Athertonblab: Air slow

Huzzah! Finally some rain.

Problem is, it came smack bang in the middle of the Avalon Air Show and those brave fighter pilots are too scared to fly in the rain so many spectacular air displays were postponed/ cancelled*.

Still, birthday boy Sammy J Atherton, whose middle name is a tribute to his late great-grandfather, Wing Commander J. Gooch, got to take his dad to the airshow. We were able to poke a stick at a few cool toys before the monsoonal weather moved in and threatened to blow the little Pitt specials and those ridiculously over-pop-rivetted old DC-10's away. Their wings did make handy shelters though, and their flapping was almost comical.

*this is artistic licence. Air Force pilots really are really, really brave. The displays were cancelled because they don't like getting their planes wet.

Sammy J's favourite- the C-17 Globemaster of the US Air Force. U-S-A !!

Phwoar. You could fit an entire BMX stunt track in the rear of that baby!!

Of course, a show-and-shine of this epic proportion will often be cynically dismissed as a hedonistic glorification of imperialistic war machinery, glamourous portrayals of death and destruction.

However, it would appear that many, many people enjoy these hedonistic displays of imperialistic war machinery and weaponry. I cynically suggest there is a name for such people: "Normal".

Yes there are some depth perception games here, but the little old Ansett DC was only 30 metres or so behind the Qantas A380 tail, so how's that for perspective?

We're quite lucky that Avalon Airport is a stone's throw away from our place. Lucky, because there aren't a gazillion flights going in and out to make it a daily annoyance, but we can sit on the roof of the house and see a kickbutt airshow. For free. Despite this, I still blew $75 to go and get rained on. Go figure.

Anyhoo, here are more pics.

"So when I flew upside down over the Iraqi pilot and looked down at him, I waved like this..Hey Abdul!!" Yeah, good onya, Maverick. Ty-pi-cal Airforce pilot...

"He couldn't have been more than this tall. Maybe he was Mexican."

Off to see the Colonials, what...

Sam looks disappointed when he found out that the Bell 206 Jetranger may be maneuverable for low altitude recon but lacks the serious avionics to reduce vulnerability to ground attack, something which will hopefully improve with the Army's forthcoming batch of Eurocopter Tiger HAP's. Phew!

The evergreen C-130 Hercules, a remarkable aircraft whose attributes include extreme high-speed descent capabilities, as well as the ability to fly whilst the propellers aren't actually moving