Probably my most interesting shot of the day, a burst of vapour from the leading edges, with most of the aircraft (except for the right wing tip) shot through through the exhaust wash.



---------- Post added 03-06-17 at 02:00 PM ----------

some nice shots posted by Rob, you must have attended Saturday as the F35 didn't fly on Sunday, very disappointing as this was the reason I went. Having been to every show since it started I was going to give it a miss this time as there was nothing that I hadn't seen before, although it's always good to see military Jets flying, but after all it's a 2-3hr slog in the traffic to get there then a long day in the sun, then same sort of traffic on the way home It's just hard work! And then to shoot with the DA55-300 more hard work! It was only the announcement on Thursday that the F35 was going to fly which got me over the line, and we decided to go.
So Rob, how much flying did the F35 do on Saturday ? When they made the announcement that the F35 wasn't going to fly, mid morning on Sunday, they cited thunderstorms at Amberley Air base in Queensland as the reason, ( as the F35 wouldn't be able to land!). So what were we going to see ? An F35 taking departing for Amberley ?
I understand the flying of military aircraft is subject to the operational requirements of the air force, but really, the largest crowd I've ever seen there, had to be 100 -150K at $65 a ticket and they can't put a plane in the air because of thunderstorms in another state.

[Bob Harris]

wow CC, what a great capture, thanks for sharing.

[clackers]

I understand the flying of military aircraft is subject to the operational requirements of the air force, but really, the largest crowd I've ever seen there, had to be 100 -150K at $65 a ticket and they can't put a plane in the air because of thunderstorms in another state.

You're obviously miffed, Cee Cee, but safety rather than commercial concerns should decide if a plane flies or not, right?

We wouldn't want the pilot of the airliner we're on to think any other way.

I was one of the Sunday crowd, BTW.

[Cee Cee]

wow CC, what a great capture, thanks for sharing.

hey Bob, thanks for the comments, cheers

You're obviously miffed, Cee Cee, but safety rather than commercial concerns should decide if a plane flies or not, right?

We wouldn't want the pilot of the airliner we're on to think any other way.

I was one of the Sunday crowd, BTW.

Absolutely !

My beef was with the Airshow Admin, not the Air Force, When you say an aircraft is going to be "flying" at an Air Show I think it Implies some sort of flying demonstration, so clearly if the the aircraft was grounded because of bad weather at Amberley then there was never going to be any display, but perhaps only for the crowd to watch it depart for Amberley. (Surely It could have taken off, done a circuit of two and landed again - they maybe should have had a plan B). I do understand the complexities involved, my son Is a qualified commercial pilot and has worked as a flight planer for a major airline, But I think its downright deceptive to sell tickets on the basis of the Aircraft to be "flying", they should have advertised it as maybe something like " witness the departure of the f35 (subject to operational requirements) " We probably would have saved our $130 and 6hrs in traffic.

[clackers]

Yeah, you'd hope the military would understand the concept of a Plan B!

[tabjohnson]

Can't waterspot our $100 million baby can we? ;-)

[Cee Cee]

Yeah, you'd hope the military would understand the concept of a Plan B!

and the air show operators

Can't waterspot our $100 million baby can we? ;-)

ahh, cynicism ...I did have a few cynical lines in there but decided to omit them... to be fair I don't hold the Air force responsible, its a complex situation, I'm just annoyed I purchased a ticket based on deceptive half truths coming from the Promoters and their ticket sales company.

[Cee Cee]

OK so full explanation here

Flying Operations - Royal Australian Air Force

just wondering though....
why wouldn't they request an Avalon / Avalon Event for Sunday as well as Saturday

also the flying program was supposed to conclude with 4 x classic Hornets in "Formation Handling Demo" - it never happened!
I know should complain to the Promoters and not vent here, but I have a feeling even less people than here would be interested .

[Sailor]

Very impressive, my friend!

Jer

[monochrome]

So if we ever need an F35 for it's intended purpose we'd better hope whoever causes that need doesn't do whatever they do when lightning is nearby

[Kerrowdown]

you'd hope the military would understand the concept of a Plan B!

Not always my friend... and your gonna just have to trust me on this one.

[Cee Cee]

Very impressive, my friend!

Jer

thank you Jer, much appreciated, I was poised on the shutter waiting for some vapour, the exhaust haze was just a lucky break .
cheers

So if we ever need an F35 for it's intended purpose we'd better hope whoever causes that need doesn't do whatever they do when lightning is nearby

pretty ironic really considering the full name " F35A Lightning II " I would have thought lightning survivability would have been inherent in the design right from the start in a state of the art jet fighter, but they are very complex machines, and what would I know, I'm sure there are reasons.
cheers

[RobG]

Probably my most interesting shot of the day, a burst of vapour from the leading edges, with most of the aircraft (except for the right wing tip) shot through through the exhaust wash.

