Motril Seafront Air Display, Sunday 9th June.

[viscount]

FESTIVAL AÉREO DE MOTRIL XVIII, Sunday 9th June 2024.
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

[viscount]

MOTRIL AIR SHOW, SPAIN - Sunday 6th June 2024

An image heavy thread to bring you a flavour of the air show action.





EC-JUY Piper Cherokee of the Real Aero Club de Malaga. An aircraft I see regularly flying from the Real Aero Club's airfield at Trapiche, not far from my home.



The Piper Cherokee appeared twice, on the second occasion in formation with Sadler Vampir EC-YCH which then went onto display solo.





The Sadler Vampir EC-YCH also lives fairly locally at Trapiche Airfield and is a regular performer at both Motril and Torre del Mar's beach front displays.







Looking good in Canadian Air Force markings as 18013/RCAF 013 is Spanish registered Chipmunk 22A was flown in a lively manner and unlike the previous two aircraft could be heard over wind and waves. The cockpit canopy shape shows it has in the past been a R.A.F. Chipmunk T.10. It was built at Chester in 1950 as WB635, civilianised as G-AOSZ and later G-TRIC before being bought by A3H Aviation and moving to Spain as EC-LVH.



'Wingwalking' dislays using a Stearman are a regular airshow sight. Ainhoa Sánchez with her pilot takes the experience to a new level



It is no surprise that Ainhoa feels she is 'wonder woman'



As her world is about to be turned upside-down as her pilot performs a complete loop! I've never seen that before and I don't think the crowd quite realised what they had just witnessed!



Final pass, with Ainhoa back (and presumably with seat-belt fastened) safely in the cockpit.







I've seen float equipped Air Tractors scooping up water from a lake, but this is the first time I've seen one perform a water-drop. The pilot just made three passes along the crowd-line, on two of them releasing water. I feel he could have made a bit more of a display using the considerable power from that turbo-prop to show off the aircraft, rather than limit himself to straightforward up and down the flight-line.







In contrast the Zivco Edge 540 was thrown around the sky by Juan Velarde with little respect to the laws of flight.







Second consecutive year that the Slovenian Armed Forces have displayed one of their Pilatus PC-9s at Motril







This Beech 76 Duchess is one of two flown from Trapiche and Malaga International Airports by airline training company Aerodynamics. Being a twin I can easily tell when one of these is passing overhead home. Their other Duchess is Spanish (EC-KTO) rather than Hungarian registered. Until I was going through these images, I had not realised that the pilot had feathered the port engine for one of the along the display-line passes.







A new design to me, although it has been around for a few years is the Fantasy Air Allegro 2000. Seemed to fly very well.







Mustang X-Ray Patrol, a pair of the École de pilotage, L'Armée de d l'Air who performed a fast display of close flying and tail chases, however the team was out of sight for lengthy periods either at end of the display line, or out to sea.







Closing the show was an Agusta AW.139 of the Salvamento Maritimo performing an air-sea rescue demonstration. To British eyes, unusual to see the rescue crew member dressed in 'frog-man' flippers. The helicopter only displayed at 'display centre', not making any runs down the full length of the display line.









Coastal patrol vessels of the Salvamento Maritimo and Guardia Civil kept the area of the display line clear - although in the wind-whipped seas no one else was afloat, so while an easy task, in the conditions quite a tough job.

IMAGES FOOTNOTE:

Oh, and if the NWAN regulars are thinking that the quality of sharpness and the ability of my camera to handle difficult 'into sun' conditions has suddenly improved - well they are right, as it is my first outing with a whole new outfit! True the body and two lenses cost less than Philglt's 'big' lens - but I am rather happy with the results, although still need practice to get the best out of my new all electronic SLR, a big change after years of a mirror SLR camera.

[bulldog]

That's not a proper Vampire!

[viscount]

I wondered who would sink their teeth into that! (groan)

The name is related to the de Havilland Vampire in that the home constructor of the Vampir thought the twin-boom layout reminiscent of the British jet.

It was very pleasing to see a British built Chipmunk, albeit in Canadian markings, being performed in a spirited manner at a Spanish air display. I need to dig around the internet for more on the owners A3H aviation. Found their account of the airframe history on the 'net, and they offer 'cost share' flights in it from Cuatro Vientos, Madrid.