Its that time of again: African Aerospace and Defence 2004.

I am definately going to be there, will there be any of you guys there. I know that there are enough here that love aircraft as much as I.

LIST OF AIRCRAFT PARTICIPATING IN AAD2004 (AS AT 22 JULY 2004)

South African Air Force
Cheetah C
Boeing B707
Aeromachi Impala
Lockheed C130 Hercules
CASA 212
Cessna C208 Caravan
Cessna 185
Douglas C47TP Turbo-prop Dakota
Rooivalk Combat Support Helicopter
Oryx Medium Transport Helicopter
Alouette III Light helicopter
Agusta A109 Light Utility Helicopter
Gripen Light Fighter
BAE Hawk (LIFT) Trainer

German Luftwaffe
C160 Transall Transport plus paratroopers

Indian Air Force
Mirage 2000 Fighter
Tanker (type not specified)
Cargo (type not specified)

United States Air Force
F15 Eagle
KC135 Tanker
C5A Galaxy Cargo

SA Air Force Museum
Vampire
Harvard Trainer
Piaggio Albatross
Alouette II
Puma SA330
Pilatus Astra Trainer

Thunder City, Cape Town
Blackburn Buccaneer Bomber
Electric Lightning Fighter
Hawker Hunter Fighter

Airlines
South African Airways (depending upon availability)
Nationwide (depending upon availability)
Comair (depending upon availability)

Civilian participation administered by Aero Club of SA
Samba micro-light trainer
Lambada motorised glider
Nissan Flying Lions Harvard Formation Aerobatic Team
L29 Tigers Formation Aerobatic Team
Shurlok Pitts Special Aerobatic Team
Mazda Zlin Formation Aerobatic Team
Trade Centre Xtra 300
Boeing Stearman PT-17
Piaggio P166s Albatross Team

Parachutists

----------------------------------------------------

It's going to be a blast, I just hope the yanks bring some more planes... something like the B1

END!

crap. I will only be getting my licence next month. Was hoping to fly there. Hire a C172 and pop in for the day. Oh well.

Damn I really wanted to go to this. I will be there next year though.

@driver were you at Virginia Airshow this year?

Virginia, Freestate, or Virginia, US? Doesn't matter either, I have not been to a show since 2000.

There wont be a show next year, AAD is biennial.

END!

I'm making plans to go

Oh well. I suppose I will go in 2006 then... I was talking about virginia in Durban.

Cheers

Me and BaRoN are deffinitly going. We'll probably go on Friday. It's a pity if the B1 won't make an appearance. I see from your list that the F-16 won't be here as well.
I go mainly to see the F-15 and the Boeing 707. The 2002 show was very good. Where else in the world can you go to an airshow and be so close to the aircraft. They fly low, they go fast...the word, EARTHQUAKE, comes to mind.
We watched the Mirage F1 doing its routine on Saturday...

BTW, what is the entry fee this year?

BRING THE NOISE !!!

I dont think that that is the final confirmation of aircraft. I am sure more is to come... especially the F-16.

I am going on Friday. Look out for a dude with cameras, a goatee, a red cap, and big specs.

END!

Gonna ROCK !!!

Will be there - Friday + perhaps Saturday.
Damn I love where I live, not even 2km from AFB Waterkloof and AFB Swartkop is not even 5min drive.

So I'll be walking. To the guys/gals driving in - Be early. Parking's gonna be a real pain again (It always is)
Oh... ja... Bring your own cooldrinks - Really expensive.

ZeeYa There

What time's it starting?

I'm really only interested in the "power" planes. Does anyone know when they flying

Spotted Yesterday afternoon:
Cheetah C (The flag)
Saab Grippen
BAE Hawk

Spotted this morning:
Either Mirage F1 / Cheetah C (Only saw the side profile from some distance)
C130
B707


Shame, our dogs aren't handling the noise - I love it though

Entry is R40 for adults and R30 for kids under 13 (I think); but it IS R40 for adults.

Go early and park as far from the main entrances - Come closing time its gonna be chaos!!!!

The F-16 was there last time if I remember

Some stuff
Gripen

Astra


Also spotted
- 2x Oryx and 1 x Draadkar
- Cheetah C, 2 vs 1 dogfight
- Cheetah C solo

What time does it start on Friday
EDIT: Nevermind - read the programme

I loooove AAD.

