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Review by http://www.airshowsreview.com/
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Reviewed by Laszlo Nyary for http://www.airshowsreview.com/
The Hungarian Air and Military show is held at the Kecskemét AFB, in City of Kecskemét, about 1 hours drive south east of Budapest by car. It was also possible to take trains and buses to Kecskemét, and if arriving by train, a direct bus service was available to the AFB.
The air show is held every two years, and it is one of the best air shows in Europe, if not in the world. Due to the huge success of the 2008 air show, organizers decided to make it an annual air show but due to economic downturn experienced in Hungary and the rest of the world the 2009 show was cancelled. Therefore the 2010 was eagerly awaited.
Things did not look good on Friday before the air show. Scattered thunderstorms throughout the day made difficult for aircraft to go up for rehearsal. Most of the participating aircraft had arrived at the base by Thursday thus avoiding the horrible Friday weather. By Saturday morning the heavy rains had stopped but the skies over Kecskemét were overcast with low ceilings. The gloomy weekend forecast called for showers on Saturday and Sunday. That did not stop people from coming to this very popular air show.
The venue has plenty of food vendors and sanitation facilities. It is also a good place for families since there are many activities for children.
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Over all we highly recommend the Hungarian air show at Kecskemét for any serious military aviation enthusiast, due to the variety and the number of countries represented and of course due to their flying display.
Location: Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona
Featured performers included the F-16 Viper West Demo Team, AV-8B Harrier Demo Team and The Patriots.
MCAS Yuma Air Show is held at the Marine Air Station which shares the grounds with the Yuma International Airport. The 2010 MCAS Yuma Air Show, in Arizona was only a one day affair. The show took place on March 27, exactly a week later of the Aerospace and Arizona Days 2010 Air Show in Tucson that was held at Davis-Monthan AFB. While the MCAS Yuma Air Show was smaller in scale than the D-M AFB, it was better organized, was much friendlier with helpful staff, especially from the Public Affairs Office, and just as importantly it had a Schedule of Events that was fairly accurate! The weather was typical Arizona weather in March, mid 80’s, sunny, although the wind was quite gusty at times.
The show itself was a bit short on top performers; the F-16 Viper West Coast Demo Team was one and if we count the Marines AV-8B Harrier as an official team, which may not be, who were based out of Yuma, they would be the second. There was one aerial refueling pass with a Hercules Tanker and an AV-8B Harrier, which would have been more interesting if the demo would have been a bit longer, say one pass each way or even several passes in each direction! The Heritage flight consisted of the F-16 and a F-4, too bad the F-4 Phantom was a fly-in guest and it did not land or was on static display at the show itself! There were a couple of civilian performers like the Patriot Jet Team, great performers flying very low with tight turns, Paul Stender’s Jet Outhouse and Jet School bus that raced with the T-33 “Ace Maker”; the T-33 won! There was an R/C demonstration too and a couple of Pitts S-2 who did some aerobatics in between the above performers. Over all the performances were good, especially the Marines AV-8B Harrier demo, and the Patriots with some very low level flying, who stood out overall. Static displays included: several F-5 painted in aggressor’s colors, F/A-18 Hornet, F/A-18 Super Hornet, several A-10s, a B-52 bomber, and a KC-135 Tanker, a Polish built PZL TS-11 Iskra (Spark) jet trainer from the mid-sixties, and several AFV’s from the Yuma Testing Grounds.
Yuma is one of those rare shows were the sun is behind the lens most of the time, thus making photography of performers a breeze, with good results as long as the focal length of the lens is in the 300-400mm range. There was a children’s play area, and there were plenty of concession stands with typical fast foods available at such venues. There were plenty of portable toilets and were well dispersed. Parking and Security were handled very professionally and quickly. As for show announcement, I cannot comment on it, as I was in the old control tower above the crowds and static display area, which gave an excellent view of the flight line but away from the loudspeakers, and it was a bit windy thus I was not able to hear the loudspeakers, but since there was a schedule, it was easy to follow the performers. Approxinately 20, 000 people attended the air show.
This was my first visit to the Marine Air Station Yuma, and I was very much impressed by their professionalism, and I wish to thank the PAO staff, especially Gunnery Sgt. Lisbon, Lance Corporal Benson, and Lance Corporal Diamant for their hospitality and cooperation, and Capt. Dolan who spoke with our Coordinator at The Magazine.
Some of the participating performers were:
F-16 Viper West Demo Team
Marines AV-8B Harrier
SAR Helicopter Demo
Heritage Flight with F-16 and F4 Phantom
Patriots L-39C Team
T-33 Ace Maker
and many others including static displays.
