A Weekend of Everything That Flies !

The statistics alone tell a pretty awesome story.

-- 30,000 people came (the papers said 60,000, but I am told 30,000 tickets were actually collected)

-- 8 aerobatic sorties by Bill Wright’s RV-4 and Meynard Halili’s Super Decathlon

-- 23 balloons, including the returning Festo blimp

-- 18 party balloons popped by airplanes in the balloon-bursting contest, out of 66 launched: better than 25% hit rate!

-- All 4 military services flew in the show – Air Force S.211s, Navy Cessna 172 and Britten Islander, Army Cessna 172, and Coast Guard Bo155

-- 5 JET aircraft aerobatic sorties!

-- 1 PAF S.211 did impromptu high- and low-speed flybys after a training sortie at nearby Basa air base

-- 1 S.211 aerobatic display, by a solo demonstration pilot of the PAF Blue Diamonds

-- 3 impressive flybys by the privately-owned Dornier Alpha Jet, which was also on static display

-- 81 skydivers and paratroopers in a 1 single C-130 load, on Saturday

-- 37 static line paratroopers looking like the Normandy invasion!

-- 44 free-fall skydivers in a mass drop, from that same C-130 load

-- 40-50 aircraft movements or cycles per day, a total of 360 takeoffs and landings over 4 days

-- 12 children lost and then found their wandering parents

-- 6 lost wallets, 3 of which were recovered and returned

-- 3 lost cell phones, none returned; 1 bunch of keys found, no claim

-- 1 bottle of sunscreen totally used up by ‘Mike Oscar’ and me

-- 2 memory cards at 2.0Gb each, totally filled up

-- 751 digital pictures

-- 5 handheld radio batteries totally emptied

-- Zero accidents

-- Zero incidents

-- Zero injuries from aircraft operations

-- Zero delays and Zero cancellations of any airline flights at DMIA


Not bad for an air show held at an active international airport!

I can’t even count the skydiving jumps were made during the 4 days. I do know we cleared far more skydiver aircraft lifts than were planned.

I don’t know how many pilots flew. We had 60 balloon and airplane pilots at the Wednesday pre-Fiesta briefing.






I think Feb 10, Saturday was the best day.

The flag jump was perfectly timed just as the sun came over the horizon. The band broke into the national anthem just as the flag unfurled.





Sounds simple, but takes a lot of coordination between the airplane pilot, Clark Tower, Fiesta Control, the Air Boss and the band leader. Real time.







All 20 hot air balloons slated for the Hare and Hounds race that morning left the ground (usually some balloons always have a reason to abort).
















Another 4 hot air balloons were tethered at the ramp area for public rides.




The Festo blimp, the only maneuverable airship at the Fiesta, untiringly circled the entire pack all the way to the horizon (the word “dirigible” derives from the French diriger , which means ‘to direct’).








Both Malaysian motorized paragliders escorted the 20 balloons all the way to their touchdowns, several kilometers away (the Malaysian paragliding team had canopies designed for cross-country flight.) They looked for all the world like the fighter airplanes escorting the big bombers in WW2











Then it was time for the Bill and Meynard show.




Bill Wright and Meynard Halili, in the RV-4 and Super Decathlon, flew formation passes over the field, then broke off to fly individual aerobatic routines in a show that lasted almost 45 enthralling minutes.




Here’s a video of Bill Wright doing a Cuban Eight, then calling for a landing at Omni, where he based his RV-4, RP-S1440

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7yAWxh21sI




Meynard flew his usual exuberant routine. I could just see him in my mind's eye. Having flown aerobatics with him in that Decathlon, I knew exactly the cocktail of serenity and exhiliration he was mixing in that shaker up there.




Then, a surprise treat! The previous day, Friday, we persuaded an Air Force S.211 pilot on a training mission out of Basa to swing by Clark for some nice low- and high-speed passes for the crowd.

On Saturday, the Air Force did even better. Major Armand A., who flew the solo slot in the Blue Diamonds aerobatic team, flew a tight, high-energy aerobatic routine especially for the Fiesta, never straying out of the show box.