I'm going the friday AND the saturday.... I never get to walk around the exhibitions, so this year I'm making special effort.

I doubt they'll have F16's though, I don't see any mention af the USA/Belgium anywhere...

Ok, hot off the press


Entrance: R40 for Adults

R30 for Pensioners (60 & older)
Children under 12 FREE


The shows on Friday and Saturday starts at 8am until 5pm.

I had the best wake up alarm this morning - a Fly-By

I've never got up so quickly, to run to the window to try see it.

I am gonna be there tomorrow, turns out I had to pick my bro up today and not yesterday as planned.

On Monday I heard the plains from where I stay, which is quite far. I could not resist so took a drive out there. The Grippen was up for a while, then they put a Mirage up.

Myself and a mate spoke to some journo's and managed to sneak in tagging along with them. Was wicked.

I cannot wait til tomorrow.

END!

Good show!
Surrounded by sun, guns, beer and planes. What a day

Went yesterday, and it was an excellent show. There was a good range of aircraft up in the air and the program was quite well planned. That Gripen sure is something. The Rooivalk demo was also quite spectacular; explosives and all. Of course, also nice to see the Cheetah, Mirages, Harvards, ALL of the aerobatic teams (except the gliders, was that supposed to be formation flying??), the new SAA Airbus A340-600, an Ilyushin I-72, and everything else.

On the exhibition side, it ws mostly the same old same old, but the long range anti-material rifle on the Denel stand was pretty awesome.

Not a bad day, except for the wind. It was howling out there. I got to see what I wanted to, but unfortunately had to leave for the wind.

Added to that, the idiotic show put on by the SAP. They enacted a foiled cash-in-transit heist: blanks, flashbangs, car ramming, smoke and alles. They also set one vehicle alight, which in turn set the grass alight, and aided by the high winds soon became a massive blaze.

When they finally got the fire trucks on the scene, which was part of the show, and extinguished the blaze, there was so much smoke people were running away from the front fence. My eyes were burning, I was unable to breathe or walk.

Another thing that annoyed me was that they put the prices up on food for the event. I bought a Pieman Pie. It cost me R10. Being all cocky, I asked the bloke how much he usually charges. He picked up at what I was getting at and said that it was the orginisers that had set the prices and that he and other vendors had no control over the price.

A Cheesedog cost me R14. It was cold, was on an un-buttered roll and came with very little sauce.

I would also like to say 'fuck you' to the rude arsehole and his father who where seated near the fence. I hope you have more of those ice-cold Heini's you were sucking on and roll your car on the way home.

During the police display I was not in a decent position to get a picture. There were people in front of me that had set up a gazebo and chairs behind the fence. Two metres behind the fence. I asked if I could crouch down by the fence, so as not to hinder their view, to get some pictures.

The dude snaps at me, telling me to bugger off, his father (I assume) immediately spins about and tells me to fuck off. What horrible people.

Anyway, it was a good day and I got to see some cool stuff. Here are some pics.

===================================================

The SAPS smoke-screen display

END!

My eyes... my goddamn eyes!!!

END!

The wonderful Electric Lightning.

END!

Gripen.

END!

Cheetahs taking off. They proceeded to demonstrate a 2-on-1 tactical maneuver. It was quite exciting.

END!

Mirage F1-AZ.

END!

The ever beautiful Rooivalk.

END!

C5 Galaxy. Farking huge!

END!

Dam Driver.

Thanks for those ***sweet*** pictures!!!

It just makes me more jealous that I couldnt get there. I am crazy about aircraft!!

The show in Friday was very cool. Had some trouble finding shade, but overall a nice day.

Saturday was a bit of a bummer.

The show started of really great, and it looked set to exceed the friday show in pure coolness. Especially with the Lightning making a flight.... God that thing is awesome.

Anyway, as everyone knows by now the show was cancelled about halfway through when the SAPS killed visibility with their firemaking skills, coupled with fast winds turning my white nerd body into a nice shade of red. (The red dust being blown around by the wind.) And also posing a risk of blowing aircraft off-course and over the crowd. Bummer.

Nothing that can be done about it though, and I think the organisers did a great job of providing a most excellent weekend. Here's to the next one.

