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 Very
rare are the occasions that you can admire an Aerobatic Team
from Russia at an Airshow outside their own country, therefore
it is no wonder that a lot of enthusiasts made their way to
Brno in the Czech Republic on the week-end of September, 10th-11th
2005 for this year's Czech International Air Fest (CIAF) 2005.
Announced as the highlight of the show has been the appearance
of the Strizhi (Swifts), which has already been the case sometimes
in recent years, but this time they finally managed it to
bring them to Brno and the 5-ship of MiG-29 flew their elegant
display routine on both show days.
 The
rest of the flight display was however sparse of jet displays
as the show has switched the date only very recently. This
has been made due to the fact that the original date coincided
with the Frecce Tricolori anniversary at Rivolto the week-end
before. Therefore no western display teams appeared at the
show and the A-10 East Coast Demo Team cancelled their appearance
as well. Very special for frequent Airshow visitors might
have also been the fact that there was not a single F-16 flight
display.
 However
the show surprised already the beginning with a fly-by of
3-ship formations of Czech Air Force (CzAF) helicopters and
aircraft consisting of Mi-17, Mi-24, L-39, L-159 and Gripens.
Two of the Gripens were even armed with Sidewinders depicting
their role as QRA-aircraft that arrived directly from Caslav
AFB. After the fly-by the third Gripen broke out and performed
a small flight display.
Other highlights in the air were of course the participants
of the Serbia and Montenegro Air Force that enriched the flight
display with performances of a Soko G-2 Galeb, G-4 Super Galeb
and J-22 Orao. Besides the five MiGs of the Swifts a Slovak
MiG-29UB also performed a display to the end of each showday.
 The
main attraction for most of the visitors on the ground was
the NATO E-3A AWACS that was opened to the public as well
as the Tu154 of the CzAF. Nice to see were also the two French
Mirage F.1CR, whichwere send instead of two Mirage 2000 and
also the British F3 Tornado was welcomed sight in the static
display. A further Serbian G-4 Super Galeb and J-22 Orao was
also placed in the static display area together with an An-32.
Very rare was also the appearance of a Greek F-16D Block52
at that Airshow.
 A
second linebehind the jets on the grass was used to present
several helicopters. Among them were multiple models of the
Mil Mi-family ranging from the Mi-2 up to the Mi-24, which
was presented in form of the special painted Czech Tiger-Hind
and with one example from the Slovak Republic. A new exhibit
was a CzAF Mi-171s that the Air Force received only very recently.
Walking further down the static display line a colourful Romanian
Super Puma and C-130 could also been discovered before the
presentation of Tanks and vehicles began.
So once again the CIAF proved that a successful and most
interesting Airshow can be arranged even without an overwhelming
mass of jet aircraft flight displays throughout the day. Some
highlights up in the air, paired with a lot of most interesting
ground exhibits and perfect food and beverages provided once
again a memorable week-end in the Czech Republic.
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