Avalon de-brief

[Adam the Akrodude]

So who went to Avalon and what did you think?

I went on Friday and only managed to stay alive drinking an ocean of water and eating Calippos! It was so freakin' hot! I didn't attempt to walk down to the south on the apron. Apparently there wasn't much to see down there anyway. Warbirds were few and far between and the V-12s (Spitty Mk.16 and P-40E) didn't fly due to the heat. HARs were a no show. TAM did fly the A-37 which was a highlight for me being a Vietnam air war enthusiast. Two SM S-211s flew a formation aerobatic routine which was nice. The RAAFs CFS PC-21s flew - wicked machines! The USAF F-22 flew a tame routine as the demo pilot was not available apparently, so routine flown by a squadron pilot. F-35 demo'd it's aerial "hand brakie turns", but it's WAY too early for the RAAF to have put together a more spirited display given 009 & 010 only arrived in country a couple of months earlier. Cool seeing the ADF "Airfield attack" routine, although it was a bit strung out - perhaps on purpose as some other routines were cancelled on the Friday.

Had a great chat with a few people - young RAAF FTE at the F-35 so excited and enthusiastic being in the RAAF right now, couple of ol' fella's under a tent during lunch - both aviators with one guy formerly running a flying school in Tamworth and the chat who sold me my HGU-55 helmet had a stand at Avalon so cool to chat up and learn developments in helmet tech. Huge news was the public announcement that Boeing Australia is to develop their "Loyal Wingman" UAV here - this is mind blowing for those that have been flowing this tech. I'm not that interested in unmanned aircraft, but this is big news for military aviation developments in this region and this will be the first locally designed and built military aircraft in this country for a LONG time.

https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj847ym-vPgAhWEX3wKHTiqCAAQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ainonline.com%2Faviation-news%2Fdefense%2F2019-02-27%2Fboeing-lifts-lid-loyal-wingman&psig=AOvVaw33rxCDhyHJdPC7kDs9UOpP&ust=1552182830645293

One C-17 suffered a bird strike and aborted a t/o I saw on FB. There's a cool YouTube of this here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_QZTzS5V2Y

I'll post some pic's when I can. Maybe it was the heat, maybe having a lot of no shows at Avalon this year, but I give it 3 prop blades out of 5 this year. There wasn't enough to draw me back for the Sunday show this year - we are spoilt though aren't we!

[oz rb fan]

it wasnt a bad day........the heat was oppressive so Dad and i spent alot of time in the pavilions.........warbirds are almost non existent at Avalon these days.......though the boomerang and Hudson display is always nice...the night display was pretty good(though i did miss he Connie twilight take off)...the Scandinavian agcat display at night was incredible....LED"S Pyros and Lazers ...just amazing.......but Friday was enough.......if the rumors are right bring on 2021.......but i suspect 2021 will be my last........the cost of a daily ticket is getting beyond a family man,and unless we get bigger and different displays the public days will die

[BradG]

Nah I decided it would be much more fun to play cricket in the heat. Sweated through 3 sets of inners batting.