[drkakkilaya]

Camera : Canon 30D
Lens : 300mm f4 L + 1.4x III converter
Video : iPhone 7plus



VIDEO OF AEROINDIA 2017

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFbvBTdH5rY

Ever since I read about World War 1 & 2 in school history textbooks, I was fascinated with the war. That made me research more into world wars. It was there I came across air combats and the machines: Spitfire, Mustangs, Messerschmitt’s, Stukas, Lancaster, and B 52 etc. Since then got hooked onto the combat aircrafts. With time learnt of the modern day jets. I so wanted to go for 1998 edition of Airshow in Bangalore. A close friend of mine went to the show but I was not given permission at home. I was frustrated and even more frustrated when my friend described Mig29, The Jaguar etc. and the maneuvers they did and the sounds they made. I had to act happy.

When the time came for choosing a professional career, I was all set for Air force but my parents were all set for MBBS. I’m sure lot of people crash land into their careers. I had to shift to Mangalore for higher studies. In my Second year I met a fresher, a dynamic girl who was an adventure junkie, and had a few friends in Air force. So when the 2005 edition of Aero India came up, she got me a Pass. That was the first time I went for an airshow. My happiness was unbound. It was unbelievable and an amazing feeling that the jets you fantasized as a boy were standing in front of you and few were performing in the air. That day I went back a satisfied man.The thing that captures the most, is not just the jets doing crazy maneuvers, its the thunderous sound they make which sends shiver down the spines and make hair stand for first timers, leaving people gaping in awe and few fold increase in respect.

MRCA deal was on and had reached its peak in 2011. The competition was fierce, each company trying to prove their jets were better than the others. It was evident in the way they performed the stunts one after another.

On the day i attended , the show started with Suryakiran’s, their tricolor smoke nearly brought tears in people eye.That was followed by the big guys. First up was Mirage 2000 and LCA, They flew by us and their sounds a second later, they were in Mach speeds.

SAAB Gripen growled overhead doing some sharp maneuvers making the crowd cheer, then Eurofighter and Rafale roared in front of the crowds, they clapped. MiG-29, F18 and F16, one after another executed breathtaking stunts. F/18 did a near vertical take off from the runway. The MiG-29 & F16 engines sounded like thunder and maneuvers looked like lightning. My breath was near standstill, when the Sukhoi 30-MKI with its Earth Shattering roar, out of nowhere blasted past us in full after burners, the crowd went bonkers. What stared as a growl with Gripen, became a roar with Rafale, thunder with the MiG and Viper and with Sukhoi it had reached its crescendo. He shot up the sky like a rocket let loose, then to all our surprise he began to fall freely, like there was an engine malfunction and he had lost all the thrust. I watched in disbelief that this couldn’t be happening, next moment he was back on throttle and onto the next stunt. Only then we realized that it was a Maneuver. He then went on to perform series of rolls and loops again throttled into the empty sky and all of a sudden there he looked suspended in mid Air, nose pointing up, looked like a cobra about to strike, it was the Cobra Maneuver. The dreaded maneuver, which I had read, I had now seen it. Only those people who knew what cobra maneuver knew what was happening.

The maneuverability of a fighter jet they say is not just how fast it can go or just the complex maneuvers it can make, but also how slow it can go before it stalls. It defines how much lift a jet generates. Tejas, Eurofighter, Rafale tried but it looked like F-16 and Sukhoi pilot managed to fly slower than the rest, Sukhoi nearly at walking speed.

Now I’m a Surgeon by profession running a Hospital of our own and father of a 2-year-old son. Among his toys he has a few planes, he knows it flies as he had occasionally seen a passenger plane fly overhead. Then I thought why not introduce him to planes in the most practical way. Airshow would be a good field trip. He enjoyed it very much; to the extent he started pointing his fingers like gun and went DDDDDDDD to every plane that flew by. It was like I was carrying a anti aircraft gun and not my son. On the way back I picked up two small planes and he has not stopped playing with it, now that he knows what they do.

