The Farnborough International Air Show has been taking place since 1945; today it has grown to be the biggest air show in the world. The whole event lasts for an entire week, Monday to Friday being the trade show days where thousands from the aerospace industry descend to announce new products, generate orders and demonstrate equipment.

Based at a former RAF base the now privately owned airport covers an area of 581 acers, plenty of space for hundreds of static aircraft displays. As a result of its RAF past the 8,000 ft runway is long enough for almost anything. This year’s show was very important, with the aerospace sector looking like its beginning to make a recovery from the effects of the global credit crisis, the deals done, or deals not done will give an indication of the current state of the industry.

Finance and economics aside, Saturday and Sunday are the public open days of the air show. On these days there is an extended flying display, this year it was from 12:30pm to 5:30pm. Most of the aircraft stay throughout the whole week, although notable absences were, 787-8 Dreamliner, A400M Grizzly and F-22 Raptor. The former two were in the middle of a busy flight testing programme and so could not spare the extra time, but that did not dampen the crowds’ spirits as there were still many aircraft flying over the weekend.

A packed out day at the airshow

The static displays must not be overlooked here also. It was great to get so close to a lot of aircraft, all of which had been spit shined and were looking good .

Pilatus PC-21 demonstrator

Crowds line up to get up close to the American firepower

Having had a good peruse of the static aircraft, we saw the not so subtle sight of the A380 being pushed onto the active part of the airfield in preparation to start the flying display today.

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So making our way back down alongside the runway, passing the USAF stand, we settled at a spot in front of a Lockheed Martin N30LX with a great view of the runway and ready for the main event.  Looking out onto the runway at the A380 now sitting on idle at the top of the runway barley 100m away, everybody was poised. A380 (1:48)

A380 Lands

Turboprop’s Gone Mad!

Two heavy lift turboprop aircraft were “performing” today, and with the A400M hogging all the headlines recently with its crazy stunts, these established aircraft were determined to put on a show and prove a point. First up early in the day was the C-27J Spartan, having taxied past the halfway point of the runway, it first backs up using reverse thrust from its propellers before moments later it was full power on and up. In a performance full of seemingly impossible manoeuvres for this aircraft, it even treated us to some inverted tricks.

C27J Spartan

Not one to be left out of the fun, the C-130J Hercules lined up quite far down the runway in preparation for what would be an extremely short take off. C27J (1:25)

A little bit of History

There was a strong showing of historic aircraft at the air show and not only what you would expect, a few, more recent historic pieces were on flying duties too.

Royal Navy Sea Hawk

Helicopter Haulage

The CH-47 Chinook gave a very entertaining show. Looking in the opposite direction I begin to hear the distinctive noise of the Chinook. This was a sound which I recognised well, having had the opportunity to fly in the back of one for a couple of hours. Chinook (00:38)

RAF Chinook

So coming from the left side of the runway and carrying a jeep slung from below, it landed briefly to un-hook the vehicle from its harness. Now a few tonnes lighter the Chinook takes off very quickly and pulls some passing manoeuvres along the runway. It then lands again on the runway, opens its rear cargo door and lets out another jeep, which then promptly drives away. So now even lighter, the pilot proceeds to do some banking turns and flat spins in front of the crowd. The helicopter then comes to a hover above the runway at around 30m. A rope suddenly drops from the side door and 5-6 troops abseil down, at which point the two jeeps are back to pick up the soldiers and the CH-47 flies away. This must have been the equivalent to the “how many clowns in a car” joke, but for a helicopter! Everyone knows that the Chinook is an extremely capable helicopter, but that display certainly highlighted that fact.

Blink and you’ll miss it, probably still hear it though

For me the fast jets were the highlight of the show, just the noise alone was incredible. The F-16, F/A-18 and Eurofighter Typhoon really stood out. The F-16 was easily the loudest of the three, when it took off the sound was piercing, and then moments after it had passed our position a second wave of noise hit us. I could feel the rumble of the re-heat as each of the three aircraft took off. I’ll let the audio do the talking.

