Page 1 of 1

FIDAE 2008 (Lots of Photos!)

Posted: 04 Apr 2008, 01:56
by Javier Tapia
Hi!
Well today I went to the FIDAE (Feria Internacional del Aire y Espacio [Internacional Aviation and Space Fair]) Its the greatest air "show" (not actually a show, since it's intentended for buisness first) of south America, I know its not like MAKS or Le Bouget but sitll is nice to be able to see so much variety in aviation topics, from civilian aircaft to military fighters, defence technology, and even tanks :wink: ) So... any way, I payed a little extra (17 US Dollars more) to be able to visit it today and avoid going on weekend and get the chance to see the A380.
FIDAE takes place at Comodoro Arturo Merino Benitez airport in Santiago (SCEL) military base
So... here are some pictures:

First thing you see from the entrance:
Image

RAF pilots didn't allow me to see the interior, the only plane you couldn't get near to
Image

But US crews where completely different, almost "full access"
C-130J
Image
(That's me :wink: )
Image

KC-135
Image

Image

Image

C-17
Image

Image

F-16C and F-15E
Image

Image

Image

B-1B
Image

Predator
Image

Chilean Crews also where great and allowed to close to the planes and all, except taking photos of the cockpits (no idea why)
F-16C
Image

Mirage 50 Pantera (museum)
Image

UH-1H
Image

Casa 212-300
Image

Image

Lots of VIP aircraft
Image

Image

ENAER/Casa A-36
Image
(That's my grandma)

Image

Naval Aviation
AS-365 and PC-7
Image

Army Aviation
C-235 and C-212
Image

MD369
Image

Aeromacchi M346
Image

Luftwaffe
A310 (actually this aircraft and one of her sisters are being sold to chile to serve as VIP, transport and refuelling aircraft)
Image
(Ohh, Luftwaffe pilots were also very kind to us)

Some Civilian
A380
Image

Image

Image

And some other cool stuff like:
Mantarraya (the Chilean Navy UAV, nothing to envy to the global hawks or predators :oops: )
Image
(It actually got cameras and all, but where removed for display)

I'm not much into fire arms, but just couldn't ressist
Image
(even got to shoot a FAL in a firing simulator, real guns, fake bullets :P )

Combat Sims!
Image
(JAS-39)

This is actually the coolest guy in the hole show:
Image

and finally, for some reason I found RAF stickers all over the USAF planes, they all looked like this one
Image

I actually took over 200 pictures, but this are like the most representative
there where also lots of other stuff, air shows, dispaly teams, etc. But what really impressed me the most was seeing the B-1B Lancer doing inverted maneuvers like if it was a fighter Jet... Amassing!
Hope you like them!

Posted: 04 Apr 2008, 02:13
by btaylo24
Some lovely shots there and great to see them :smt041

barry

Posted: 04 Apr 2008, 02:21
by Jumpshot724
Awesome pics!!

You know what's sad? I've NEVER been to an airshow :( . I either miss them because I'm not around or something else comes up. I need to fix that fast!!

Posted: 04 Apr 2008, 02:24
by Victory103
Great photos! Love that new C-130J, looks just like the one in the recent LRAFB MAIW package.

The stickers are tradition, there called "Zappers" or Zap's for short. Kind of a practical joke to play on other flight crews. I always trying to find weird and out of the way places to hide them, so that it may be a few days when the aircraft's crew find them!

Posted: 04 Apr 2008, 02:35
by BadPvtDan
Victory103 wrote:Great photos! Love that new C-130J, looks just like the one in the recent LRAFB MAIW package.
Hey! I didn't think anyone saw that package!

Posted: 04 Apr 2008, 02:58
by Javier Tapia
What? The Little Rock Package? C'mon it's like the biggest single C-130 package! how could we miss it?

Posted: 04 Apr 2008, 07:10
by sprocky
Thanks for sharing your images.

Do you remember the reg of the Luftwaffe Airbus you said was sold? Unfortunatly the second half of the reg is hidden in your pic.

Posted: 04 Apr 2008, 10:57
by jetmax
That F-15E is one of my birds 8). I was joking with them last week that they needed to take a weather guy with them :D .

Posted: 05 Apr 2008, 05:11
by Javier Tapia
sprocky wrote:Thanks for sharing your images.

Do you remember the reg of the Luftwaffe Airbus you said was sold? Unfortunatly the second half of the reg is hidden in your pic.
I took a photo of it's registration so I didn't had to remember :wink:

It's 10+26, and for what I've read this is one of the aircraft being transfered, the other one it's still a mistery, any way, it's a great change from the 737 and 707 to A310, belive me I've flown of the 737s and it nothing but an old passenger plane, not a very impressive (or confortable, fast, economic, etc.) way to arriving to an international summit

Posted: 05 Apr 2008, 12:11
by jetmax
jetmax wrote:That F-15E is one of my birds 8). I was joking with them last week that they needed to take a weather guy with them :D .
Upon closer inspsection that F-15E is not one of my birds, however I though we sent the Demo Team. Did you see any F-15Es with SJ tails?

Posted: 05 Apr 2008, 18:20
by Javier Tapia
No, the only F-15E in dosplay had the MO tail, thow there was an other one (I think) that did some flying demonstrations, couldn't get the tail, since it was kept away from public (as all aircraft that where going to fly)