At 09.30 the bus from the city to the airport was due to depart. A lot of airline passangers where waiting but no bus showed up. Eventualy one of the passangers called the bus-company and was told the service was "cancelled for today"... Most passangers took a taxi to the airport as did we.
Around 10.20 we arrived at the airport and walked towards the airbase gate, passing a long queue of cars. At the gate we were told that access to the open day was only for visitors with a car! From the gate it was 7 km to the open day... No shuttle busses or other service for visitors. We could either go away, rent a car or charter a taxi... Fortunatly we met a nice Spanish guy who parked at the airport and tought going to the show from there by foot as well. He offered us a lift to the airshow and so we joined the long queue of cars. Finaly around 11.45 we where at the airshow ground...
On the airshow ground no food or drinks where sold... Probably to prevent the public of throwing waist on the ground and so creating a security risk for the aircraft. Luckily it wasn't very warm this day... Also the weather did not do it's best. Some very heavy showers passed the field and there is limited room under the wing of a C-130 to take cover
Due to the weather the photos are not of the standard I am used to
The static show was limited and most aircraft where accessable for the public, meaning photos where impossible! But some other aircraft could be photographed very nice due to the absence of fences. So I could get pictures of all aircraft of the "Team Aguila" stunt-team:
The first demo we saw (missed the Eurocopter Tigre) was the Canadair CL-215T water bomber, always a nice sight:
Followed by a fly-by of a KC-130 Hercules with two EF-18s simulating air-to-air refueling:
on to the static. Two foreign aircraft were present and most Spanish visitors were absolutly not interested in them, giving me a clear shot!
First a Metroliner (C-26D) of the US Navy:
and a vintage Ramstein C-130 (1962!):
normal business at the airbase continued also. A Casa 295M arrived:
Next demo was the AS332B Super Puma. On board some commando's giving a demo on the ground after leaving the heli:
More commondo's on board of the tanker Hercules, stopping on the runway:
Finaly some "heavy metal": Mirage F-1M:
EF-18A Hornet returning. Like all airshow aircraft it taxied past the public, stopped, opened the cockpit, greet the public and taxi on to the other side of the airbase. Good for photos!
more normal business, C-130H-30 departing, and the weather getting worse and wet...
Mirage F-1M returning after display:
highlight of the show, solo display of the EF-18. The wet weather adds some nice condensation effects:
On to the EAV-8B Matador, as the Harrier is known with the Spanish Navy...
by now the weather got realy worse... I did not even try to take pictures of the EF2000 display, only got this shot as it returned:
The show ended with the display of "Team Aguila", flying with the CASA 101 Aviojet. The rain stopped for a moment but low clouds prevented the team of doing their full display.
Around 14.50 our friendly Spanish driver took us back, not only to the airport, but all the way to the city! At the hostel we could change clothes as we were completly soaked.
Peter