EDIT: OH! shit, I almost forgot! Thanks Driver for some shweet pictures!

Excellent pics there Driver! I'm sorry Saturday didn't go well, but you guys did get to see the Lightning fly, I didn't see it on Friday (maybe I just missed it).

I saw that thing take off in Cape Town last time I was down there, it flew about 200 meters after the end of the runway, then the pilot yanked the stick back and the Lightning just vanished into the omnipresent Cape cloud cover. The tourguide at Thunder City told us that the Lightning is one of the few aeroplanes that can accelerate while flying vertically. It was built to intercept ICBMs, so part of its specification was gaining altitute FAST. Its incredible to watch, I hope you get the oppurtunity one day.

Luckily, I missed the lame SAPS thing on Friday, I was busy checking out the exhibitions at the time.

Oh ya .... and R6 a can of coke

Yeah, sorry for off topic, but the lightning can climb to +- 60000 ft, in roughly 2 minutes. Its mad. I spoke to one guy at thunder city he said with full reheat the Lighning has something like 10-15 minutes endurance on ful tanks!!!( alt. dependant obviously)

Heres something extra. A Super Hind and some huge Russian transport and a tank of sorts.

Sorry for the multiple posts earlier, I only worked out the new image system now.

Click to view attachmentClick to view attachmentClick to view attachment

END!

Thanks again for the pictures, that tank look err...umm...solid.

Wow you actually saw an AN-124!! Whats it sounds like? Man thats AWESOME!

Hhhhhhhuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Like you said, awesome.

Friday was very enjoyable. I liked the Hunter the most. It makes a funny WOOPWOOPWOOPWOOP sound when it goes fast.

Here are 2 pics of the SkyMaster. One of my favourites.
Adieu

Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

lol.

Thanks for the pictures.

Did the Galaxy perform? or was it onlo on static display? I'd love to see one of those things moving through the air!

I went on Saturday. Didn't stay long because of the wind and my stupid shoes. But it was quite cool. Why the hell didn't the Americans have any info displayed about their planes? They just stood there. Saw the fighter being disassembled though. And the Rooivalk, very nice.

The Galaxy was on the ground only, although I would have loved to have seen it moving.

When they bring it here they land at night. When they go, they go at night. I've never seen it in the air. Pity...



Friday was the perfect day for an airshow. Saturday, on the other hand was a bit of a disaster. Luckily most of the fighters did their routines in the morning, including the Lightning. I think they received a weather report and decided to give the people a exellent show before the bad weather came flying in.

BTW : I want to see a F-14 seeing that they are retired out of service!!! Really, what is the odds of that happening...

I'm sure I saw the galaxy fly on Sunday. I was mountain biking out in the Pretoria East area. I'm not 100% sure as it was fairly high, but that thing is soooo huge you can't really mistake it.

I was there Friday. Marvellous show. Got some good video of the Mirages (III and F1), Gripen ( thought it had two 'p's, but actually only one), the Swiss AF Hawker Hunter (static), and a ton of parked planes. The Rooivalk did an awesome demo showing off its handling capabilities. I wish someone would buy this chopper so it can stay alive & get developed further - it's a real world-class machine that outperforms almost anything else currently operational.

Spoke to a captain in the USAF about their display. Apparently this particular group was sent out at the last minute from the home guard based in Syracuse, New York, and no flying displays were planned (unlike the incredible SAAF Anniversary display some years ago).

Lots of exhibition displays in several hangers. Many of the international sub-systems (eg avionics, weapons systems, etc) contractors and developers were there.

I spent quite a bit of time at one of the remotest displays - SA Artillery Fire and Control System Field HQ, way down at the bottom of one apron. Everything's hardened electronics these days, with astonishing capabilities.

Sorry I missed the BAC Electric Lightning on Saturday.

Parking was a nightmare. Wind and dust aweful. But the display was worth all the pain. Will be back next time.

I saw a huge plane flying this morning over pretoria - pretty sure it must have been the galaxy. Man, that thing's big.

My dad was talking to the US pilots on Saturday. They were scheduled to leave on Sunday morning.

END!

It may have been the An-124, also huge!!

oh, yeah - i remember seeing a documentary on discover on the AN-225 and his little brother, the AN-124 (if you could call it little). I heard they had the AN-124 at the show - but didn't get to see it