Interesting shot - I have some similar ones.

some nice shots posted by Rob, you must have attended Saturday as the F35 didn't fly on Sunday, very disappointing as this was the reason I went. Having been to every show since it started I was going to give it a miss this time as there was nothing that I hadn't seen before, although it's always good to see military Jets flying, but after all it's a 2-3hr slog in the traffic to get there then a long day in the sun, then same sort of traffic on the way home It's just hard work! And then to shoot with the DA55-300 more hard work! It was only the announcement on Thursday that the F35 was going to fly which got me over the line, and we decided to go.
So Rob, how much flying did the F35 do on Saturday ? When they made the announcement that the F35 wasn't going to fly, mid morning on Sunday, they cited thunderstorms at Amberley Air base in Queensland as the reason, ( as the F35 wouldn't be able to land!). So what were we going to see ? An F35 taking departing for Amberley ? I understand the flying of military aircraft is subject to the operational requirements of the air force, but really, the largest crowd I've ever seen there, had to be 100 -150K at $65 a ticket and they can't put a plane in the air because of thunderstorms in another state.

The F35 didn't do much - about three runs over the airfield I think, but they are treating it with kid gloves since it hasn't been accepted into service yet. I'll have to put more pics of it online - I have another one with some nice vapour trails off the wingtips. I missed a lot of shots because I couldn't find aircraft staring into the high afternoon sun, and the combination of the DA*300 and 1.4x TC hunted quite a bit. I could have had more photos of the F35 but I wanted to take some video of it as well, and juggling two cameras seldom works well! I also missed some of it because the aircraft took off a lot sooner than the announcements indicated, and they suggested that it was going to be involved in the capability display, so I was expecting it to fly in combination with other aircraft.

Anyway, in terms of fighter flying displays, if you saw the F16 and F22, you saw the best of it. Mind you, the flying of the F18 Hornets in the RAAF capability display was excellent too. The F22 demonstration of vectored thrust was amazing. I decided to attend because of the F22 flying, and the F35 was a bonus. Originally I thought the F35 was simply to be a ground display, so any chance to see it in flight was great! I'm disappointed for the C27 squadron who have yet to have one of their aircraft flying in a display - yet the new P8 took part!

I'll post more pics in the Aviation group as I get them edited. I hope to see more of your photos too!

---------- Post added 08-03-17 at 01:12 PM ----------

Can't waterspot our $100 million baby can we? ;-)

I think they were more concerned about a fly-by-wire aircraft having its electronics fried by lightning. I'm not sure why it stopped them from doing a few circuits of Avalon, though.

---------- Post added 08-03-17 at 01:15 PM ----------

pretty ironic really considering the full name " F35A Lightning II " I would have thought lightning survivability would have been inherent in the design right from the start in a state of the art jet fighter, but they are very complex machines, and what would I know, I'm sure there are reasons.

As you say, I'm sure that they had their reasons. Maybe the manufacturer wouldn't accept any risk of storm damage to an aircraft not yet handed over?

[Cee Cee]

As you say, I'm sure that they had their reasons. Maybe the manufacturer wouldn't accept any risk of storm damage to an aircraft not yet handed over?

Hi Rob, thanks for your comments, I'm a bit jealous of your rich blue sky. I posted a link to RAAF flight operations that explains it all. As I said above a bit Ironic "F35A lightning II" , cheers

[Adam]

Probably my most interesting shot of the day, a burst of vapour from the leading edges, with most of the aircraft (except for the right wing tip) shot through through the exhaust wash.



---------- Post added 03-06-17 at 02:00 PM ----------

some nice shots posted by Rob, you must have attended Saturday as the F35 didn't fly on Sunday, very disappointing as this was the reason I went. Having been to every show since it started I was going to give it a miss this time as there was nothing that I hadn't seen before, although it's always good to see military Jets flying, but after all it's a 2-3hr slog in the traffic to get there then a long day in the sun, then same sort of traffic on the way home It's just hard work! And then to shoot with the DA55-300 more hard work! It was only the announcement on Thursday that the F35 was going to fly which got me over the line, and we decided to go.
So Rob, how much flying did the F35 do on Saturday ? When they made the announcement that the F35 wasn't going to fly, mid morning on Sunday, they cited thunderstorms at Amberley Air base in Queensland as the reason, ( as the F35 wouldn't be able to land!). So what were we going to see ? An F35 taking departing for Amberley ?
I understand the flying of military aircraft is subject to the operational requirements of the air force, but really, the largest crowd I've ever seen there, had to be 100 -150K at $65 a ticket and they can't put a plane in the air because of thunderstorms in another state.

Really cool capture!