AERO INDIA 2005 (moved from ATSNN)

This was my first visit to the Aero India show and my second to any air show,previous one being the Paris air show.I went to Jakkur air field,were the show was being held along with my friend in his new Toyota.The roads were REALLY REALLY BAD.I thought my friends car won't be in 1 shape before we got back.Luckily,it was'nt so.
Anyway about the show,it was O-K.I gotta say the first sign i read on reaching there was "beware of pick-pockets.How about that for a first impression.They had 5 hangers named A,B,C,D & E.Hanger A was shared by Russia & Israel,hanger B was being used by the Europeans.Hangers C&D were for Indian co.'s.While hanger E was exclusively for the U.S.
In front of the U.S's hanger was an inflatted model of an F 16.Well, coming to the planes, they were MiG 29,MIRAGE 2000,SEA HARRIER,JAGUAR,THE PILOT KILLER MiG 21&MY FAV. SU 30.Apart from these the only foreign fighter plane to be displayed was the American f-15 which looked awesome & just had a great paint job,hands down it was THE BEST LOOKING PLANE at the show.
Other than that they had trainers,glidders& cargo planes from Germany & U.S.I saw the bomber CANEBERRA which simply looked in a bad shape and had a flat tyre.The best part was when we got to interact with guys from Lockheed martin .I met this guyfrom Lockheed martin named Alex North,who when asked about the stealth features of the Raptor said right now a technology code named "V-STEALTH" was being tested on the F 22.Possibily V stands for visual stealth,i guess.
I was sad to learn that the COMMACHE helicopter programme was cancelled last year from the USAF guys. BUT the said the USAF will eventually get 30 COMMACHES.I also met a guy named NIEL SMITH who had worked as a technicians on the SR 71.On asking him about the existence of AURORA,he replied he could'nt confirm nor deny it. I saw the SU 30 FLY ,JAGUAR do its thing.The surya kirans were simply amazing,the team has a lady pilot too. I made videos of all this on my handicam.I even videoed a guy go to a F 15 pilot gave him leaflet which had a picture of the LCA and asked him for his autograph ,suprised the pilot obliged.IT WAS QUIET FUNNY, I HAVE IT ALL ON VIDEO.They were even guys taking pictures with U.S pilots.The U.S pilots would have felt like SUPERSTARS.



The only disappointment i had was that only the IAF planes were allowed to fly,No foriegn planes were flown cuz. i had been to paris air show & there even foreign fighter planes were flown. The second disappointment was i could'nt see the much hyped LCA.The Russian hanger had a model of the SU.47 BERKUT.