The Pictures I’m posting is from all the airshows I’ve been, including this edition. Classified them as Planes instead year wise.

Problems with the event organization - 2017

This year I went on 15th, the second day. Took a business visitor pass. It was very frustrating that the officials/? Event managers / cops / guards probably were not properly briefed about the passes and the respective gates.

I went to gate 1 and enquired, one person at registration said that this gate was only for business visitors and the pass is available at gate 5. Gate 5 was unmarked and it was nearly 2 kms from gate 1. I had to do 3 rounds driving to Bagalur road junction every time to take a loop as each person pointing in a probable direction of the gate. On the 4th time there was an Air force guy who said the gate he was standing was the gate 5, which I had already passed 3 times, once asking the guard in front of the very gate. Then there was issue with the Badges leaving people frustrated, as the people managing were not aware how to tackle it. It took nearly an hour to sort it out, few of them walked out in frustration.
After collecting the badges they said parking permits are available at Gate 1 for private cars. The exit from gate 5 takes you to Bagalur main road then connects back to the airport road. We reached the Gate 1, I got down with my son and wife and went to the check point, there he says this is not for the business visitor, and no parking permits are available and you have to take the bus from gate 5 into the base. By then I had sent my driver to AVDA, as I had got a ticket for him. So I had to take a taxi, then went back to gate 5 and took the bus. That Bus takes us to gate 6 and we have to walk nearly a kilometer and half through an under pass to reach another checkpoint. There they said they couldn’t allow us inside, as the 2 year old does not have a badge. I told him that I’ve an ID proof for the child and on website it says no registration required for children below 5 and at the registration counter they did not issue any badges.

Then they had discussion with a senior officer and he allowed us in. Guards in arms misguided us again, he said, for a business visitor; entry to the static display is via the stalls. The guard said that this entrance is only for stalls and not possible to enter the viewing area, and guided us to another road 3/4th Km long some 200mts from the stalls gate. When we went there the official sent back us to the previous gate. There I saw the same guard and gave him a royal blasting and had decided that if they don’t let us in this time then we are heading back. They let us in finally. If you were to walk alone it’s a different thing, but to do it with a two year old in your hand is totally different.

A person approached me and asked if they allowed kids, I said that registration for kids under 5 was free and was in the website. He said his two kids, 3 and 4 years were not allowed and cited that they were too small for the show. My son is 2 years. There was inconsistency in management.

I don’t know about the other days, but 15th was definitely dull. Without the tricolor smoke trails and 3 less planes Suryakirans had lost their sheens. They were just flying around like a flock of migratory birds. Hopefully the rest of the days were better. For me it looked like this year it was conducted for the sake of conducting.

The Suryakirans - Old
Surya Kiran ("Rays of the Sun") is an aerobatics demonstration team of the Indian Air Force. The Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team (SKAT) was formed in 1996 to serve as the "Ambassadors of the Indian Air Force" and to "showcase the professionalism, the caliber and the mettle of the Indian Air Force".







The Suryakirans - New
The team was suspended in February 2011 due to shortage of basic jet trainers in IAF after grounding of HPT-32 trainers. Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik said that Surya Kiran will upgrade to the BAE Hawk in 2015. The team has thereafter resurrected with six Hawk Mk 132 aircraft with their maiden display at AFS Hindan on 08 Oct 2015. The team after initial successes is now expanding to six aircrafts with the final aim being to re-establish a nine aircraft team









LCA - LIGHT COMBAT AIRCRAFT ( TEJAS )
The HAL Tejas is an Indian single-seat, single-jet engine, multi-role light fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force and Navy. The aircraft has a tail-less compound delta-wing configuration, which gives it high maneuverability. It came from the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme, which began in the 1980s to replace India's ageing MiG-21 fighters. LCA was officially named "Tejas" in 2003, meaning "Radiant" in Sanskrit by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.





