Sydney Airport Message Board - Avalon 2015 Highlights

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Avalon 2015 Highlights

It was also interesting to access the rear refuelers position on the USAF KC-135 59-1499 and discuss the air to air refuelling process with the crew. The aircraft
to be refuelled moves into a set position behind the boom, and the boom operator then uses a joystick to fly the boom down to the fuel nozzle. The windows in
the rear fuselage floor are quite small to watch over the refuelling operation, and the operator lies flat on their stomach on one of three parallel mattresses.
Quite different to all the video cameras on the RAAF KC-30A MRTT.

http://www.16right.com/Aircraft-Imag...150227-231.jpg

http://www.16right.com/Aircraft-Imag...150227-051.jpg

Thank You Graham

I appreciate that people like myself are unable to attend Avalon and other Air Shows and that you are so willing to share your comments and excellent photos for the benefit of the rest of us.

Much appreciated and many thanks

Great photos, as always, Grahame. The B-52 flying display would've been quite something, I'd imagine!

Thanks Neil and Rowan, happy to share the images.

It was great to have a B-52H on static display, and be able to walk all around it, and into the main gear bays and bomb bay. A massive wingspan that droops so much you can just touch the wing tips. The flying B-52H came in directly from Guam, over 16hrs return, and did a high speed pass along the runway, all eight Pratt & Whitney TF33 engines pumping out thick black smoke. On their second pass then slowed down, opened the bomb bay, and there were simulated pyrotechnics on the ground.

I thought the RSAF F-16 Black Knights did a great display on the Friday, opposing passes with a closing speed around 2000kph, high G turns, a mirror pass with one aircraft inverted above the other and very close, one aircraft corkscrewing around the other, and finally a high speed run pulling up into a climb to 10,000ft in 10 seconds.

The formation flying by the RAAF Hornet, Sabre and Meteor was a rare pleasure to watch, and shooting the consecutive touchdown exciting. We just need the flying Mirage IIIC to complete the set.

The static display of WWW1 aircraft by the NZ and Australian Antique Aircraft Societies was excellent, and the aerial dogfight just magic, with probably eight aircraft in the air at one time. Some of those aircraft had rotary engines, where the crankshaft is fixed, and the radial pistons rotate around the shaft. There was plenty of "Blipping" by some of these aircraft, as they do not have a normal throttle, you just turn the magneto on and off to control the speed of the aircraft. Again, ground pyrotechnics were used as part of the dog fight.

The two F-22 Raptors are amazing up close, such unusual lines, and sharp edges to reduce the radar profile. Their display pilot was on other duties, so they did not do a flying display unfortunately.

The size of the Global Hawk UAV was also a surprise, much larger than I imagined.

There was a good selection of corporate jets, including the Gulfstream G650, my first close up look.

I am just editing some video I managed to capture as well, and should have that uploaded later this evening.

Missed getting photos of the Global Hawk. Great photos as always!

I have just uploaded a short video from Avalon 2015 covering some of Friday's action plus stills.

Watch The Video

Hi Grahame

I echo Neil and Rowan's comments and also want to thank you most sincerely for sharing your photos.

Unfortunately, I haven't been to Avalon since 2005 as living in W A and trying to fit in with holiday rosters at work just makes it too hard these days.

Cheers

Bob

Just wondering Grahame, besides RetroRoo, what commercial aircraft were there this year? Any other airliners, or more the usual bizjets, privates and the AeroRescue D328?

Rowan, The "Retro Roo" was the only commercial aircraft that I saw on the Friday, except for the usual Jetstar A320 arrivals and departures. There were no Qantas staff around either, so VH-XZP was closed up all day. Virgin, Jetstar and Tiger may have had something there on the Saturday or Sunday, but I have seen no mention of that. QF B747-400 VH-OJA would have been a great static display, however they are probably preparing the aircraft for its last flight down to Illawarra Regional this Sunday.