Hungarian pilot Zoltan ” Zoli” Veres is a one hell of a pilot. With more than 10,000 hours of flying in his logbook, this guy has flown more than 80 types of aircraft in his life, and still counting. From small aerobatic aircraft like the the Zlin-50 or Extra 300 to large Boeing airliners, this guy tried ‘em all. Named “One of the worlds best 12 pilots” in 1995, Zoli won quite a lot of medals at all kinds of aerobatic competitions and air shows. Here is a clip of him doing what he loves… throwing his aircraft all over the sky.
In 1997 at an airshow in Bratislava one member of the Russian Knights aerobatic team forgot to lower the landing gear of his Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker. As a result of this incident, only helicopters were allowed to perform that day. As for the aircraft, there was some damage to the underside but nothing major. The plane took off heading for Russia only two days later. Very solid plane… and beautiful too…
Impressive video showing 5 time World Aerobatic Champion Svetlana Kapanina throwing her Sukhoi around. You’ll see a lot of the famous aerobatic planes: the Su-26, Su-29 and Su-31. There is also some archive footage taken during the development of the Sukhoi 26 family of aircraft.
The Sukhoi Su-37 NATO codename Flanker-F is a Russian single-seat, all-weather, fighter and ground attack prototype aircraft, derived from the Su-27 Flanker. It featured new thrust vectoring engines that enabled the aircraft to perform crazy maneuvers such as the “Super Cobra” or the “Kulbit”. Check out these incredible maneuvers performed by the Sukhoi Su-37.
The Turkish Stars are the aerobatic demonstration team of the Turkish Air Force and the official national aerobatics team of Turkey. Jump in the cockpit of one of their supersonic Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighters for a ride along with the Turkish Stars.
For 12 years the Douglas A-4F Skyhawk was the chosen plane for the famous Blue Angels, the United States Navy’s Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron. Between December 1974 and November 1986 the Blue Angels performed their routines with elegance and precision. Here is an old Van Halen video featuring the Blue Angels.
On August 7, 1955, Boeing test pilot Alvin M. “Tex” Johnston rolled the Boeing 707 prototype, known as Dash-80, in a demonstration flight over Lake Washington.
The Thunderbirds are the Air Demonstration Squadron of the United States Air Force. They travel the world and perform no less than 88 air demonstrations each year. The Thunderbirds perform breathtaking aerobatics with their F-16 Fighting Falcons and they make this look easy. “Thunderbirds run em up!”
Old video of aerobatic teams performing at MAKS 2005, the Moscow Air Show. You can see teams like Red Arrows, the Russian Knights, The Swifts, Blue Angels, Frecce Tricolori, the Russ Squadron and Patrouille de France. Great action from these guys. Check it out.
You probably know who Jurgis Kairys is. He is the Lithuanian pilot flew his plane under a bridge while inverted. Here he is, taking off and pulling hard on the stick resulting in a maneuver similar to the one performed by the Sukhoi Su-27 jet: the Cobra.