LIGHT COMBAT HELICOPTER
The HAL Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) is a multirole combat helicopter developed in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for use by the Indian Air Force and the Indian Army.











MIG 29 Fulcrum
The Mikoyan MiG-29/ NATO name: "Fulcrum", is a twin-engine jet fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the MiG-29 was developed to counter new American fighters such as the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, and the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon.





SUKHOI- SU-30 MKI - Flanker H
The Sukhoi Su-30MKI / NATO name: Flanker-H, is a twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the Indian Air Force. A variant of the Sukhoi Su-30, it is a heavy, all-weather, long-range fighter.Development of the variant started after India signed a deal with Russia in 2000 to manufacture 140 Su-30 fighter jets. The first Russian-made Su-30MKI variant was accepted into the Indian Air Force in 2002, while the first indigenously assembled Su-30MKI entered service with the IAF in 2004. Additional MKIs have been ordered to increase the total from 272 to 314. The IAF had 230 Su-30MKIs in service as of February 2017.















F 16 Falcon
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) for the United States Air Force (USAF).In 1993, General Dynamics sold its aircraft manufacturing business to the Lockheed Corporation,which in turn became part of Lockheed Martin after a 1995 merger with Martin Marietta.
Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Although no longer being purchased by the U.S. Air Force, improved versions are still being built for export customers.

[SmartCat]

Yeah, blue exhaust means the Su-30MKI was using its afterburners



How bad were the traffic jams at the end of the air show? I have stopped going to Aero India shows because of traffic nightmares. Has the situation improved?

[akshay380]

Nice pics. You should lower shutter speed below 1/250 when shooting props to get the blur

Anyway I gave a miss this time since per a friend who was manning a stall and a long timer like me, this year was dull.

[drkakkilaya]

Continuation from Post 1

F/A 18 Hornet

The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is a twin-engine supersonic, all-weather carrier-capable multirole combat jet, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) and Northrop, the F/A-18 was derived from the latter's YF-17 in the 1970s for use by the United States Navy and Marine Corps.







SAAB GRIPEN

The Gripen was a contender for the Indian MRCA competition for 126 multirole combat aircraft. In April 2008, Gripen International offered the Next Generation Gripen for India's tender. The Indian Air Force (IAF) conducted extensive field trials and evaluated Gripen's flight performance, logistics capability, weapons systems, advanced sensors and weapons firing. In April 2011, the IAF rejected Gripen's bid in favour of the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Dassault Rafale. Senior Indian Air Force officials, while happy with the improved capabilities of Gripen NG, identified its high reliance on US-supplied hardware, including electronics, weaponry and the GE F414 engine, as a factor that may hamper its ability to be exported.







RAFALE

The Dassault Rafale , literally meaning "gust of wind" and "burst of fire" in a more military sense is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation.













EUROFIGHTER

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, canard-delta wing, multirole fighter.











TIGER MOTH

The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and many other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. The Second World War saw RAF Tiger Moth operating in other capacities, including maritime surveillance, defensive anti-invasion preparations, and even some aircraft that had been outfitted to function as armed light bombers.The Tiger Moth remained in service with the RAF until it was succeeded and replaced by the de Havilland Chipmunk during the early 1950s. Many of the military surplus aircraft subsequently entered into civil operation.





YAKOLEVS

The Yakovlevs are a UK based six-aircraft formation and aerobatic display team





SKYCATS

They are Scandinavian Airshow team who perform all around the world with over 30years experience.







REDBULL- THE FLYING BULLS ACROBATIC TEAM

Z-50LX flown by The Flying Bulls Aerobatics Team

[drkakkilaya]

Continued -

Photographing the Airshow

The Main runway runs East - West. So when facing the Runway where the show happens, early morning sun will be on right and in the evening on the left. Depending on the season there may be slight change in position. Afternoon is harsh where ever the show is.

Somebody needs to suggest to Airforce guys on how to place the planes for static display. Its too over crowded and too cluttered to take a decent photograph. If they can provide some space between the railings and the plane ,we can make some beautiful portraits of the jets.

