Post by viscount on Jun 9, 2024 17:28:21 GMT 1
FESTIVAL AÉREO DE MOTRIL XVIII, Sunday 9th June 2024.
A seafront airshow in Southern Spain.
A seafront airshow in Southern Spain.
Aircraft involved, in order of appearance:
EC-JUY PA-28-161 Warrior III Real Aero Club de Malaga
EC-YCH Sadler Vampir Team Vampir
EC-LVH/18013 DHC-1 Chipmunk 22A A3H Training - in yellow Royal Canadian Air Force markings
EC-KFJ Boeing A.75-N1 Stearman Wing dancer, Ainhoa Sánchez
CC-AOS/TA-7 Air Tractor AT-802 INFOCA/Martinez Ridso Aviación SL, fire-fighting water drop
N26VE/26 Zivko Edge 540 Juan Velarde, sponsors Repsol and Hamilton
L9-66 Pilatus PC-9M Slovenian Armed Forces
HA-PMG Beech 76 Duchess Aerodynamics Flying School, Malaga
EC-ES7 Fantasy Air Allegro 2000 Rafa Cala.
06/709-FH Pilatus PC-21 L'Armée de d'Air, École de Pilotage. 'Mustang X-Ray Patrol' pair
07/709-FI Pilatus PC-21 L'Armée de d'Air, École de Pilotage.
EC-LJA/205 Agusta Westland AW.139 Salvamento Maritimo Air-sea rescue, winch rescue demo
Having stated in 2023 how disappointed I was with the Motril seafront display that year, I am even more disappointed with the show this year! True, European politics and military tensions across Europe have combined to withdraw a number of confirmed potential highlights. Anticipated were a solo Turkish Air Force F-16 demo, a 4 x CAP-10 aerobatic team from the Moroccan Air Force, a HA-28 Tiger of FAMET and a CASA C-295 of the Spanish Institute of Aerospace Technology and a complete absence of Spanish Air Force participation, all blamed on the clash with European Parliamentary elections on the same day. It would have been a very different display if all those had taken part!
A steady, somewhat strong wind from the west along the beach caused cancellation on the day by Piper Cub EC-XUC and a Scheibe SF.24C Falke D-CORK.
The display started slowly and quietly at 11:00 and despite a few gaps and many aircraft being quieter than the waves on the beach and wind through the palm trees, building up to a finale featuring the French PC-12 pair followed by an ASR demonstration by the Salvamento Maritimo, to conclude the display at 14:10.
Highlights for me were the yellow Chipmunk (but then I like Chipmunks) and the (also all yellow) INFOCA Air Tractor, which performed two passes releasing fire-fighting water. Not a patch on the Canadair CL-612 water-bombing demonstrations of a few years back, but still fun to watch. The close flying and tail chasing French Air Force pair were fun to watch, and I have never, ever before seen a 'girl on the wing' wing-walker flown around a loop, so inverting the wing walker!
Please bring back the solo jets and military teams for 2025 - light aircraft are fun to watch, noisy jets and aerobatic teams truly entertain as they fill the sky.
Links to previous years reports:
2023 derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/42993/festval-motril-sunday-11th-june
2022 derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/40535/motril-seafront-display-costa-tropical
2021 derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/37794/airshow-report-motril-sunday-20