SimHQ.com - Air Combat Zone - Feature: Al Ain Aerobatics Show 2006

That about summed up our feelings by now. While most of the group I traveled with were all-around aviation enthusiasts, our common focus is on military and jet planes, not small prop aerobatics. When the next team was called up, privately owned Sasol Tigers from South Africa, we weren't exactly thrilled. No one had ever heard of them and we weren't expecting much. Boy, were we wrong!

Sponsored by Sasol, a South African company dealing in all kinds of industrial chemicals, the team featured three pilots (Ralf Dominick, Martin van Straaten and Nigel Hopkins) on recently acquired L-29 Dolphin trainers painted in the scheme of the 41st Squadron of the Czech Air Force, which is a member of the NATO Tiger Association.

Even though the aircraft doesn't have much raw power, they flew an immensely precise display. I've seen most of the European display teams, and can honestly say that only a few match these guys in close formation flying. It remains to be hoped that we'll see them in Europe or the USA one day because their performance is really excellent.

Following up on them were the Jordanian Falcons from the Royal Jordanian Air Force in their Extra 300s. This team has occasionally been a guest at European shows so they weren't entirely new to me.

After yet more props, we were really hungry for big jets by now. Thankfully the UAE Air Force delivered with two "low and slow" flybys each of a four-ship formation featuring their newest toys.

Sadly, there was no solo display flown on either type, likely due to the crash mentioned earlier.

The show continued with a true American classic, namely a Boeing Stearman flown by John Mohr. Again, I'm not usually a fan of these small birds, but the colorful plane in front of the unusual desert backdrop made for an excellent display.

Following up on the Stearman we saw a presentation of the advanced PC-21 Turboprop trainer from the Pilatus Aircraft Company based in Switzerland. Obviously they would be happy to upgrade all their old PC-7 and PC-9 customers with the new type. This is truly an unique plane, which is said to be as close as 70% to a real jet in flying performance. The cockpit is a true "glass" layout very similar to any modern combat aircraft.

The red plane is Prototype #2, which for a while was the only flyable example of this type after Prototype #1 was lost together with Senior Test Pilot A. Ramsaier in a crash a year ago on January 13, 2005.

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