Here’s are videos of Maj Ardie’s aerobatic display. I found the Derry turns interesting – reversing course in a teardrop turn without losing sight of the show line. Maj Ardie explained it to me on the ground after the show, and I can’t wait to try it in 1513

Nice videos, worth the quick download.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-pRGiu_WZI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZogYNI8qg4Q


In the last one he does 2 high-speed aileron rolls then goes straight into an overhead recovery, gear coming down and a short approach onto runway 02R. What the military calls a 'combat approach'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHz_mERmSEA





Then we had the skydivers.

We had aircraft shuttling endlessly for multiple lifts. Army 101, a Cessna 172, Angel 662, the 505th SAR Huey, and Navy 321, the Islander, were all pressed into service all morning and afternoon for skydiving lifts.



















The green and gold canopied Philippine Army skydivers flew an impressive show that day. They had a three-man stack – skydivers ‘riding’ the leading edge of the canopy of another skydiver below.



One skydiver broke away. Buddy Lopa, our mini air boss and the untiring “voice” on the sound system throughout the show, kept telling the crowd to watch for the two skydivers to break away.




But they never did!

Here’s a video of that event. Nearly everyone in the crowd jumps up at the end to give them a standing ovation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs2FKdzOino






Then the C-130 Hercules launched, with an awesome 81 skydivers and paratroopers on board.




It disgorged 16 static line paratroopers on the first pass, and 21 on the next pass. It was like A Bridge Too Far








Then, as if unsatisfied, the big Herc went higher, to 12,000 feet, and unloaded a mass drop of 44 skydivers, the most I’ve ever seen in the air at one time. More impressively, this was a free-fall jump, and the crowd went nuts as canopy after canopy blossomed almost simultaneously over the Fiesta grounds.








We had had a flag jump, hot air balloons, 3 sets of aerobatics by taildraggers and jets, and a mass drop of 81 skydivers.

And it was only 10am!

---

At mid-morning, PFSG’s Vinciboy was holding over Pinatubo.

He ferrying RP-C1049 from Omni to Clark for the balloon-bursting contest, but first toured his chicks ( eat your heart out Rajiv!) to Subic and Iba. He reached the Clark control zone as the C-130 was climbing for the mass drop. He held for 20 minutes outside the ATZ, went down to reserve fuel, and could not join the next event. Which was...




... Balloon bursting!




Pity. Had Vinciboy joined Saturday’s competition, he would have been in contention for top honors. Because the next day, Sunday, he hit 2 out of 6 balloons for third place overall.

As it is, Navy 501, flown by Lt Cmdr Lued L and PFSG’s Lt Mikki “Viper” S, hit 3 of 5 balloons on Saturday and 1 of 6 balloons on Sunday.

They were the defending champions of the balloon-bursting competition, and defend the title they did!




We had 6 airplanes in the final round. We briefed the crews and sent them off to start engines. The Malaysian team was missing, so we had just 5 crews.

Then the Citabria didn't have a battery. We found the missing Malaysians at the flight line, and gave them a lightning 60-second briefing, and slotted them in as #2 after the Navy.

Then the Citabria got its battery back. And we put them back into the sequence as #3. Now we had 6 contestants.

Carlo and I were running back and forth across the ramp doing last-minute briefs on the new sequence. Like launching a Top Gun mission without radios Next time I'll know to assign a discrete pre-flight freq for a last-minute briefing.

Carlo, Julio and I ran back to the show line with our handheld radios and our 40 party balloons.






Thats Julio, Carlo, Jonathan and George.

Jonathan, the senior controller at Clark ATC, was "Fiesta Control" for the 4 days of the Fiesta. He cleared skydiver jumps, prioritized aircraft movements, supervised the Tower freq, and slotted our events around scheduled airline arrivals. Located right beside us at the main stage, he was invaluable in getting our events translated into actual flight clearances.




It was nice to see them all lined up at taxiway Alpha, holding for runway 02L.








Carlo launched his balloons with his usual elan. And the competition was on.





Carlo has been launching balloons for the balloon bursting contest at the Fiesta for 4 years now. Next year he swears he will be bursting them in an airplane as pilot-in-command.

Here’s a video of Navy 501 and the Citabria hitting balloons over the show line.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=v0sjxhF9Y5Y



The Citabria slips in, canted way over to the right. I think Pancho wanted as big a cross-section facing the balloon as possible! He takes it with his prop, though, which you will see if you slow the video down.






Navy has flaps 10, and takes the balloon right through the bottom of the prop.




Cool flying!

