RAF Red Arrow at 2016 Zhu Hai Air Show

[JZ]

All: one of the highlights of my trip to China this year is to visit the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, more commonly known as the Zhu Hai Air Show. It's a bi-annual event held in the Zhu Hai International Airport (ZUH). A large portion of the exhibition is for Chinese companies to show their products. Airbus brought A-350-900 this year while Boeing showcased its 789 in Hainan Airlines' (HU) Kung Fu Panda livery.

The highlight of the show are the acrobatic demonstrations. Normally, the Chinese Air Force's "August 1st" team and one of the Russian Air Force's team perform. This year, RAF Red Arrow performed, too. The acrobatic demonstration ran everyday during the show, with a morning session from 9:30 to 11:30 and an afternoon session from 1:30 to 3:30. Each acrobatic team is allocated 45 minutes. ZUH's commercial operation stopped during the demonstration.

ZUH has a single 05-23 runway. There are a few 3 story houses belonging to the local farmers on the eastern side of the runway. They are less than 600 ft away from the runway fence and are well known among the Chinese spotters. There is a water tank on top one of the houses, the state-run CCTV stationed a camera crew and equipment there throughout the show. Although the traffic to the eastern side of the airport was officially off-limits during the show, the locals are allowed to get in and out; and there is no questioning as who else can ride in the locals' vehicles. There were locals with their mopes at the road block to take the visitors in. But only the spotters with long lens ventured in. There was a cashier at the entrance to the buildings collecting 200 Yuan (~$30) fee. Then you walk upstairs, passing next to people's living room and bedrooms. The last part involved a climb up a steep ladder, through a square hole just wide enough for a person with a large back pack on the back to the roof. There were plastic chairs spread out on the roof for the spotters. A fence has been built around the perimeter of the roof. One or two farmers stayed on the roof to maintain order. They would ask if you wanted to order lunch box for 30 Yuan each; and actually gave you a receipt for collecting your food later. For all these, they don't sell water there!

Enough talking, here are the photos for Red Arrow.

[captmjk16]

I hope I get a chance to see the Arrows fly a full demo one day. I saw them for a brief flyover at the Red Bull Air Races in the UK this summer, but the full demo eludes me. Nice shots!

[megatop412]

Beautiful shots with great conditions! Interesting story about getting up on the roof too

[JZ]

Beautiful shots with great conditions! Interesting story about getting up on the roof too

Thanks; and indeed the weather was excellent; and more remarkable that it lasted the entire week. I felt very lucky given the normal hazy and polluted sky in China. If you look up the pictures of the 2014 air show, the weather was much worse than this.