CIAF 2006

The Czech International Air Fest (CIAF) usually marks each year the end of my personal airshow season, the CIAF 2006 being no exception for that. After a personal calm and not always photographically successful 2005 a warm and sunny week-end in Brno forgiving provided a forgiving completion of this year.
The main reason for this was that the flying was once again really special and varied in contrast to a lot of the other shows on the continent. In the morning from 8 to 11 there was some time to have a look at the static display, talk to the pilots, drink a beer, buy some sausages or to have a look at some model kits.

The flying started at 11am with a formation fly-by of the Czech Air Force (CzAF) that fortunately supported the CIAF a lot more with their participation than before. They showed nearly all their flying aircraft types, as already the fly-by consisted of 3-ships of Mi-17/171S, Mi-24/35, L-39ZA, L-159 and two JAS-39C Gripen.Two of the L-159 ALCAs came back after the fly-by and presented an airfield attack, that wasfollowed by solo displays of the Gripen, a Sokol W-3A helicopter and another L-159. A Zlin Z-142training aircraft followed also later in the afternoon, as did a CzAF Mi-24V. But especially the performance of the Gripen was remarkable regarding the fact that this type has been around in the inventory of the CzAF for only one year. The manoeuvrable fighter was proudly presented with a lot of dynamic flying in front of the enthusiastic crowd.

Other display from the Czech Republic were presented by the Police that showed a hostage rescue and a fireextinguishment demo with their Bell 412 helicopter and the recently acquired EC135 participated as well. The Aero Vodochody L-159B was also seen in a very smart black/gold colour scheme. The Slovak Air Force came also up with a rare and surprisingly big presence: solo displays of MiG-29, Mi-24 and L-39! In addition the MiG in the flying display was also one in the static display, and both of them represented airframes that have recently been upgraded to NATO-compatibility and ICAO standards. A second MiG-29 in the two-seater version was flown by the Hungarian Air Force, so total satisfaction up in the air was guaranteed.

Very pleasing for the public were also three display teams: the Iskras from Poland, Team 60 from Sweden and the Italian Frecce Tricolori. They also formed up with the C-27J Spartan for a nice formation fly-by, which was surely not only to show the Italian aeronautical achievements but also to pitch an aircraft to a possible new customer. Another jet display that does not have to be excluded was the Spanish EF-18A Hornet and the Czech Airshow Agency (CAA) also managed to attract the F-16 USAF Viper East Coast Demo Team from the other side of the Atlantic. Looking at this perfect mixture the flying was really entertaining despite the absence of the Russian Swifts, whose possible presence was only scattered by some careless websites, but never officially confirmed by the CAA...

Before completing this report also a word on the static display, which was was placed quite good for photography this year - due to the fact that is was not as crowded as in the years before. ut once again it featured nice visitors and I was also very happy to still see a British F3 Tornado in the exhibition. Also the fly-in was very nice this year as the QRA Gripens from Caslav escorted some of the visitors on their way to Brno and the military jets even did some fly-bys before coming in to land, which was very unusual in the years before.

So the trip to Southern Moravia paid off very well, forgetting about the lost sleep when getting up at halof past 3am to drive 600km (thanks to Florian for the drive ;) )and only thinking about some nice aircraft, perfect sunshine and fine evenings with good beer and tasty food in the city center of Brno. Hopefully your airshow season will come to an equally felicitous end for this year!