DISPLAY IN 2005







PHOTOSHOPPED IMAGES FOR COMPARISON- WITH AND WITHOUT CLUTTER




STATIC DISPLAY IN 2017

[GTO]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by drkakkilaya

Somebody needs to suggest to Airforce guys on how to place the planes for static display. Its too over crowded and too cluttered to take a decent photograph.

Completely concur.

The show has definitely lost its sheen and professionalism big time. Also, the organisational hiccups you mentioned are completely unacceptable at such, so-called, premium shows.

Nevertheless, you are taken great photographs and shared them very well.

Are also a car person Doc?

[searchingheaven]

Originally Posted by drkakkilaya

Pics

Great pics doctor. By any chance, did you get some pictures of the C130's flown by the 143rd airlift wing?

[imp!]

Hi Doc,

Lovely photographs! I was there on one of the days as a business visitor and experienced the same horrendous mismanagement that you did, I wasted at-least an hour trying to get to the halls. Unfortunately as I actually had people to meet, I didn't get to see the show as such. Do they have the same show everyday?!

I did manage to watch the Tejas and the F16 in flight and personally felt the Tejas was a far more manoeuvrable craft. Came away feeling more impressed with the Tejas than the F16

[PraNeel]

Originally Posted by drkakkilaya

Video : iPhone 7plus



VIDEO OF AEROINDIA 2017

http://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=AFbvBTdH5rY

Many thanks for the fantastic pics. The video is blocked and gives an error message "This video contains content from SME, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds."

[audioholic]

Great pictures and beautiful write up. I had been there the next day(16th) and took a few pictures on my phone. But they are not worthy to be shared here I am content enough seeing yours.

Originally Posted by drkakkilaya

Problems with the event organization - 2017

This year I went on 15th, the second day. Took a business visitor pass. It was very frustrating that the officials/? Event managers / cops / guards probably were not properly briefed about the passes and the respective gates.

I went to gate 1 and enquired, one person at registration said that this gate was only for business visitors and the pass is available at gate 5. Gate 5 was unmarked and it was nearly 2 kms from gate 1. I had to do 3 rounds driving to Bagalur road junction every time to take a loop as each person pointing in a probable direction of the gate. On the 4th time there was an Air force guy who said the gate he was standing was the gate 5, which I had already passed 3 times, once asking the guard in front of the very gate. Then there was issue with the Badges leaving people frustrated, as the people managing were not aware how to tackle it. It took nearly an hour to sort it out, few of them walked out in frustration.
After collecting the badges they said parking permits are available at Gate 1 for private cars. The exit from gate 5 takes you to Bagalur main road then connects back to the airport road. We reached the Gate 1, I got down with my son and wife and went to the check point, there he says this is not for the business visitor, and no parking permits are available and you have to take the bus from gate 5 into the base. By then I had sent my driver to AVDA, as I had got a ticket for him. So I had to take a taxi, then went back to gate 5 and took the bus. That Bus takes us to gate 6 and we have to walk nearly a kilometer and half through an under pass to reach another checkpoint. There they said they couldn’t allow us inside, as the 2 year old does not have a badge. I told him that I’ve an ID proof for the child and on website it says no registration required for children below 5 and at the registration counter they did not issue any badges.

Then they had discussion with a senior officer and he allowed us in. Guards in arms misguided us again, he said, for a business visitor; entry to the static display is via the stalls. The guard said that this entrance is only for stalls and not possible to enter the viewing area, and guided us to another road 3/4th Km long some 200mts from the stalls gate. When we went there the official sent back us to the previous gate. There I saw the same guard and gave him a royal blasting and had decided that if they don’t let us in this time then we are heading back. They let us in finally. If you were to walk alone it’s a different thing, but to do it with a two year old in your hand is totally different.

