Abbotsford International Airshow

Hornet Nose, originally uploaded by Tim McDonald.

Went to the Abbotsford International Airshow on Saturday. As it was when I went to Avalon a few years ago, it was grey and overcast.

Abbotsford is on the outskirts of Vancouver and is about an hour's drive from the city centre.

I was impressed with the static aircaft on display; FA18s, F15s and an A10 amongst others in one area. An FA18s and an A10 had a raised platform next to their cockpits with steps leading up so that the punters could take a look in the cockpits. They are incredibly small places.

An adjacent display had the large aircraft on display; a couple of air refueling aircraft that you could go in; an RAF AWACS aircraft that you could also go in (I didn't as the line was too long); and even a B52! Sadly, you couldn't go in the B52 but the bomb bays were open. I was surprised that these bomb bays were not as cavernous as I had imagined.

Over on the main runway there were various shows throughout the day including parachutists jumping out of a C17 Globemaster and various acrobatic aircraft. The highlight for me (and I suspect the majority in attendance) were the fighters. One of the most spectacular was the FA18 which did a number of fly overs including an inverted flypast with its landing down as well as an incredibly slow fly by. The most impressive display put on by the FA18 (and any of the aircraft for that matter) was when it flew past the crowd at almost the speed of sound; surrounded by cones of condensation due to the shockwaves.

Later on was the Heritage Flight where an F16 and a P51 Mustang flew by together. This must have taken a fair degree of control on the part of the F16 pilot to match his speed to that of the mustang. Always nice to see a WWII fighter in action.

The last show of the day was a fly by of two F15s. Having seen them in action at Avalon, I reached for the earplugs as these aircraft are unbelievably loud. They did the standard fly by two times and then landed. Impressive to see these machines in flight but a bit of an anti climax.

All in considering I had free entry and despite the sun burn and camera malfunctions, a great day.