Piestany airport is located approximately 88km north-east of the capital Bratislava in the west of Slovakia and, with a runway length of just over 6500ft, the airport serves the town with cargo flights and occasional charters, bringing in tourists attracted by the region's famous spa. The town is also home to the country’s historical aeronautical museum.
This was the fourth year the show had been held to showcase the Slovakian armed forces and, for the first time this year, Aero Salon - a trade show with both domestic and foreign exhibitors - was held concurrently and saw manufacturers of everything from hot air balloons through to light aircraft, flying schools and airport navigation equipment displaying their products and services.
The flying programme followed the same pattern for both days with just the odd change here and there, with the flying display getting underway soon after the opening ceremony, beginning with the Air Force flypast. This was led by a Mil Mi-17 which was followed by three Mil Mi-24V Hinds with the outer two trailing red smoke. Next in line were three L-39 Albatros jet trainers in the Slovakian national colours of red, white and blue, then, in the distance, came the unmistakable clouds of smoke that could only be emanating from MiG-29s, and a three-ship soon emerged from it in a tight 'V' formation. Bringing up the rear, and a little higher than the rest of the formation, was an An-26, and the reason for this height variation soon became apparent as two dozen paratroopers jumped from the open ramp and landed on the airfield. Their jump platform returned once more for a final low flypast which concluded the opening set-piece.
The first display item 'proper' was also provided by the home team in the shape of a beautiful L-39 Albatros. Resplendent in its red, white and blue colour scheme the pilot put on a very tight and impressive display.
Next up was an Italian Eurofighter EF2000 which powered skywards with a trademark take off in full afterburner. The display was extremely loud and I don't think the aircraft actually came out of burner for more than one or two passes. This was Eurofighter's debut in Slovakia and the Italian jet was actually flown by Alenia Aeronautica test pilot Matteo Maurizio. A second example appeared a little later in the day, this time hailing from the Austrian Air Force, but rather than a full demo, its appearance was limited to just two fly-bys, albeit with the last one featuring an impressive max rate climb-out to altitude before returning to its home base at Zeltweg. The Eurofighters were certainly very welcome participants at Piestany and many consider the aircraft to be the ideal replacement for the Slovakian fleet of MiG-29s which, in the medium term, will need to be replaced with a modern air defence system.
After the power of Matteo's display we enjoyed a complete change of pace (and noise levels!) although no lowering of standards as next to display was former World Aerobatics Championship bronze-medal winner Zoltan Veres in his Extra 300. Zoli, a Hungarian national, flies the Boeing 737 for Malev in his day job, and I think it's safe to assume that his airshow flying is a world away from that! The routine was of the absolute highest standard and he performed manoeuvres that left you questioning just how he manages it!
Attending the show for the second successive year was the Dutch F-16 Demo Team. This year's display pilot is Captain Tobias "Hitec" Schutte, from 323 Squadron, based at Leeuwarden. Hitec gave another top display, showing the F-16 off to the max in its very fetching and by now familiar 'Orange Lion' paint scheme. It was great to see the use of flares in what was a very polished display, particularly for so early in the season, and we look forward to seeing plenty more of Hitec in the UK this year.
The first rotary display came in the form of the Mil Mi-24V Hind gunship and, while it's a big helicopter, that didn't seem to matter one iota to the pilot of this Slovakian machine. It was displayed with a great deal of vigour and produced some excellent photographic opportunities, all of which meant that this was a personal highlight of the show for me.
As with Typhoon, two JAS-39 Gripen solos featured on the display programme with both the Czech and Hungarian Air Forces supplying demos for the show. As many people noticed at RIAT last year, on more than one occasion the Hungarian pilot managed to create a mock 'dump and burn', with fuel venting out of the trailing edge of the wing and, seemingly with a deft kick of the rudder, the fuel vapour and hot exhaust gases came together and were ignited. The latter routine also stood out above its Czech counterpart for me because of the very nice, fast, low pass that featured - always good to see.
Unusually for international airshows these days, their was just one display team on the programme, this being the Flying Bulls Aerobatics Team, a four-ship of Zlin Z50LX aircraft led by Radka Machova. Definitely worthy of note as the team really did a sterling job of coping with the often strong winds on the Saturday as they dazzled the crowd with an excellent routine.