Have to second this. Even I had a pathetic experience with the way the event was managed. I had not taken my car and had been with my Uncle and Aunt who went to the ADVA side and I got down in Bagalur cross where I found a Volvo bus to take me to Gate 1 where we were supposed to get the registration cards. I was happy to find the bus and the bus too dropped me right in front of the gate. But the good things ended there. At gate 1, they saw the printout I had carried and directed me to gate 2(though the actual registration desk was just a few meters away inside gate 1). At gate 2, they were only allowing people with a registration card and there was no place to obtain one. There, one armed forces person directed me back to Gate 1, however he suggested I go to Gate 5 since as per his estimate that was a better idea.

I did some circus and crossed the road and walked for sometime to reach Gate 5 but the actual registration desk was far far away inside the compound. I could have walked backed to Gate 1 instead which was less than 100m away from Gate 2. I finally entered Gate 5 and walked all the way to the registration desk who then printed the card for me. Later on, I took the shuttle which dropped us near the underpass to Gate 1. After going inside and walking all the way to the stall, I was denied entry due to the reason that my card was not valid for entry. They had no clue who should be approached and five more people had faced the same issue.

We were herded from office to office and only redirected to another one. Finally we were told to go back to the registration desk and get a new card. By then, it was already one hour of roaming. At the registration desk in Gate 1, chaos had begun with all the card printing machines showing some or the other issue and queues of people piling up. I managed to get to one of the counters and explain the problem. Then a moronic guy tells that I have already visited the show and hence the card is not working. I blasted that guy for that and asked for date and time of entry. He then offered to print a new card for me but by then, the printers were not working and their network had become very slow.

People there started yelling and making a fuss. Afterall, we havent paid a small sum of money for that. The quality of service after paying 2500 per ticket was just garbage. After 45 minutes, they got a few printers working and printed our cards new. After that, we were able to walk in and walk back to the stalls though it was already 12 in the noon. Couldnt find time to visit all halls and also see the show.

First of all, for a single time use, wasting so many cards and infrastructure is a royal waste. And in addition to this, not being able to maintain this infrastructure is shameful on whoever organised this system. If you cant maintain something, you should opt for simpler techniques. The card had to be swiped only in one entrance or two at the most. Most of the ADVA cards were not swiped at all. People have visited the show on two occassions using the same card. Instead, they could have simply offered a QR code for each registered person and scanned it at the entrance. This would have saved time, money, manpower and avoided the wastage of more than 5L RFID cards for a one time need. If at all needed, it could have only been offered to the staff and the exhibitors who would have used it more than once.

There was a total mismatch between the Armed forces staff and the event organisers. Neither was updated by the other on the planning part and the processes followed. Though it was a business day, this year sounded more like a family vacation since there were a lot of public sector employees with family. Thankfully, the crowds were less on the day I went compared to the pictures I saw of saturday. There was just one line of people at the barricades separating the apron and we were able to get a good view of things.

Air display itself was not carrying any new surprises but would have been interesting for a first time visitor. I returned home disappointed after all this fiasco. End of the day, I had walked 14kms a majority of which was due to the problem with the card.

[unni246]

Originally Posted by drkakkilaya

Camera : Canon 30D
Lens : 300mm f4 L + 1.4x III converter
[b]Video : iPhone 7plus

Great pics however this year's show was too dull and added to the traffic and facility management it was worse.

Originally Posted by smartcat

How bad were the traffic jams at the end of the air show? I have stopped going to Aero India shows because of traffic nightmares. Has the situation improved?

Just one word 'ridiculous'. The traffic and programme management was utter nonsense with no one being properly communicated and NIL co-ordination.

Warning: Long post
I had booked for the final day show (18th Feb) - being a weekend as well as hoping some extra stunts as this being the last day at a whopping Rs.1500/- per head.

