2012 Gyeonggi Ansan Airshow

The Gyeonggi Ansan Airshow is the largest aviation event in South Korea. It is organized for the 4th time in 2012 and it is held from October 3rd to October 7th. The number of spectators has grown from 300.000 in 2009 to 430.000 in 2011).  

My girlfriend and I went to see the Gyeonggi Ansan Airshow on Thursday afternoon (October 4th). This day, there were not too many people. A Canadian guy who also went the day before (which still fell in the national holiday season) said it was really crowded before.

The airshow event provides various programs like airshows (aerobatics and demonstrations), aircraft exhibition, aviation education and experience zones. 

Airshows

The Thursday afternoon program deviated slightly from the advertised program (so no A-10 Thunderbolt II) and consisted of following shows:

• Solo: Laszlo Ferencz
• Solo: Zoltan Veres
• Demonstration of aerial firefighting aircraft
• Aerobatics: Team Zoltan Veres
• Aerobatics: Black Eagles (South Korea)
• Drift car racing
• Aerobatics: ULM
• Solo: Larry Beamish
• Demonstration of aerial firefighting helicopters

Zoltan Veres doing some sideways flying right above the runway

Aerobatics Team Zoltan Veres

The headline of the event was the Black Eagles aerobatic team, which is the flight display team of the South Korean Air Force. Recently (July 2012) they were awarded with best displays at the Waddington International Airshow (U.K.) and at the Royal International Air Tattoo (U.K.). The current aircraft used are  T-50 Golden Eagle, which is a Korean made multirole fighter plane. 

The maneuvers the team pulled off were really amazing and sophisticated in all aspects:

• The G-forces the planes and pilots experience are extreme: in worst case maneuver (max turn and loop) the forces go up to 8G (which is also the limit of the plane);
• The high speed and close proximity between the planes during some maneuvers;
• The speed the team reassembled the formation after a maneuver;
• The power of the planes. During a 7 ship maneuver, the 8th plane was out of sight, but suddenly it did a low fly-over coming from behind the audience. The sound was thrilling; 

In my favorite maneuver (don't know the name), two of the pilots brought their planes in a near stall at very low altitude, while two others where bypassing them.

Black Eagles: big arrow (8 ships)

Black Eagles: diamond formation (8 ships)

Black Eagles: heart and cupid arrow (3 ships)

Black Eagles

Black Eagles: victory break (7 ships)

Aerial firefighting helicopter demonstration

Aerial firefighting demonstration

Aircraft Exhibition
The almighty Apache (Ted movie quote):

"Now if there's one thing you can be sure of, it's that nothing is more powerful than a young boy's wish. Except an Apache helicopter. An Apache helicopter has machine guns AND missiles. It is an unbelievably impressive complement of weaponry, an absolute death machine." 

The American pilots accompanying the aircraft were quite friendly and gave some explanations about the equipment like the different kind of flares used etc.

Boeing Apache

Another famous Boeing made helicopter is the CH-47 Chinook which is a tandem rotor heavy lift helicopter, mainly used for transporting troops, artillery and battlefield supplies.

Chinook crew enjoying the sun

Chinook 

Ever wanted to look inside a Chinook?

Besides aircraft, a series of Korean tanks were exhibited. One of them being the Samsung made K-9 Thunder, which is the main battle tank of the South Korean army. It has a firing range of 40.6km and can co-ordinate to deliver a simultaneous arrival of three rounds to target. Top driving speed is 67km/h, not bad for a 44 ton monster.

K-9 Thunder Main battle tank South Korea

The airshow really made a great day out, certainly considering the minimal entry price (5000 SKW, which is only around EUR 3.5). Next time, I just need to make sure I bring better camera objectives and my camera tripod  in order to make better action shots.