2008 Al Ain Aerobatics Show

We went off to the Al Ain Aerobatics Show today (formally know as the Al Ain Air Show). We actually didn’t really know what to expect, but all in all it was well worth the trip (although we know for next year to take another layer of clothes as it was pretty cold in the grandstand towards the end of the day).

Obviously I have not kept up with the aerobatics fraternity since my youth, as one of the most surprising things was to see a helicopter doing loops and stalls (well as close as a helicopter can get to doing that sort of thing)! Scary! For the most part it was teams and individuals trying to outdo each other with lots of planes just doing things us normal folk believe planes really shouldn’t do.

The afternoon was ended with a thing called TinStix which we thought was “Ten Sticks of Dynamite”… as in they we going to blow up 10 sticks of the stuff because it would probably be impressive. The thought also crossed my mind that it may be put on by a Kiwi and they just translated 10 Stick how he said it… but it consisted of 2 planes flying past just before or after a number of HUGE explosions (shockwaves and all). Possibly it was to demonstrate what might have happened if any of the planes had hit the dunes during the day. Whatever the reason it was impressive.


K got some photos on the phone (for some reason we didn't take our camera)... next year - warmer clothes and camera!


Amer’s got some great photos on his blog someone in Al Ain and they give a much better idea of how close we actually were to the action.