Kishugu Lowveld Airshow Nelspruit 2017

 by Garth Calitz

Nelspruit came alive with sound of aircraft over the Youth Day weekend, with the Kishugu Lowveld Airshow taking place at the civil airfield just outside the city. The Airshow was originally planned for 12 and 13 May but had to be postponed due to the bad weather that soaked the whole country that weekend.

The weather once again threatened the Airshow with low cloud greeting the participants and spectators on Friday morning, a decision to go ahead was made as the forecast looked promising.

The show was kicked off with Harley Davidson procession down the runway followed by a skydiving display including the massive 80 kg National Flag.

The skydivers had barely landed and the Bat Hawk took to the muggy skies, The Bat Hawk is a proudly South African “Light Sport Aircraft” designed and built by Micro Aviation SA in Africa for African conditions.

Two local Kitfox aircraft showed off their agility and manoeuvrability in a show of aerial ballet, Kitfox aircraft sold in kit form from their factory in the USA and are very popular with bush pilots worldwide.

Unfortunately the low cloud on the escarpment prevented some of the participants from making the flight from the Rand, one affected team was the Torre Pitts Specials only two of the four aircraft took part in the show. Never the less the two ship formation, flown by Scully Levin and Arnie Meneghelli thrilled the crowd.

Neville Ferreira flew His Hi energy display in his South African built Slick 540, Neville will be joining many of the other display pilots to compete in the National Aerobatics Championships at Malelane next month.

Juba Joubert was next on the programme in the Jaguar sponsored  Aérospatiale Gazelle, Juba has been actively involved in many airforces throughout Africa and has flown many different types of Helicopters including the Russian MI range of aircraft.

Team Extreme and their Hi-Impact aerobatic display never fail to please Nigel Hopkins, Mark Hensman and Jason Beamish throw their Freestyle Aerobatic aircraft around in a sequence of body bending manoeuvres.

Gary Whitecross the only glider pilot on the airshow circuit was tugged into the muggy Nelspruit air by Derek Hopkins in a Lombada. Gary’s silent aerobatic display is fast becoming one of the most popular displays at airshows.

Scully Levin this time in a single North American Harvard was next on the cards, the rest of the Puma Energies four ship were unfortunately prevented from attending due to the weather. Scully seemed to really enjoy doing a solo display and gave running commentary throughout the sequence.

Enter Spartan, Jeffery Cooper from 2 squadron in Machado flew an exciting display in the Saab JAS 39 Gripen. The Gripen was equipped with a 1000 litre supersonic belly tank something not often seen and the extra fuel came in very handy as he was kept holding for a good 15 minutes  as there was Passenger traffic at the nearby Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport.

The Russian Antanov AN2 “Little Annie” followed appearing even slower after the fast paced Jet display. Mark and Jon-Marc Hill operate the AN2 on behalf of “Just Love Mission”

Sticking with the Bi-Planes Ivan van der Schaar showed off the grace and beauty of his Boeing Stearman, Ivan recently received a command at Comair on the slightly larger Boeing 737-800.

The Aero Raptors, once again flying borrowed planes as their aircraft are making their way back home by sea from china, delivered a polished display. Pierre Gouws, Ryan Beaton Nigel Hopkins and Mark Hensman made up the team on the day.

The flying programme was monetarily halted for a parade by “Working on Fire” fire fighters paying homage to their collages that recently went above and beyond in fighting the massive fires in the Western Cape.

After the break Gary Whitecross once again took to the sky as the sun started breaking through the clouds.

Ivan van der Schaar once again demonstrated his flying ability this time in the tiny Pitts Special S2A, the Pitts and the Strearman make up “American Flying Classics” based at Petit Airfield in Gauteng

Scully and Arnie once again flew a display with the two Torre Pitts Specials this time in wonderful blue skies.

Pierre Gouws as always flew a magnificent display in the L-39 Albatros, this particular L-39 belongs to Richard Lovett who hails from Middleburg, the venue for the next Airshow on this year’s calendar.

Kishugu the title sponsors of this magnificent spectacle handed over an R1 million outside broadcast Vehicle to Capital Sounds boss Brain Emmenis, The vehicle will be equipped and used at all the evets that Capital Sounds cover throughout Southern Africa.

Mark Gentles the Silver Falcon leader reached new heights and was crowned the most capped Silver Falcon ever, Mark has now reached 187 displays in his six years with the team. This was reached in magnificent style, for only the second time in history, the Falcons formatted on Jeffery Copper in the Gripen for an amazing display of skill as the aircraft are by no means matched in handling or speed.

Canopies filled the sky above the airfield as the second batch of skydivers came back to terra firma, the landings were led by swoopers these guys literally throw themselves at the ground at breakneck speeds swooping as the pull out of the dive.

The hero pilots from Kishugu’s Working on Fire displayed their accuracy at Fire Bombing with both the Bell UH1 and Air Tractors, Both these types were used extensively in the recent fires in the Knysna area.

Team Extreme once again took off to thrill the large crowd, Nigel and Mark performed a heart stopping apposing take-off.

Race time!! Juba raced against a Jaguar motorcar the Jag managed to steal the glory, beating the Gazelle by quiet a margin.

As the day grew to and end and darkness fell the Silver Falcons performed a beautiful twilight display followed by a Fireworks and Balloon Glow Display.

The organisers can really take a bow, this show will be remembered as one of the greats and considering was postponed what they managed here a real achievement. See you all next year..

Please browse through our gallery of this event