F16 (2:59)

F18 (3:36)

Eurofighter (2:50)

Extra Please

Painted in a fiery red motif the Extra 330SC took off to give a dazzling performance. This version designed for unlimited category aerobatics is the composite model, making the airframe very light, so coupled with a powerful engine it could just about hang on its propeller vertically. As if suspended from wires it tipped its wing and seemingly tumbled uncontrollably through the air.

Straight as an Arrow

It is in British law that the Red Arrows must perform at any UK air show. If this is in fact not law then,

1)      I am outraged.

2)      It should be written into stone immediately.

The 2010 year for the Red Arrows was a special one, welcoming their first female pilot in 45 years. Performing their famous routines of tight formation flying and spectacular near-miss passes, a familiar sight to many in the UK perhaps, but it never gets boring.

The Red Arrows

Crosscheck, prepare for departure

Well I had a great day at Farnborough 2010, my first Farnborough and my first air show in years. I’m going to be a regular now, on the list next are Oshkosh and Paris 2011.

The flying was top class, being so close to the runway added an extra unforgettable element to it all. Take a look at the gallery for a selection of our best photos (we had taken 880) from the day.

Big thanks my friends Bhav for driving us and Bobbly our show photographer coming all the way from France. Farnborough done, next Le Bourget.  Thanks for reading.

Gallery

I’m especially excited because I have been working on a post about the Farnborough Air Show which I attended this year. I think It’s going to be a great post, in fact the written parts have been completed for a while now but I have not found the time to sit down and edit some media that goes along with the words.

I know the airshow was almost a month ago now, but think of it this way, when my post is eventually online you can be reminded of how much of an awesome day it was!

Almost exactly 41 years after the first flight of a 747, Boeing flies a brand new aeroplane moulded around the original jumbo jet body: the 747-8.

The takeoff took place at around 11am PDT after being delayed due to adverse weather conditions. The flight lasted approximately 3h30. The aeroplane reached an altitude of 10000ft and a speed of 220kt.

This is a really great performance from Boeing, delivering this almost new airplane on time.

Air New Zealand only yesterday unveiled their new cabin configurations on their new 777-300ER’s. From my point of view this looks like the best cabin I have ever seen (especially economy), and it will certainly differentiate the airline in terms of service provided. This means that the airline can attract customers with this better service; but I ask, are there any customers to attract?

It’s interesting to look at the current route map for ANZ, obviously their hub is Auckland and most of their long-haul routes (i.e. the routes that will have these new cabins) are mainly to Far East Asia and West Coast North America. Arguably the most profitable routes are Europe/UK – USA and USA- East Asia. There are no direct routes from USA- East Asia and there is only ONE direct route from UK- USA. The Auckland hub is not in the most convenient location, and they can’t rely on increased tourist travel alone, so how can ANZ make the best use of its new aircraft, and make it a commercial success.

I think ANZ are planning an expansion, they are about to introduce quite a few new aircraft (5 777′s EIS 2010, and 8 787′s EIS 2013), but with their current routes they may have surplus capacity. In particular I think they will introduce more UK-USA routes to tap into that massive market. However UK-USA routes are served extensively by the “Big daddy” in the STAR alliance partnership United Airlines, would ANZ now compete with them?

With such little difference between airlines in almost every aspect, in flight experience is the most differentiating factor and ANZ will have the upper hand in attracting passengers. It will be interesting to watch ANZ over the next year as the flights with the upgraded cabins are due to begin Dec 2010. So between now and then: will they unveil any new routes, how will they manage the STAR alliance relationships and how long before other airlines also introduce new cabins?

Either way I think ANZ’s new cabin is good because it will raise the cabin standards collectively across the airline industry, at least in long haul, which is good for travellers (like me!).

So this is my first ever blog and as a result I expect my first few entries to be rather bad. Hopefully I’ll get better as I post more.

This blog is about my views on the aviation industry, I’ll be commenting on some of major news stories in the industry or I may just share my views about a certain aspect that has taken my interest.

Please leave comments and I hope you enjoy it.

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