They make it look easy. The wind was all over the compass that day, and gusting from 5 to 12 knots! Those balloons were bobbing furiously and drifting fast.




The Citabria went on to hit 4 of 6 balloons that round, a very impressive 67% kill ratio!

And SEAir's Capt Pancho C, in that Citabria, drew a tie with the Navy guys for overall cumulative score.

We tried a tie-breaking round, but they both missed, and we ran out of balloons.

PFSG's Vinciboy hit 2 of 6 balloons on this round.

What makes it better is that Pancho had aborted out of the first round’s balloon-bursting sortie, then almost missed the final round due to a dead battery.

This event netted a trophy, headset and flight computer for the winners, in case you thought it’s just a crowd-pleasing event




There were many more events that afternoon. Sport pilot Erwin D flew his ultralight “Shadow” under a 6-foot high ribbon in an impressive ‘limbo rock’ stunt. Then he came back and cut the ribbon with his wing.



See the media photographers ducking







Here’s a video of Erwin’s ‘nap-of-the-blades-of-grass flying!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=W2H05PBsFOM




I've only described one day.

I really thought Saturday Feb 10 was the best day, had the most events, was the smoothest running, had the jet aerobatics, and the really fun party that evening, right out on the field, during the balloon night glow.

And I haven't even posted pics of the Alpha Jet, or the rest of the displays.

I will post pictures of the night glow, on this thread. Pretty spectacular view!

---

(from HALO5): here's a video of the malaysian paragliders

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4qC0g9DSAw

---

Bill Wright did Cuban Eights in his RV-4. Bill has been a Philippine resident for decades. His RV-4 has a painting of a volcano on the tail, and he calls it the Phoenix, because it survived the Pinatubo catastrophes inside a hangar at Clark.

Looks like a P-51 Mustang. And has a nice snarl to it!


http://youtube.com/watch?v=I7yAWxh21sI




The S.211 videos were too big for YouTube's 100Mb limit, so I had to edit and chop them up into 3 uploads.

Maj Ardie is an affable, friendly pilot who explained to me some of the maneuvers he did. He trained abroad specifically for his demonstration/aerobatic role with the Blue Diamonds.

Those of you who were around for the 2001 (what is that, the 7th?) PIHABF will remember the aerobatic routine of 2 F-5 Blue Diamonds who did a spectacular display. Well, Maj Ardie was the guy who flew upside down above the other F-5 as they did a low pass over the OMNI Aviation show line.

In these videos he is in an S.211.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=e-pRGiu_WZI


http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZogYNI8qg4Q


http://youtube.com/watch?v=bHz_mERmSEA




Erwin D is the epitome of an sport pilot -- pony tail, friendly smile. When he would skim 2-3 feet above the ground and then bank into a turn, his wingtip would be no more than 12 inches above the grass. Pretty awesome. He knew esactly where the extremities of his airplane were.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=W2H05PBsFOM

---

Bill Wright, aerobatic display pilot.

Bill actually took a volunteer passenger up during his balloon-bursting round!








He missed 4 out of 5 balloons, and I kidded him that he shouldn't have let the G.I.B. (Girl In Back) fly the airplane!







We had the Airlink fly-by. Five Cessnas and 4 Tomahawks.










The pace was intense. We were coordinating skydiver lifts, clearing formation flybys, working with Omni flying school traffic, sneaking Pinatubo sightseeing flights through the show.

At one point, I asked Gen Ed, the Air Boss, if we could clear yet another unscheduled skydive lift, and he didn't respond. I asked again. He just looked at me.





Then I realized he had fallen fast asleep. In the blistering afternoon sun!

"Ganyan talaga and mga matatandang sundalo," said Buddy Lopa into the show's sound system. "Marunong matulog nang nakadilat! Para hindi malaman ng kalaban na tulog na pala!"




That woke him up and he got back to work, here coordinating with Jonathan, our Fiesta Controller and Maj Valdez of the Air Force for another lift by the 505th Huey.








Gen Ed Calvo and Buddy Lopa.




Throughout it all, we had commercial traffic arriving and departing Clark, and none of them ever suffered a single delay.








Whenever we had commercial traffic in the control zone, we would get the genav aircraft down on the ground, including the R/Cs, the microlights and the paragliders. Then we would launch the kites, so that at least we had some action going for the crowd.

These are aerobatic kites, which were a real treat to watch in their synchronized routines!