My initial plan was to start and reach early so that I could avoid the traffic mess, however my start was delayed and it was already 09.45 by the time I crossed KR Puram.
Traffic was being diverted from Hennur cross, prompting us to take the Hennur - Bagalur route as they said a right turn from Hebbal was shut. However the traffic was fairly good in this route except for some bad patches and infinite number of speedbreakers.
We finally reached the Yelahanka base area and the traffic was just starting to build up. We saw a sign board for the ADVA parking as one of us had the tickets for just that and thinking to drop him over we took the route via StoneHill school road.
From there we took the NITTE Meenakshi college Road and traffic was at its peak on this narrow road with lots of pedestrian traffic who after parking their cars in the nearby dried up lake area were gazing at the skies from roads or walking towards the gates . After crawling for almost 40 minutes we could reach gates 9A, 9B where they were letting ADVA passers to get in, however since some of us had the General visitors we were asked to move ahead instead of getting in those gates. We proceeded further. Took us another 30 minutes to get back on the Airport Road and a good 1 hour to get to gates 1 / 2 as the service roads and the main Airport roads were all crawling with heavy traffic by the time.
Another nightmare was awaiting us at these gates as these gates were meant for only VIPs and delegates. We tried to check with multiple volunteers to let us know where we could get in and park the car and all they said was to keep proceeding and take next gate. Another delay in getting the details and finally we were told to get to Gate 5 which is a good 3 kms away and totally on the opposite side of the highway.
As we went ahead we were repeatedly denied to take a U turn at almost 3-4 turns and they were all guarded with barricades ..etc. They were instructed to only allow VIPs to pass through. Finally we had to force ourselves and squeeze in on one of the U turns forcing the vehicles on the highway to litterally stop.
It again took us a good 40 minutes to get to gate 5, show our entry passes, ID cards ..etc and park the car safely.
We were told to take buses from there after collecting our tickets by exchanging the Unique codes and there was another big queue awaiting us for the same. Luckily for us the management had just decided that they were letting in anyone with the sms to board the buses and we need not take the passes. We boarded the buses and were taken to the drop off points from where it was a 15mins walk to the exhibition grounds. Multiple scanning points had to be passed through where in you had to flash your passes and again many of the people seated here were not informed that you just need to show the SMS. This caused another confusion and delay for us and finally we reached the grounds at around 2pm - almost after 4+ hours since our journey started, out of which a good 3+ hours were spent on the roads around the Airforce base.
So for me this year's show was a total waste of money, energy, time & a nice weekend

Just trying to find comfort in some of the nice pictures I could click from the venue in all the 3 hours I was at the show. Though there were repeated warnings asking us to vacate the ground as soon as the show was over by 16:50, we tried to spent a good 1-1.5 hrs watching the static displays and some counters around, finally talking a long walk back to our car at the ground in Gate5 (not blabbering anymore with the time it took to exit the the grounds and get back on the Bagalur Road through the narrow back roads as the exit to Airport road were closed for traffic)
I also thank my stars that I did not book a ticket for my better half which has saved me from a Grand shopping festival

[unni246]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Great pictures and beautiful write up. I had been there the next day(16th) and took a few pictures on my phone. But they are not worthy to be shared here I am content enough seeing yours.



Have to second this. Even I had a pathetic experience with the way the event was managed.

You were ahead of me both in visiting the show and posting your experience here

Well I have just finished with my story and posted it here and can totally understand your frustration that too on a normal weekday. Hope you could gather some bits on my experience from pics of Saturday where I too was one in the crowd.

They should have had a well thought out plan and co-ordination which would have eliminated issues on a large scale. Also they should have had a check on the tickets sold (I was told a total of 7lakh tickets had been sold out). The turn around would be much beyond that as more officials had come up with their friends & family with probably free passes / entry.

All in all was a pretty bad experience.

[RSimonS]

I went for the AirShow on 17th. Traffic and entry was well managed, exit and entry was not a problem.

Adding some pictures I took

[RSimonS]

Some more pics taken during AEROINDIA 2017 on 17 Feb 2017

Sincere apologies drkakkilaya, I hijacked your thread. Have requested deletion of my two posts