Bas Stubert and Hans van der Wilt report for GMAP from Bucharest, Romania.
BIAS 2017
The biggest air show in Romania, Bucharest International Air Show & General Aviation Exhibition, took place on Saturday, July 22 2017 at Bucharest Baneasa – Aurel Vlaicu International Airport. More than 160.000 spectators visited the venue; of which over 80.000 during the evening-performance from 18:00 – 21:30. Bas Stubert and Hans van der Wilt from GMAP were amongst the crowd.
BIAS has become an interesting event to visit. Not only does it give a change to witness almost all aircraft currently in service with the Forţele Aeriene Române (Romanian Air Force) in action; it also provides a unique opportunity to see flying demonstrations during the evening!
Unfortunately, the static-display is setup in such a way, that it not possible to take decent photographs. On the positive side: you are facing the sun in the back almost all day, so photo opportunities for the flying displays are very good!
The venue opened its doors at 08:00 am and by 10:00 am the flying displays started; continuing almost non-stop until 21:30 pm!
Besides numerous aircraft of the Romanian Air Force, several foreign participants were also performing in the display. Around 20:00 pm the sun finally set; allowing some of the aircraft (which already had performed during the day) to do another display; this time using many flares to lighten the dark sky! The show ended with the fly-by of a flare-dropping C-27J Spartan, followed by fireworks.
With temperatures rising up to well over 35 degrees Celsius, it was literally a “hot show” to attend!
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