One of the most poignant moments in the Fiesta was when a hot air balloon went up earlier that morning and unfurled a very unusual streamer!




Down on the ground below, a man was kneeling on one knee, holding up a ring to an astounded girl. I wasn't fast enough to catch that scene on camera, but I did get her delirious answer!






We also had a special children's school that Saturday. Nearly all of them were in wheelchairs, and each had an Air Force EP attending to him or her.



Meynard dedicated his morning aerobatic show to them.






One of the kids whose parents got lost that day. Here a bystander keeps her company until we found the missing parents.









The best part about Saturday at the Balloon Fiesta was the Night Glow.

What's a Night Glow? Well, the hot air balloons all line up and ... well, maybe just look at the pictures.




Word went around that that evening promised something special. So by around 17:30 the crowd began to build at the fence line. Soon we had people lined up 5 to 10 deep behind the show line, settling down on mats, folding chairs and just standing around.




What was really nice was that a lot of the General Aviation community met up in front of our stage, where Buddy, Jonathan, Gen Ed and I were still working.

The music was great, and the company even better. It was like Woodstock, but with airplanes!






Meynard was hopping from group to group, saying hello to everyone. He is such an icon for general aviation, and nearly everyone else in the area knew and considered him a friend.






His whole family had been there that day, wife, children, and grandchildren! They all watched his aerobatic routine that morning.




Another familiar face in the crowd was Vicente Rivera, former Secretary of Transportation and Communication, under which, obviously, is the Air Transportation Office, the ATO.



My grandfather, Antonio Rivera and Vicente Rivera are both from Bulacan.






Xavier, another aerobatic pilot at Meynard's Airworks School, occupied himself with taking long, telephoto shots of, er, pretty sights seated in front of the stage







Sigh.




Even as people began to party, our Fiesta Controller, Jonathan, continue to work with Clark tower to clear aircraft movements in and out of the show area.








Meynard's daughter Ezra and another girl were sitting at the edge of the stage. Ezra introduced her as Xavier's older sister! No way!! I grabbed Xavier from the crowd and sat him beside his sister. No way! What do you guys think?!






Ed D, the CEO of one of the biggest and well-know freight and logistics companies in the Philippines, is a friend of mine. I never knew he was pilot! I never even knew he was the owner of the gyrocopter that had been doing demo flights all afternoon!






Some people were up on our stage to get better vantage points!






Judy, also a pilot, on stage.






MacTan, what do I need to do to get one of these? The jacket, I mean.






Mel Troth, the General Manager of the Angeles City Flying Club, looking our for late arrivals from his ultralight flock.





He's been looking to retire from active work at the ACFC, but I don't think they will ever let him






The Navy, at their tent right beside the stage, were out in force, looking to party too!






By 6pm the entire area was jumping, with people dancing on top of the armored vehicles at the south end of the fence line.












And so the night glow started. The hot air balloons were all lined up, inflated with hot air, their burners on standby.

We were about to cue the music.




Meanwhile, we had cleared the UK Paramaniacs back into the air.





They were spectacular, zooming in and out of the balloons, stalling high and recovering inches above the ground, and wowing the crowd with their tight spiraling dives. Remember, these guys were using parafoils!


One of them was towing this 250-meter long streamer, which he had pulled out of a canvas bag on the ground. The streamer came and came and came, until it looked like one of those magician tricks with an endless stream of handkerchiefs coming out of a vest pocket.











The Paramania "streamer party" wowed the crowd. To really appreciate how enthralling this was, here's a video of it!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=al4O2fZtDmY




Then the music started, and the night glow began.











It was a light and sound show, with the balloon burners pulsing to the beat of the music. Really deserves a video:


http://youtube.com/watch?v=hobUMS9HEvk


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTD5yulah8E




We all had a great time. This was just one day at the Fiesta.

And I still have dozens of pictures, too many to post anymore, from that one day. We had hot air balloons, aerobatics, jets, skydivers, formation flybys, helicopters, R/C aircraft, aerobatic stunt kites, motorized paragliders and balloon-bursting.

All voluntary. Many events were not even compensated for expenses. Some fuel costs were paid for, but we all bought our own food, paid for our hotels, bought food for the other volunteers.

This, really, is General Aviation at its best in the Philippines.