The C-27J Spartan is scheduled to replace the An-26 in Slovakian Air Force service, with deliveries expected later this year, and an example was next to display at the show. Many people will have seen the C-27 demo at RIAT last year and I don't think anyone who did would argue that you would do well to find a finer display of a medium-sized aircraft than that flown by the Alenia crew.
It was pleasing to see the Austrians provide a PC-6, a type I don't ever recall seeing displayed domestically, for the flying this year, and the crew showed that you don't have to make lots of noise to put on an entertaining display, which started with a water-drop. The Turbo Porter's career has been built on its low-speed handling and short-field performance, and the aircraft's final steep approach, landing and full-stop all happened within a matter of just a few metres. This was a short but fine display and very good to see.
In the words of the great John Cleese - "and now for something completely different"! How does an attack on a World War II armoured train grab you?! Responsible for this next set-piece were three Zlin Z-226 aircraft (painted up in German colours) while the Allies were represented by a Zlin Z-526 and a Yak-52. Lots of loud explosions and gunfire made for an extremely interesting 15 minutes or so, lack of authenticity aside.
If I'm being completely honest, my decision to attend the show to start with was based around the almost guaranteed Slovak participation and, in particular, the chance to see a demo from one of the ever-dwindling worldwide population of MiG-29 Fulcrums - though the host nation's aircraft have recently been upgraded and will be around for a good few years yet. Operating from a temporary home at Malacky (Sliac is currently closed for redevelopment), the sequence started with a touch and go before the display proper got underway, pouring out lots of trademark thick black smoke and generating the noise to match. It's always a very special sight but all too soon (for me anyway!) it came to an end and the aircraft returned 'home'; but that wasn't last we'd see of it that day thankfully!
Next up we were shown a direct descendent from the L-39 Albatros we had seen earlier in the day. The Aero L-159 ALCA (Advanced Light Combat Aircraft) is a Czech-built, multi-role combat aircraft, and the Czech Air Force displayed one of their two-seat training aircraft here at Piestany.
However, one of the most spectacular passes of the whole weekend came from the Slovakian Government Tu-154M which opened up with an extremely low pass down the crowd-line before making a sharp turn and climbing out. A touch and go, as well as another low, but not 'as low', pass completed an impressive look at an aircraft which, despite its 1960s vintage, remains in service with a number of Eastern European airlines and air forces.
Another highlight followed as, performing simulated attacks on the far side of the airfield - complete with pyrotechnics - were a pair of L-39 Albatros and they were followed by what can probably best be described as a paired MiG-29 tailchase! It was superb to see an additional appearance by the MiGs and in many ways made the whole trip worthwhile for me!
A rotary flavour returned to proceedings next with a fire-fighting display by the PZL W3A SAR from 243 vrl of the Czech Air Force. Flying with a Bambi bucket slung beneath the cab, it performed three water drops and it was just lovely to see this colourful helicopter in the sky.
A troop insertion demonstration was performed by the Slovak AF, with a single Mil Mi-17 Hip and two Mil Mi-24V Hinds. The two Hinds provided top cover for the Hip as it set down its cargo on the ground and then later returned to collect 'captured' enemy forces and its own troops from the war zone - just like the Chinook used to in the RAF's role demo!
The day concluded with the Czech group, Heritage of Flying Legends, displaying its An-2s, Yak-3U, Hungarian Polikarpov Po-2 and Lisunov Li-2 - a license-built version of the DC-3 that was manufactured in Russia; all of which put in fine performances and made for an excellent end to the show.
All in all I spent a very enjoyable two days at the show which featured a strong and varied seven hour flying display. I travelled with the view that I wanted to add some Slovakian AF images to my collection, and that I most definitely did - with the bonus of plenty of other interesting items ticked off as well. The hoped-for Su-35 and Ukrainian AF Mil Mi-24 may not have materialised, but I for one didn't realistically expect them to, and their absence certainly didn't detract from the rest of the event. Slovakia is a beautiful country, full of very friendly and helpful people, and I hope to return again in the not too distance future.
GAR wants to interact with its readers so if you have a question for the author or a comment to make on this feature, please click on the button below. The best comments will appear right here on GAR.If you would like to discuss using any of our imagery or feature content please contact us.