Photo Essay: Aero India 2013 - third day

The third day of Aero India 2013 showed some performers who were sorely missed from the beginning of the show. Most notably, the Russian Knights, who finally arrived after being delayed in New Delhi, and the flight of the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III which was grounded due to technical problems for the first two days of the show.

A photo essay on some of the performers on the third day.

A United States Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 50 based at Misawa, Japan, lands after completing its display

The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, shows its short length take-off performance as it makes its first departure of the show after being grounded due to technical problems for the first two days.

The Flying Bulls aerobatic team is a favourite of every show attendee

One team member loops around the other two who are flying inverted

The Flying Bulls in formation

The venerable HS-748 Avro is the mainstay of the light transport fleet of the Indian Air Force

The Bell 407 in action

The Russian Knights arrive at Aero India 2013

The Russian Knights perform one of their three fly-pasts. On each fly past team members peeled off to land.

Deploying the parachute to slow down. Fighters do not have reverse thrusters like commercial jetliners.

The marshal guiding one of the Knights in to its parking slot. Su-27 and F-16, former foes side by side.

A flurry of activity to get the chocks on to the wheels of the Su-27 Flankers of the Russian Knights.

The IL-76 support aircraft of the Russian Knights, which acts like an in-flight tanker and carries the ground crew and equipment.

Read more »

Photos: Russian Knights finally arrive at Aero India 2013 in Bangalore

The long awaited Russian Knights aerobatic demonstration team finally arrived at Air Force Station Yelahanka, on the outskirts of Bangalore, at around 12:30pm today, the third day, of Aero India 2013.

The arrival of the Knights was delayed after a three-day delay that a member of the Russian delegation confirmed was caused “by delay in internal security clearance” at the Indian home ministry.

The usual bureaucratic tap-dance back and forth between the home ministry, defence ministry and Indian Air Force was going on for the last three days, forcing Russian ambassador Alexander M. Kadakin to request India's national security adviser Shiv Shankar Menon to intervene.

After their landing, a spokesperson for the Russian Knights team confirmed the situation, saying

“We were held up in Delhi for legal issues raised by the government of India and we could come here only because of diplomatic intervention.”

The Knights flew four passes over the runway before landing. The first pass was along with their IL-76 support aircraft, after which the five Su-27 fighters of the team flew three passes more passes.

Some pictures of their arrival at the show.

Read more »

Spotting images: Boeing and Russian freighters

Thanks to a technology based economy (sorry world, but Bangalore is a lot more than just BPO outsourcing), Bangalore has always been a preferred destination for air cargo.

Bio-technology, electronics, aviation, pharmaceuticals, high-end precision engineering, floriculture, fresh produce, and the outsourcing industry which buys tons of imported computers, ensure that Bangalore is the leading hub for air cargo in Southern India, ahead of Chennai and Hyderabad, and third behind Mumbai (the economic capital of India) and the national capital New Delhi.

As the Asian economies recover and lead the world back from the economic slowdown, a few pictures of some cargo beauties from Bangalore and Mumbai for your pleasure. Click on any image for a high resolution view.

Volga Dnepr Airlines. Ilyushin IL-76TD Vladimir Kokkinaki RA-76950
United Parcel Service Boeing MD-11F N293UP
United Parcel Service Boeing 767-300F (Extended Range) N302UP
Blue Dart Aviation Boeing 757-200PCF (Passenger Converted Freighter) VT-BDM
Blue Dart Aviation Boeing 737-200 Passenger Converted Freighter VT-BDG
One of the biggest in the sky. Volga Dnepr Airlines Antonov An-124-100 Ruslan RA-82081. Put in perspective the people working on the taxiway in the background.

Photo used with permission.

Read more »

Aircraft spotting: Unusual images - Russian foreign minister on Ilyushin IL-96-300PU

On October 29th Bangalore hosted a tri-lateral summit on terrorism between the foreign ministers of Russia, China, and India.

Russian foreign minister then departed for Moscow on Rossiya Airlines presidential fleet Ilyushin Il-96-300PU.

Click on the images for a larger view.

See more photos on JetPhotos and on Flickr

Read more »