Just back from a very enjoyable few weeks in Malaysia for LIMA-25. While this year the flying display was notably must lighter than previous years, I seem to have gotten better shots. Considering the time of year, the weather largely played ball - if unbelievably humid - with the majority of the heavy rains being either in the very early morning or evening, although I left on Friday morning, and Friday/Saturday were largely washed out. Sadly the much anticipated fly past from the US Navy and USAF had to be canned due to significant thunderstorm that set over the field immediately after the Russian Knights arrived. Anyway, in no particular order below is a brief selection.
1) This year's opening gambit began with an F/A-18D coming in low and extremely fast. In the initial practice run I was unable to track the run from the Lookout Point, so the next morning I decided to drop down in the hope that I'd be able to track the run further out. The trade off was no vapour cone, but I was more than happy with my choice.
Morning Shockwave by Niall Grant, on Flickr2) Malaysian SU-30MKM special
Physics by Niall Grant, on Flickr3) RMAF special coloured F/A-18D Hornet, affectionally known as Pikachu, pulls lots of vapour during a display at LIMA25. All eight Hornets are operated by 18th Sqn from Butterworth. Negioations are ongoing with Kuwait/US to acquire 30 ex KAF legacy Hornets.
Pikachu Topside by Niall Grant, on Flickr4) Airbus A400M in the flypast
Atlas by Niall Grant, on Flickr5) A pair of EC725 Caracals from the RMAF were also part of the opening gambit
Equiped for the job by Niall Grant, on Flickr6) Flanker makings its own Rainbow.
End of the Rainbow by Niall Grant, on Flickr7) Navy Aw-139 at the maritime segment of LIMA25
Navy Divers by Niall Grant, on Flickr8) Police Twin Squirrel
Police Squirrel by Niall Grant, on Flickr9) Malaysian Coast Guard AS365N3 Dauphin II taking part in the demontrations at the maritime segment of LIMA25.
Dauphin by Niall Grant, on Flickr10) Two EC120s of the RMAF training school get airborne
Heli school by Niall Grant, on Flickr11) A nice thing about Langkawi is the tropical backdrop you can.
Tropical Bug by Niall Grant, on Flickr12) One of the star items - Royal Brunei Air Force Sikorsky S-70i, which according to one crew member required 11 stops to get to Langkawi.
Brunei 101 by Niall Grant, on Flickr13) Throughout the week the RMAF had a shuttle of C-130s and A400Ms coming in from Subang.
Old Silverback by Niall Grant, on Flickr14) After recent sales successes in Europe, the Embraer team were in attendance looking at the Asian market.
Jungle jet by Niall Grant, on Flickr15) A very nice, and now rare, Grumman C-2 Greyhound dropped in with support equipment for the US Navy's aircraft attending the show.
Here comes the Cowboys by Niall Grant, on FlickrHope people find the selection interesting, there's more on my Flickr page too.
Thanks for looking
Niall
