow and open house held every October at Edwards AFB also features prototypes, spaceplanes, proof-of-concept demonstrators, rarely-seen stealth airplanes, and other futuristic experimental aircraft, in addition to most current frontline aircraft types in service with the US Air Force.
- The US airshows with the most numerous and diverse (and often rare) warbirds include the Planes of Fame airshow held at Chino each May, and the "Thunder Over Michigan" show at Willow Run each August. The British equivalents are the three or four airshows held in Duxford througought the year, especially the Flying Legends airshow in July. The Oshkosh airshow, mentioned above, also features a large number and variety of warbirds.
- The two largest air and aerospace trade shows are the Farnborough Air Show (Farnborough, England), held in July on even years, and the Le Bourget Air Show (Paris, France), held in June on odd years. In addition to displays for the general public, these two shows have important showcases and display halls for professionals. They are traditionally one of the occasions when major aerospace players announce deals.
- The third largest aerospace trade show, Asian Aerospace, has been held in Singapore since its inception in 1981, although disagreements over a movement of the exhibition venue will see it move to Hong Kong in 2008. A new show, the Singapore Air Show, will take its place in Singapore from the same year.
- The biggest airshow and aerospace trade show in Russia is MAKS, held every year at Zhukovskiy in June. Russia produces many aircraft and spacecraft, from fighters and bombers to airliners, helicopters, cargo planes, aerobatic aircraft, seaplanes, and spacecraft launch vehicles. No other venue allows them all to be seen in one place. MAKS often features multiple jet display teams from western Europe, and Russia alone has an Su-27 team, a MiG-29 team, and an L-39 team, all of whom perform demos at MAKS.
- The world's oldest air show is the Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung Berlin (ILA) in Berlin, Germany going back to 1909.
- Airshows held at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome display the largest collection of flying antique airplanes in the United States, including several aircraft from World War 1, a handful of aircraft from the 1909-1913 period, and many aircraft from the 1920s.
- Over the last 17 years, the Shoreham Airshow has raised £1 million for the Royal Air Forces Association
[edit] See also
[edit] Other notable airshows
- Iran airshow (Kish, Iran)
- Abbotsford International Airshow (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada)
- Aero India (India)
- Airshow 06, East Fortune Airfield, near Edinburgh, Scotland, UK [1]
- Australian International Air Show (2005) - "The Shape of Things to Come"
- Berlin Air Show - ILA (Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung) (Berlin, Germany)
- Canadian International Air Show(Toronto, Ontario)
- Cleveland National Air Show (Cleveland, Ohio)
- Chicago Air & Water Show (Chicago, Illinois)
- Dayton Air Show (Dayton, Ohio)
- Dubai Airshow (Dubai)
- Wings and Wheels at Dunsfold (Dunsfold Park, Surrey,England, United Kingdom)
- El Centro Airshow (El Centro, California)
- Flying Circus Airshow (Bealeton, Virginia)
- Hill AFB Airshow (Ogden, Utah)
- Inland Northwest Skyfest (Spokane, Washington)
- Joint Services Open house (Andrews AFB, Maryland)
- Las Vegas Airshow (Aviation Nation)
- Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (Langkawi, Malaysia)
- Midland Airshow (Commemorative Air Force, Midland, Texas)
- Miramar Airshow (MCAS Miramar, San Diego, California)
- NAS Pensacola Airshow (Pensacola, Florida)
- New York Air Show at Jones Beach State Park, New York
- Oregon International Airshow (Hillsboro, Oregon)
- Redhill Airshow (Redhill, Surrey, England, United Kingdom)
- Radom Air Show (Radom, Poland)
- Royal Netherlands Air Force open days (Various military airports in the Netherlands)
- Salinas Airshow (Salinas, California)
- Salthill Airshow (Galway, Ireland),[2]
- Saskatchewan Airshow (Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan)
- Seafair Airshow (Seattle, Washington)
- Selfridge Air National Guard Base Airshow (Detroit, Michigan)
- Shearwater Airshow (Shearwater, Nova Scotia)
- RAFA Shoreham Airshow (Shoreham, West Sussex, England, United Kingdom)
- Sunderland International Airshow (Sunderland, England)
- Sun N' Fun (Lakeland, Florida)
- Warbirds over Wanaka (Wanaka, New Zealand)
- Air/Space America 88 (San Diego, California)
- Wings Over Gillespie (Commemorative Air Force static airshow, El Cajon, California)
- Northwest EAA Fly-In (Arlington, Washington)
- Thunder over the Boardwalk (Atlantic City, New Jersey)
- RAF Leuchars Airshow. Held in September in Fife, Scotland
[edit] External links
Airshow Calendar:
- MilAviaPress.com Airshow Calendar - European airshow calendar
- Flightline UK 2007 Airshow Calendar - UK Airshow Dates
Official Airshow Websites:
- Aviation Nation Air Show
- International Air Tattoo
- Oregon International Airshow
- EAA Sun 'N Fun
- New York Air Show at Jones Beach
- Redhill Airshow - 19th August 2007
- Royal Air Forces Association Shoreham Airshow - 15th-16th September 2007
- Wings and Wheels at Dunsfold - 26th August 2007
Airshow Performers' Official Websites:
Airshow Photography:
Airshow Videography:
Miscellaneous Airshow Websites:
- Canadian Airshow Resource
- South Africa Airshows
- UK Airshow Review
- Flightline UK - UK Airshow Information and Photography
