Dump and Burn

Despite yesterday’s inclement weather, dad and I trotted over to Avalon Airport for the Australian International Air Show. It’s always interesting to see the huge range of people this enormous event attracts – from fathers and their young sons, to entire families, to the often middle-aged hardcore enthusiasts who can somehow tell their F-111 from their F-18 fighter planes at a glance. For someone like me who has absolutely no head for aeronautical engineering or fascination with combat, I go along simply because it amazes me as to how these enormous contraptions get off the ground. Despite the creased brow and sore neck from spending so much time looking to the heavens, it’s always an enjoyable day. And as you get older, it’s always reassuring when you go along to something that makes you feel like a big kid, exclaiming “Wow” a lot and shaking your head in amazement.


Going along to big events such as the tennis, I’ve always had a thing about those people who wander around with a special-looking pass hanging around their neck, wondering what they have to do to get that. It was only a week ago that I realised dad had scored a couple of Gold Pass tickets through work, so yesterday we got to be a couple of those special people for a change. Getting access to the big grandstands, located only about 100 metres from the runway where all the aerial displays were taking place was a treat. The good thing was that you were still free to wander around everywhere else as you pleased, and always had your seats waiting for you when you wanted to come back for a spell. So whenever there was a lull in the displays, we had a good look around, checking out some of the military planes like the gargantuan Hercules that you’re actually allowed to walk through, as well as the plagued Black Hawk helicopter – which to my glee, is actually quite user-friendly for a shorter individual, having a very low “ceiling”. And even though I have no idea which gauges meant what, or which button did what, the control panels of the cockpits looked like something you’d imagine on a space shuttle. Many of the military planes on display are manned by staff who are more than happy to answer questions – often from enthusiastic little boys, or at the other end of the scale, older guys with an interest in the actual mechanics of the planes. Sincere and enthusiastic as they are, the thought still creeps into the back of your mind that this kind of thing could also be thought of as a useful public relations exercise, particularly for the many U.S. personnel who make the trip out here. Irrespective of stuff like that, you can’t help but marvel at their skill and confidence.


The highlight of yesterday’s aerial displays was definitely the ageing, but very popular Australian F-111, darting through the air, and deftly steered such that the four-point turns (where the plane does a total 360 in four perfect 90 degree turns) could fool the average onlooker into thinking they might be able to do it too. But for all that agility, the “dump and burn” (shown above) – which fighter planes do in order to offload excess fuel, say when they’re about to land on a carrier, was the real crowd pleaser, with everyone looking on in awe at the sight of the bright orange flames shooting out from behind the plane. The fly-by of the ominous-looking American B-52 bomber was also great to see, perhaps partly because of the mystery surrounding where the plane had been or where it was heading, it was only known that Avalon happened to be on its flight path. If my photos turn out, I’ll definitely post some of them up once they’re developed. Despite my being overseas when the next air show rolls around in 2009 (?), it’s definitely something that’d be worth making the 20-odd hour flight to come over for especially.