By Guy Leitch. Images Trevor Cohen
This year marked the thirtieth edition of the Lowveld airshow – and it was widely acclaimed as the best ever.
For the past 15 years the Lowveld show has been organised by the Nelspruit based Kishugu aerial work and firefighting operation. They have built up a knowledge base of exactly what works best – including only starting the show at the surprisingly late 3.00 pm.
One of the advantages of this late start is that the air show pilots can do their display validation flights in the morning. Another is that the evening light makes for ideal viewing for the crowd and photographers.
The show’s chief organiser was Kishugu’s Johan Heine and his assistant Willemien Hodgkinson, with Koos Kieck as the Safety Director. The flying display was managed with precision timing by Koos Kieck, who had to double-up as an advisory ATC as there is a dispute between the CAA and ATNS over air show ATC services. The Capital Sounds Team of Brian Emmenis and Leon du Plessis did their usual world class commentary and music accompaniment.
After the validation flights the local radio control flyers club did a fantastic job entertaining the already assembled crowd with their very impressive model aircraft, including an immaculate BAe Hawk in Saudi colours and 300 km/h pylon racers. A large scale JS-4 glider, complete with working jet engine, was almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
The show was opened by the customary parade of emergency response vehicles with the Mpumalanga Emergency Medical Services Bell 407 air ambulance overhead.
SAAF participation came in the form of a single Agusta A-109, flown by 15 Squadron’s Lt Col Darryl Sloan.
The flying display opened with the Goodyear Eagles Pitts Specials followed by the Puma Energy Harvards, then the Marksmen team, who leader Mark Hensman had flown his MX2 all the way from Cape Town.
A highlight was the 15-ship fly past of Pitts Specials, followed by the Harvards, Extras and MX2 and then the RVs. In honour of Mother’s Day, a massive smoke heart of was painted across the big sky.
The Jacksons of Leading Edge Aviation then flew their powerful Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk.
A great crowd pleaser is the car vs plane race – this year the car won – but it was being raced against a 60 year old Alouette III, flown by the very accomplished Juba Joubert. Chased by the Alouette, the Audi R8 raced up and down the runway, complete with a hair-raising drift through grass and dust. The disparate Marksmen team were up next and can be relied on for a high energy precision flying display.
The light was fading into gloaming as the Kishugu firefighting team swung into action with two Air Tractor 802 firebombers and two Bell 205 Hueys with Bambi buckets. One of the Air Tractors was filled with blue water, which made some wonder if there was not a surreptitious gender reveal on the go. Turns out there was also supposed to be yellow dye dropped by the other Air Tractor – but that would make the Ukraine flag, so it was caboshed. While the Hueys hovered in front of the crowd, a spectacular fireworks display made the scene unforgettable.
To the accompaniment of the Rolling Stones’ Paint it Black, Airlink’s Skybucks black liveried Embraer E195, captained by Jaco Henning, made a number of very impressive low passes. The airline cleverly managed to fit the display in with its scheduled Kruger Mpumalanga flights, which required precision timing.
The Puma Flying Lions closed the show to the accompaniment of the trumpet solo Il Silenzio, followed by closing fireworks. This was airshow spectacle at its best and there was many a damp eye gazing up into the evening sky.