Rating: over all rating when taking everything into consideration was an excellent 9 out of 10. I highly recommend the MCAS Yuma air show to all! Go Marines!
The Viper West Team led by Maj. David Graham.
The Marine Harriers at Yuma.
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We had the opportunity visit recently two air shows in Arizona. The first one was at Davis-Monthan AFB. The second one was at MCAS Yuma. The shows differed vastly in size, performers and in quality of the actual show.
Aerospace and Arizona Days 2010 Air Show in Tucson is held at Davis-Monthan AFB. The air show rotates bi-annually between Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson and Luke AFB, in Phoenix. It is a free event, thus it usually draws large crowds, and this year was no exception. Saturday’s attendees were somewhat larger than Sunday’s.
From the general public’s point of view, they discouraged on the base parking, suggested use of buses instead, and lacked a performer event schedule on their Internet site. One could buy one for $10.00 as part of Souvenir Program!!
Portable toilets arriving on Sunday morning, a day late, but better than never!
If one didn’t want to stand or sit on concrete, (as bring your own folding chairs, or blankets for sitting were not permitted at the show) one could rent white a plastic folding chair for $5.00 interesting enough these were pushed by Air Force Reserve cadets, and were more visible than drinking water! I met many attendees ranging from nurses, to retired couples who felt that the show organizers were a bit disorganized, considering that it was hosted by the Air Force, one expected much better, and they can do better!
Scott AFB is a prime example, just how to organize and run such an event on an AFB. There were only few parts of the over all show experience that went very smoothly namely; entering and leaving from the on base parking, and going through security. These were handled very professionally and quickly.
As for the air show itself, it was quite good. The major issue for attendees including myself who takes photographs, that the sun was always in our eyes. Taking photos in such conditions is not easy, and back light compensation is required. Speaking of the sun, the weather was very good, it wasn’t windy, nor extremely hot, although heavy usage of sun block is highly recommended, unless one wants to stay in covered seating areas. Since there was no program schedule available unless one was prepared to pay $0.00 for one, while it was announced at the beginning of the show, if one came later, those people and with the majority of attendees had no idea when and who would perform, which made time management a bit difficult. Due to this I missed several performers as I was either lining up for bottle of water or for the potable facilities, and I wasn’t the only one of the many thousands who attended.
The main headliners were the Thunderbirds, Navy’s F/A Super Hornet Team and the West Coast A-10 Demo Team. The A-10 West Coast Demo Team is headquartered out of D-M AFB, so it was home turf for them. There were some interesting demo simulation of a pilot rescue and Border Patrol take-down. There was a simulated air-to-air refuelling demo with a C-130 and UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter. Other civilian performers included the Patriots with their four L-39C. The USAF Heritage Flight with the A-10 and with a Vietnam era Skyraider, and a fly-by of a B-17 bomber with a P-51D Mustang. There were a large static display at the show, the larger aircraft such as the B-1B Lancer, C-130 Hercules variants, KC-135 Stratotanker, were parked on the tarmac, while the smaller fighter, trainers and similar aircraft were in covered (open at both ends) hangars.
The air show part thrilled the crowds, as the Super Hornet Demo Team, the A-10 Demo Team, and the Thunderbirds put on an excellent show. The Heritage Flight was good too. The general show announcement lacked clarity (this does not apply to Demo Teams who have there own announcers) as to where to look for the inbound aircraft.
My own over all impression of the air show had very mixed feelings. For me, who attends several air shows in a year, it seemed that the organizers didn’t really want an air show because it lacked concise communication on their web site, the PAO made it extremely difficult to coordinate media coverage (blamed on e-mail failure), lacked enthusiasm for coverage, restricted movements further than the general public were given, and the list just goes on but that is another story which I am not going publicize.
I do wish to thank the people who did make my visit worthwhile despite needless difficulties: PAO Capt. Jason McRee of the Thunderbirds, Capt. Joe “Riffle” Shetterly and TSGT Tommy Napier both of the A-10 Demo Team, and Karen Petitt, Chief PAO, Scott AFB, without your help and understanding the 2730 mile one way drive would have been a disaster! You are simply the BEST!
Some of the participating performers were:
U-2 Dragon Lady flyby
The Thunderbirds
F-18 Super Hornet
A-10 West Demo Team
Pilot Rescue Demo with A-10 and UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter Team
Border Patrol take-down demo
Heritage Flight with A-10 and Skyraider
B-17 with a P-51D Mustang flyby
Patriots L-39C Team
and many others including static displays.
Rating: The over all rating as air shows go in general is 6 out of 10, (due to several issues) and reflects much needed improvement in several key areas as listed above.
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