After disapointment for many at YS Matsushima, Malta was to be the first airshow of the new year. It didn't disappoint!
On saturday it was packed, and a number of different aircraft showed off to the crowd, many for the first time. This was complemented nicely by Scarecow's flawless narration. The day had a great atmosphere, and after a few lag problems during the first display, there was barely any lag at all.
The displays started with an RAF fly-by featuring a Lancaster, Hurricane, Sent's Spitfire, C-130, Wasps Eurofighter and Green Falcons Hawk in close formation. This went down well with the crowd, and set everyone up for a great time.
The RNLAF F-16 display was great, as usual, and this was followed by a number of other great displays, including Radish's F-35 making it's airshow debut. Sents spitfire went through its usual routine, with Scarecrow noticing a key part, the Sentinel 'S', for the first time.
The next big display was the A380 fly-by, the first time this monster of an aircraft had appeared at a YS airshow. Radish's sea vixen display made it's debut, including for the first time the 'guess the smoke colour' competition. Noone quite managed to guess correctly, but some got quite close. The display will also be remembered for an 'inadvertant touch and go' as it was laster described, as Radish brought his plane too low and too slow during the drunken pilot manuver, causing the aircraft to stall and slam to the tarmac, before jumping up and continuing the display within seconds.
As the day went on, the displays seemed to get better and better untill tragedy struck when Sentinel crashed his SU-27 demo. Luckily he managed to eject, but he is still red faced from forgetting to release the breaks. Luckily this was the only crash of the weekend, although there were a number of near misses, but thats where all the fun comes from !
Sunday was just as good as Saturday, although a lot of performers, and the narrator for the majority of the show, weren't present. All of radish's demos made a full display, although he was a bit more cautious with the sea vixen!
Overall a great show!
