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| ASR Media is back for the 2013 the Slovak International Air Fest once again. This air show has some good surprises every year; such as in 2012 they featured the mighty B-52 for the very first time in Slovakia, the MiG-29M2 from Russia in the flying display and not to forget the support aircraft from the RAC MiG plant (RAC = Russian Aircraft Corporation) the Antonov An-12. We and all the attendees were curios what would the organizers do for this year? |
For 2013, the organizers brought two rarely seen aircraft from the Ukrainian Air Force to the show: the legendary Sukhoi Su-27 “Flanker“ in the flying display, and a Su-25M1 “Frogfoot” in the static display. Both aircraft wore a fantastic camouflage scheme. The Su-27 with a grey and a two blue tone pattern, and the Su-25 with a three grey tone pixel pattern. |
| The flying display on both days were similar only the time table varied, with one exception by the Austrian Air Force Eurofighter, which only flew on Sunday. The advertised dogfight between the two Slovak MiG-29’s in many ways the major highlight of the show was cancelled, which left the air show fans very disappointed. |
The flying display started with a Slovak Aero L-39 Albatros followed by a North American P-51 Mustang. Two replicas from the beginning of aviation: a Fokker E-III and a Sopwith 1 ½ Strutter brought some WW1 spirit in the sky over Sliac. The MiG-15 UTI (Lim-2)was the next before we come to another highlight in the first part of the show. It was the official opening formation of SIAF 2013 which include the fly-past of a MiG 29 (the Tiger twin seater), a Czech Gripen, a Czech L-159 ALCA, and a Slovak Aero L-39 Albatros. This formation celebrated the 20 th anniversary of the armed forces of both countries. Followed by the Slovak Air Force Mil Mi-17 LPZS SAR helicopter demonstration. The air force converted four out of twelve surviving Mil Mi-17 helicopters into a SAR configuration. During the helicopter display an Antonov An-26 took with several paratroopers. The paratroopers jumped from the An-26, one after the other as their parachutes deployed flags from all the different participant countries at SIAF 2013 flew below their feet. What a great idea! Next was the solo display of the Slovak Air Force legendary MiG-29 “Fulcrum” from the 1. Sqn, base here at Sliac. It was the single-seater: 0921 with the tiger tail and the pixel camouflage. After roar of the jet we could hear the powerful piston engine from the Flying Bulls F-4U “Corsair” as it was taxiing to the runway and waiting for clearance. The display was flown by the former Mirage 2000 Pilot Eric Goujon. Additional vintage aircraft such as the Spitfire Mk XVI and a Yakovlev Yak-3UA also thrilled the crowds with their flying display. |
Patrulla Aguila, the official jet display team from the Spanish Air Force, was the only military jet display team to attend for SIAF 2013. This year Patrulla Aguila has performed significantly more shows as in the past years. ASR saw their CASA C-101 “Aviojet” fly at the Kecskemet Air Show in Hungary just a few weeks ago. |
The civilian display team “Pioneer Team” from Italy flying the Pioneer 330 “Acro”and Pioneer 300 “Hawk” performed next. These aircraft are driven by a Rotax 912 engine and are fitted with a smoke system, and flares during their display. This is not a joke, as this is extremely unusual for a private team and this type of aircraft!
When we speak about a display team we can't forget the amazing glider team Očovskí Bačovia. The team flies with four Let L-23 Super Blanik and enchanted the visitors with their fabulous formation flights with the four gliders |
| Additional stunning displays were performed by the Hungarian Zoltán Veres on his single seat carbon fiber aircraft MXS, the Slovak Dušan Šamko on his Pitts S-2C and from the Czech Republic Martin Šonka on his Extra 300 at SIAF 2013. |
A good helicopter display was performed by the Czech Air Force Mil Mi-24V “Hind”. It is always impressive to see a “Hind” display and especially the unique sound coming from the rotor blades. The “Blackhawk” display from the Austrian Air Force was not as exciting as last year's. The most exciting helicopter display was by the Flying Bulls MBB Bo-105. |
While the crowed watched the Bo-105 display, a Hungarian Saab J-39C “Gripen”, taxied to runway 36. After the Hungarian flight, we could hear the sound of two aircraft from the Polish Air Force: the legendary Sukhoi Su-22M -4 “Fitter”. This unique formation showed off the maneuverability of this Cold War era swing-wing fighter-bomber. By looking at the bottom side wings and seeing all the launch rails and hardpoints for the armament it is easy to imagine all destructive power this aircraft has. The next program took everyone back in time too. It was the display of an privately owned Aero L-29 “Delfin” from the former Czechoslovak Air Force, with the “ Egypt 4” camouflage which looked really nice. |
During the L-29 display the crowd became restless, as they heard the Ukrainian Air Force Sukhoi Su-27 start the engines and shortly afterwards taxied to the runway. As soon as the L-29 landed, the Su-27 roared up in the sky with full afterburners and with banked to the right side, to start their display. The display was very sow and majestic, as it showed us the extreme maneuverability of this heavy and large aircraft. It was absolutely impressive, and it was definitely the highlight of SIAF 2013. The Swedish Air Force Saab J-39C “Gripen” ended the flying program. It was not easy for the Swedish Pilot to get the attention to his display from the public after the Sukhoi display. |
Over all the SIAF 2013 was a very well organized air show with many different aircraft in the flying display, and as static as well. Everyone who attended appreciated the fact that there were no traffic jams during the arrival or the departure. |
ASR Media wish to thank Monika Pastuchová, Spokeswoman of SIAF 2013 and her team for the organization and for the invitation. |
The following aircraft participated either as flying display or static: |
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Military:
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Austrian Air Force: |
| Eurofighter Typhoon |
Sikorsky S-70A-42 Black Hawk |
Belgium Air Force: |
Embraer ERJ-135 |
2 x F-16AM |
Czech Air Force: |
2 x JAS-39C Gripen |
2 x Aero L-159 "Alca" |
Mil Mi-24V “Hind” |
CASA C-295M |
France Air Force: |
2 x Mirage F-1CT |
German Air Force: |
Panavia Tornado IDS |
Hungarian Air Force: |
Saab J-39D Gripen |
Netherlands Air Force: |
F-16AM |
Polish Air Force: |
2 x Sukhoi Su-22M4
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| CASA C-295M
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Royal Air Force: |
| 2 x BAe Systems Hawk T1 |
| Slovakia Air Force |
| Aero L-39CM Albatros |
| Areo L-39ZAM Albatros |
| Mig-21PF |
| MiG-29AS |
| MiG-29UB |
| Antonov An-26 |
| Let-410 UVP |
| Let -410 UVP-E20 |
| Mil Mi-2 “Hoplite |
| Mil Mi-17M |
| Mil Mi-17 LPZS |
| Mil Mi-171 |
| Spanish Air Force: |
| 7 x CASA C-101 “Aviojet” (Patrulla Aguila) |
| CASA C-295M |
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Ukrainian Air Force:
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Sukhoi Su-27UB “Flanker” |
| Sukhoi Su-25M1 “Frogfoot” |
| Antonon An-26 |
| and many other civilians... |
| Rating:9 out of 10 |
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