Arrived last night just before sunset at Shangjie, near Zhengzhou. This is a large city in central China and our final destination. Shangjie has a small airport, with an airshow being held over coming days.
Our arrival was greeted with great ceremony, introductions to dignatories, photo shoots etc etc. A group of charming volunteer translators were on hand.
Then we went to a welcome banquet at our hotel.
The internet has been a problem, direct access to this blog seems to be impossible. I am only able to update via my mobile phone. Therefore no photos for the time being unfortunately.
I will have another attempt this evening but it looks like a system block for now......
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Edited later:
Now here are some photos:
Refuelling on arrival at Nanning, south-west China
Arrival at Shangjie Air Show (Shangjie is near Zhengzhou in central China), meeting the air show boss:
Photos with local dignatories and officials, AOPA representative and the redoubtable Philly...
Sharp-eyed Irish readers will spot my Newcastle Airfield badge, it ensures access everywhere .....
Our arrival got a lot of attention.
Dozens of foreign aircraft were present, from many countries, but our Mooney and the Thai PA-46 were the only ones that actually flew in. The others all arrived in containers, at the organisers' expense. The show must have cost millions to arrange.
A display team of RV-7/8s were shipped from South Africa.
The crews of the Mooney and the Thai PA-46 gave talks the next day in the display hall.
While there were probably hundreds of foreign aircrew and support staff at the air show, only four actually flew their aircraft to the site. Here they are, yours truly, Ben Hines (owner of the Mooney), Ed Loigorri and Mike Wilson. Ed owns a turboprop conversion Piper PA-46 based in Thailand, and he and Mike flew it from near Chiang Mai.
There were some weird and wonderful machines on display in the main hall.
Sitting on this two-rotor fan machine made by the Sun Hawk company, accompanied by its inventor. The pilot sits on top of a Rotax engine, accompanied by a ballistic parachute system.
Here is a mockup of a Chinese stealth-type aircraft.
And below is a weird machine, looks like an overgrown bath toy:
Our arrival was greeted with great ceremony, introductions to dignatories, photo shoots etc etc. A group of charming volunteer translators were on hand.
Then we went to a welcome banquet at our hotel.
The internet has been a problem, direct access to this blog seems to be impossible. I am only able to update via my mobile phone. Therefore no photos for the time being unfortunately.
I will have another attempt this evening but it looks like a system block for now......
======
Edited later:
Now here are some photos:
Arrival at Shangjie Air Show (Shangjie is near Zhengzhou in central China), meeting the air show boss:
Photos with local dignatories and officials, AOPA representative and the redoubtable Philly...
Sharp-eyed Irish readers will spot my Newcastle Airfield badge, it ensures access everywhere .....
While there were probably hundreds of foreign aircrew and support staff at the air show, only four actually flew their aircraft to the site. Here they are, yours truly, Ben Hines (owner of the Mooney), Ed Loigorri and Mike Wilson. Ed owns a turboprop conversion Piper PA-46 based in Thailand, and he and Mike flew it from near Chiang Mai.
There were some weird and wonderful machines on display in the main hall.
Sitting on this two-rotor fan machine made by the Sun Hawk company, accompanied by its inventor. The pilot sits on top of a Rotax engine, accompanied by a ballistic parachute system.
Here is a mockup of a Chinese stealth-type aircraft.
And below is a weird machine, looks like an overgrown bath toy:
As above Peter tells me (by email) that he has difficulty accessing this blog. We may have to wait until mid next week to see where next our intrepid traveler ventures!
ReplyDeleteHeard from Peter last night - early Monday his time. They plan to fly to Nanning today and on to Thailand tomorrow. Just checked the flight tracker and nothing new.
ReplyDeleteProud of you friends john (habsheim)
ReplyDeleteBring back a sun hawk contraption
ReplyDelete