This blog serves as a resource for photographers and spotters visiting the LIMA Airshow 2013 (26-30 March 2013) at Langkawi, Malaysia. The main Guide To LIMA is at the first post, dated 12th February 2013.
Selamat Datang!
In between LIMA airshows, the blog will focus on regional military events and wherever else my camera takes me.
Saturday 9 March 2013
BREITLING JET AEROBATIC TEAM- Air Display at Siloso Beach, Sentosa 9-3-13
The advertised time of the air display was at 2pm on Siloso Beach, Sentosa. Parked at VivoCity at 1230, and took the monorail down to the Beach Station on the southern edge of Sentosa. Boarded the tram to head west, and noticed some young lasses and laddies at the entrance the Wavefront Club signing people in for a Breitling corporate event. Just asked a simple question: Where is Show Centre? And the stoned faces obviously signalled that they had not been briefed on anything other than guest control.
However, judging from the number of people by the beach south of the Club perimeter fence with long white lenses, that was the place to be. The Beachfront Club also had an open rooftop level with guys with long lenses, so that was another clue. So, wait a bit. The place was quite good; the beach sloped into the water, so the best elevated spot was as near the Club's fence as possible, with spectators in front progressively receding down to the waters' edge. The beach was not particularly crowded- just nice for a pretty unrestricted view,
It was quite hot. The cloud cover was 6 oktas when I arrived, but unfortunately, the "Blue Holes" were above and to the rear on either side. The sun was shining through, from directly overhead. The front was a mass of white cloud, which got progressively darker the nearer it got to 2pm. I remembered the weather forecast was for Thunderstorms with an 80% chance of precipitation. Not promising, but, hey, my skin was starting to hurt with the reflected and direct UV.
Starting to cloud over from the West
Looking ominous to the fore
Eastern side still OK and sunny
Enjoying the view
2pm, and the commentary started. The cloud cover became thicker; 7 oktas, 8 oktas. Switch White Balance to "Cloudy". Contrast disappeared, with flat uninspiring lighting. The distant heat haze mucked things up further.
2.15pm: the Breitling Jet Team appear in V-formation from the west, activating smoke as the septet raced towards Show Centre. Guessed right. The Wavefront Club, which was pretty central at Siloso Beach, was the marker, after all. Despite being over the water, no vapour trails!
Note: the shots are edited much more heavily than I normally would like. I just hate the colour of grey!
Breitling Jet Team- grand entrance to display at Siloso Beach (Grande Fleche formation)
Breitling Jet Team at Siloso Beach 2013: Calysto formation
Opposition Pass
A list of their maneuvers and formations is found at:
Later on, the team split into a pack of 6 and a single.
Breitling Jet Team at Siloso Beach 2013
Breitling Jet Team at Siloso Beach 2013
Breitling Jet Team at Siloso Beach 2013
Breitling Jet Team at Siloso Beach 2013
Breitling Jet Team at Siloso Beach 2013
Breitling Jet Team at Siloso Beach 2013: Volute & Barrique
An interesting maneuver was the Apache Roll, where a single ship barrel-rolled around a main formation of 4 ships, and the final break maneuver while firing off flares.
Breitling Jet Team at Siloso Beach 2013: Apache Roll
Breitling Jet Team at Siloso Beach 2013: Setting up for the final break
Breitling Jet Team at Siloso Beach 2013: 6-ship break with flares
The show was over at 2.35pm. Needless to say, the light became increasingly marginal as the show progressed, with dark clouds inbound from the west.
5 minutes after the display ended, a Lightning Warning was sounded. All swimmers out of the water! Took a tram back to the Beach Station for egress, quite a long queue as half of Singapore appeared to be there.
Long lines at Beach Station
Go to the monorail platform at 3pm, then observed a heavy squall line advancing rapidly over the water, obscuring what moments earlier had been an air display site. Heavy rain hit just a minute later.
Squall line approaching Beach Station
Really pouring it down by the time we got back to VivoCity
Well, I was quite pleased I was home and, better still, dry. Not good to be caught in the open with loads of camera gear. Notch one up for the accuracy of the Weather Man, and to the Jet Team for executing the Display when they did, at the time they did.
All in all, quite a nice warm-up for LIMA. The Breitling team will depart for Kuantan AB on 11th March, and will remain in Malaysia till 18th March, heading for KL later on where they will execute another display, on the quiet. Wish them all Clear Skies.
The gallery for the Breitling Jet Team's air display is at:
The quality of some of the shots is not great due to the dodgy weather, but have been left in situ to illlustrate the flow of the display. As usual, it can be downloaded and then run as a slideshow.
Postscript:
The next leg of the Breitling Jet Team's trip leads to Kuantan AFB
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