I used to wonder, when I attended my first Balloon Fiestas, why there was no one there from the airlines. Quite naively, I thought flying was flying, and airplanes were airplanes. It was only after I had earned my PPL that I began to understand that there was this gulf between general aviation and the airlines.

It's so stupid. A Cessna and a Boeing share the same sky, the same weather, the same physics. Their wings create lift in exactly the same way. Every Boeing or Airbus pilot learned to fly in a small airplane.

I don't wonder anymore why there is no airline representation at what must be the biggest airshow and aviation event in the Philippines. An airline pilot explained to me why I would never see an airline pilot take time to attend one of these, never mind having an entire airline company show its face.

That was a really sad explanation.




I have never seen the PAL Aviation School, based just 700 meters away at Omni, appear at any Balloon Fiesta.




SEAir joined this year's Fiesta.



They had aircraft on static display right on the grounds.

No doubt we will hear snide comments about Iren and his "Iren Dornier" projects like the flying boat and the Alpha Jet. I have my own thoughts about those. But I do to give it to him -- he showed up . And he gave us a great show in that jet.













Iyoy sure was there on Friday and Saturday. And the Windwalker was there 2 years ago, and stayed most of the day.

Airplanes are airplanes. They don't care whether the pilot behind the controls is wearing a starched shirt and shoulder boards or shorts and an earring.









Saturday was also Joy Roa's birthday. Joy is the CEO of Air Ads, the president of the Philippine Hot Air Balloon Association, and the host of the Fiesta.



Joy watching the balloons take off that morning.







The Baroness at Joy's birthday party, Saturday night











On Sunday afternoon, as the Fiesta was ending, I finally got to fly RP-C 1513. I had flown her to the Fiesta ramp before Day 1, in the hope of flying her during one of the balloon-bursting events.





The airplane had been sitting on the ramp, under the sun, for 4 days. But it started on the first click,

I was just going to ferry it back to Omni, literally a 2-minute flight after a 10-minute taxi




But Clark Tower and Fiesta Control thanked me for all the pizzas, and cleared me to do a low pass at the show line.




The show line was a line of pylons Joy and I had laid out 100 meters beyond the crowd fence, as required by regulations.




Aircraft could not fly closer to the crowd than the show line.




Carlo and I took 1513 on a left pattern and took it down low. About 50 feet. At full throttle.








I had only 3 shots left in my camera's last memory card. I told Carlo to make it good.





Wagged my wings twice, and climbed away at 1,000 feet per minute.




Bye-bye Balloon Fiesta Or, Au revoir!

---

I was prepared to dislike the move to Clark. Of course I have a fondness for Omni, since I learned to fly there.

Clark had very clear advantages:

1. The ramp was paved. Less dust. Friendlier on the crowd.

2. There were huge hangars available -- for the skydivers, for the aerobatic airplanes, for the static displays, for the exhibits, and most importantly for the crowd.

3. It's an Air Force base ramp. The PAF jets were already there. Easy for the Navy, Coast Guard and Army to base airplanes there for the duration. Excellent all-around security.


The only downside I could see, at first, was that the Clark runways were a long, long way from the crowd. Half a kilometer or more.

Airshows involve aircraft flying low and close to the crowd. The safest place to fly low is a runway environment. It is designed to be free of obstacles and specifically designed for low and slow flight. After all, an airplane must fly low to land on a runway.

With the runways so far away, I was afraid that the crowd would see very little.

But we had a show line that was about 100 meters from the fence line. That show line was parallel to the runway, and within the runway environment.




The show line. Crowd to the left, runway 02L to the right.


Those hangars were a factor, but as you can see the line actually angles away from them, and also from the crowd. So aircraft on climb outactually get farther, not closer, to the crowd and to the hangar.





Then we had that taxiway, which goes directly from the Fiesta grounds to runway 02L. The big concrete hangars used to be the alert hangars for USAF jets that were on standby alert at Clark when it was a US base. The taxiway is dedicated to those big hangars, which were right in the center of the Fiesta.

That taxiway was very useful for hot air balloon setups, ultralight flights, the motorcycle vs. airplane race, the R/C airplanes, etc.

So overall I think the Fiesta did well to be at Clark. We were able to work the airline traffic in and out, and Omni continued to operate revenue flights as a flying school. Everyone happy.

Well, maybe the PAF was not so happy. But, they got a lot of press mileage and goodwill.