Slovak International Air Fest is the largest air show in Slovakia, that usually takes place at the end of August. This year saw the change of date to first weekend of August and the return of world-famous Frecce Tricolori acrobatic group from Italy. Other than that, the performances were a little disappointing compared to previous editions.
Slovak International Air Fest takes place on the last weekend of August and it is the largest airshow in Slovakia. This year’s highlights included Pterodactyl Flight (World War 1 Planes Sopwith Strutter, Fokker D.VII, Piper L-4H among others), aerobatic groups Al Fursan (United Arab Emirates) and Krila Oluje (Croatia) and Solo Turk flying F-16 Fighting Falcon. The biggest let-down was the very first appearance of Rockwell B-1B Lancer. It’s two very fast fly-by’s weren’t nearly enough to get a good look on this flying beast.
Last Saturday of May 2017 was dedicated to aviation – at least in small village of Dubová in Little Carpathians, Western Slovakia. The local grass runway was the starting point of various propeller powered aircrafts and helicopters. The performers included Peter Besenyei, a Red Bull Air Race legend and pioneer, The Flying Bulls Aerobatic Group as well as various pilots from Slovakia and Czech republic.
At the end of August, I visited the 6th annual Slovak International Air Fest (SIAF 2016) in Sliac, Slovakia. The highlights of this year’s edition were Sukhoi Su-27 (Ukraine), Patrulla Aguila (Spain), aerobatic pilot with unlimited “allowance” Jurgis Kairys (Lithuania), Flying Bulls Aerobatic Team (Czech republic) and General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon (Belgium). By far the biggest candy on the ground was Boeing B-52 Stratofortress from Barksdale Airforce Base in Louisiana, United States, which made its return to Slovakia after 4 years. Unfortunately, the overal experience was lacking compared to last year’s edition, which was mostly very good. Even the weather wasn’t very cooperative, with strong sunshine and backlight that affected most of the afternoon performances.
At the end of August, I attended the Slovak International Air Fest 2015 in Sliac. This large airshow is usually plagued by bad weather, but this year it was rather OK. The highlight of this year’s edition were Frecce Tricolori – a demonstration team of Italy’s Aeronautica Militare.
