[Herra Tohtori]

This afternoon, I went to the outskirts of Malmi Airport to view the Finland International Air Show. Got some nice pictures. See the Imgur album for full haul, but here are some of the best shots:


Flying Bulls aerobatic team






SK-16 Harvard (Swedish for North American T-6 Texan)






Yak-52







Klemm 35






Jurgis Kairys' Sukhoi Su-31 solo display





And finally, Finnish Air Force Boeing F/A-18C Hornet.

[Gortef]

Oh damn I forgot this was coming. Oh well.... thanks for the pics

[Mika]

And finally, Finnish Air Force Boeing F/A-18C Hornet.

This could explain the awesome take off by the Hornet around 17.45 at Helsinki-Vantaa. I've never seen such a take off, very low, and already at 90 degree bank in front of the airport building at ludicrous speed. I thought it was a scramble (did not look like any kind of normal take off) since our Eastern neighbor has recently had some difficulties in aerial navigation. This time it may not have the case. When were the Hornet solos scheduled?

Polish MiG-29s stole the show last year here in Oulu. Although Frecce Tricolori had quite an impressive solo! NH-90 demo was insane, helicopter that big simply CAN'T move like that!

[Herra Tohtori]

The Hornet displays were scheduled around 18:00 both Saturday and Sunday, so most likely you did see one of them hauling ass to Malmi.

[Dragon]

Jurgis Kairys is awesome. Did you see him do the Cobra? In Krakow, he did it on takeoff (well, that's one way to quickly gain some altitude, I guess). Would've loved to be there, I've seen Kairys about a month ago and it was great. Flying sideways (and backwards) isn't an exclusive province of helicopters, it turned out.

I'd love to see some TWC-equipped Russian jets someday. Preferably at an airshow. Hornet is a great jet, but I think it can't do stuff like Cobra or Kulbit. I've only seen the later on internet.

[Herra Tohtori]

We were on the outskirts of the airfield and couldn't see directly over the field at low altitudes, so we missed seeing any of the really low-altitude stuff.

That said, we had a very good view on pretty much everything else, and for not having paid anything it was great returns for the investment.

[Dragon]

I find low altitude aerobatics to be the most exciting sort. Kairys' tricks in particular. Doing a Cobra only a few meters from the ground must take some mighty nerves, considering it involves deliberately stalling the main wing and counting on the engine to hold the plane up. You could actually see condensation clouds forming behind the wings when he pulled up. No TWC of any sorts, either. Only control surfaces, probably on the verge of stalling as well.