Romanian International Air Show 2006

Extract from the » Hungarian version

The ROIAS was held this year - after a five year break - at Mihail Kogalniceanu Airport, near the Black Sea resort of Constanca.

On the static display one could see all the major types of the Romanian Air Force, however this time the old planes of the Buchuresti Museum were not relocated for the show. It was interesting to see the Serbian An-26 and the Croatian An-32 nearby each other, amongst the foreign visitors. Unfortunately the promised Israeli participation was cancelled on the last minutes due to the Lebanon War.

The Romanian AF started the flight display. Extremely dynamic displays were shown by an interceptor MiG-21 LanceR (piloted by Lt. Col. Cătălin Băhneanu) and a fighter-bomber one (Maj. Gheorge Stancu). Between them mass flypasts were performed by five Iak-52s; an An-26, five IAR-99s and five L-39s; five IAR-316 Alouette IIIs; eleven IAR-330 Pumas; and, finally nine MiG-21s.

The trainers present included Romanian IAR-99, IAR-109 prototype, Serbian G-2 and G-4 aircraft. There was only one helicopter display, by the Czech "Night Tiger" Mi-24. The Alenia C-27J performed some rolls, as usual.

The first foreign combat aircraft to display was a Serbian J-22, followed by the well-known Dutch F-16. Unfortunately the Hungarian MiG-29 couldn't have her much expected display due to a fault of the afterburner. Neither the Spanish EF-18 could fly on the first day, also because of some technical problems. The Swedish JAS-39 demo was less than impressive, unlike the French Mirage 2000.

The demo teams included the Swiss PC-7 team, the first foreign debut of the Croatian Wings of the Strom team (flying PC-9s), the Frecce Tricolori and the Turkish Stars.