Tag Archives: RIAT

Ukrainian Sukhois

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Non-Western jets are always a strong attraction at a Western air show and the appearance of the Ukrainian Sukhois at RIAT was no exception.  The SU-27 is a beast of a jet and quite an impressive performer at a show.  The arrival was cool and the practice display was welcome.  I was a bit annoyed as I didn’t have the camera to hand when the jet thundered off the runway and turned towards us and blasted over our heads at the Western Park and View.

The light wasn’t great for any of the times I saw the jet fly but the sky blue camo scheme it wore seemed to do a good job of picking up the light as it maneuvered around the display.  Plenty of blasts of power for the engines combined with a damp atmosphere allowing a bit of vapor to be pulled from the air was pretty cool.  The front fuselage shape is a little odd and this shows more so when on the ground where it droops down.  Once airborne, things are different.

Something photos don’t show is the way in which the auxiliary inlet doors on the underside of the intakes flap around in certain flight regimes.  Looking through the viewfinder, you could see them oscillating a lot but only video would show that off.  It was a long time since I had last seen the Ukrainian jets at Fairford and this was my first time to shoot them digitally.  They were accompanied by an IL-76 and I suspect that will get a post one day!

 

Romanian LanceRs

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RIAT proved to be a lot of fun with such a variety of types to see.  The shooting conditions were less than ideal but that shouldn’t take away from what was there and the effort that went in to organizing it all – I’m looking at you Tom if you are reading this.  Your team did a great job.  One of the stars of the show was actually a rather aged type.  Romania brought a pair of MiG-21 LanceR jets.  The last time I shot an active MiG-21 was at Rockford many years ago and that was privately owned.  These were very definitely active.

Their arrival on the Thursday certainly got everyone excited and the display itself was great.  The jet is from an era when the current levels of maneuverability had not been achieved but the jet can still put on quite a show.  The speed is something to behold, particularly on final approach when it fairly screams in to land.  I got to shoot it from a couple of locations including being at the departure end on the Sunday of the show and getting slightly closer to the jet as it taxied out.  I understand that they will disappear before too long to be replaced with something more generic – F-16s I think – so it was time to enjoy something old school for perhaps the last time.

Lots of Prop Vortices

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Departure day at RIAT was a bit overcast, much like the majority of the show.  The damp atmosphere did have the positive effect of meaning many of the more powerful prop aircraft were pulling vortices from the tips of their propellers.  This was most obvious earlier in their take off runs but you could get a  pretty good view of it even head on from where I was sitting in the FRIAT stand.  Here is one of the Hercs that was beating the air into submission.

Concorde Formations Flypast

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RIAT is known for putting together formations of different types to celebrate certain events.  The fiftieth anniversary of the first flight of Concorde resulted in two display teams getting together.  Concorde was an Anglo-French collaboration and so was the celebration in this case.  The Red Arrows and the Patrouille de France both fly formations to represent Concorde so, for this joint effort, both teams got airborne and flew their two Concorde formations in line astern.  They made passes in each direction with the national anthems of each country playing – one on the first pass and the other on the second.  It was a simple demonstration but an impressive one all the same.

M346 Sporty Departure

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A quick post from my visit to RIAT.  There are going to be plenty of things from my time at the show that will show up on the blog in the coming weeks but this is an intro even though it comes from the last day I was there.  Departure day included some more energetic maneuvers from some of the participants including this M346 heading back to Italy.  It waggled the wings to give us a nice top side view.  Thanks chaps.

MiG29

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QB5Y7426.jpgContinuing through my theme of looking at individual types, I came across some old pictures of the MiG-29. I figured I could get a post out of them so here we are. I saw quite a few of the Fulcrums in the late 80s and early 90s when they started traveling further afield. My first encounter was when the Russian Air Force brought a pair to Farnborough. They showed up again in a later year and then examples from other eastern bloc air forces started coming to the UK once the wall came down.

2102.jpgThe quality of my film shots from those days is not great but you can see a bit of what was on offer. The Ukrainian aircraft showed up in some really cool colors. The best shots I have are of the MiG-29OMT which was a demonstrator that came to the UK in 2006 and displayed at RIAT. It had thrust vectoring nozzles to enhance maneuverability and put in a pretty impressive display.

MiG29 Take Off Farnborough 1990.jpgLots of the operators today are starting to look at replacements. The age of some airframes along with the support issues are pushing them to renew while interoperability with NATO forces is another driver for change. I’m not sure how many more I will see flying although there are a good number in museums. There are a couple in private hands here in the states (one of which I saw being towed from across Paine Field) so they might be my best bet.

Sukhoi SSJ100

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IMG_6243.jpgRussian airliner development has not been a terribly successful area for the last couple of decades. While Tupolev produced a huge number of 134 and 154 jets, by the time the 80s and 90s came around, things had got far less productive. The Ilyushin 86 and 96 were not successes and the TU204 has struggled throughout its time in production despite various efforts at upgrading it. Sukhoi made an effort to break this cycle by partnering with Alenia to create the Sukhoi Superjet.

IMG_6254.jpgThis 90-100 seat jet makes use of western systems and powerplants co-developed with SNECMA of France to try and come up with a modern technology airliner. The Alenia tie in is intended to provide a support network that will appeal to western airlines while having a production cost base the delivers a plane at a price that is hard to beat. The result has not been stellar. Western customers have been hard to come by. Interjet in Mexico is the only current operator and it is happy by all accounts. VLM has discussed taking the planes but apparently the delivery schedules are proving problematic. Far east campaigns were more promising but the crash of an aircraft on a demonstration flight in Indonesia killing a lot of customers and officials has tainted the reputation. Even in Russia things have been tricky with customers returning aircraft due to poor performance.

IMG_6239.jpgHaving a problem with deliveries is an ongoing issue and the number of aircraft that have come out of the plant is well below the projections Sukhoi originally gave. I have only seen one example so far. This one made a brief appearance at the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford a few years back when I was there. Interjet flies theirs to the US but not anywhere near me at the moment. Hopefully that will change soon because I would like to see more of this jet.