Dear CADman
I fly with the Aerostars and we were at Cosford yesterday. We were lucky enough to be airborne at the same time as the Vulcan and to see it in the background as I looked through our formation was fantastic. Not quite as special as on the Sunday at Farnborough 08 when we were outbound to the hold as the Vulcan was inbound from the hold running in to display. On that day it ran down our right hand side about 500 – 700 yards distant and it was an amazing sight.
CADman, you’ve suggested that cost is the reason why the Yak teams appear so frequently. I can only hope that the real reason why Yak formation teams appear frequently is that we are entertaining and that the crowd response encourages airshow directors to invite us to display. I hope it is also of interest that we can demonstrate a level of big and close formation piston aerobatics of the kind otherwise only flown by jet team, most of which are national teams.
As to whether we fly for free, were you to invite us to quote for a display you would find out that do not do that, unless we are supporting a charitable cause such as the Children in Need airshow at Little Gransden or The Shuttleworth Trust.
I know for a fact that the other well known team, the Yakovlevs, likewise operate on a commercial basis.
Undoubtedly we do fly because it is fun. We do all own our own aircraft – in fact that is a major pre-requisite for team-membership! But if we offered our displays for fuel only, that would be to the detriment of other airshow display items and the airshow industry generally, and that is not in the best interests of anyone. And it would not be in our own best commercial interests either!
I hope I have allayed your concerns but do feel free to contact me directly or via our website, http://www.aerostars.co.uk
We always welcome feedback, positive and negative, and would be delighted to hear from you or anyone else.
Best regards
Mark Rijkse
Aerostar 5
PS: spadegrip: We actually fly six Yak 50’s – the single seater tailwheel aerobatic competition aeroplane from the 1970’s. The Yak 52 is the nosewheel 2 seat version, which weighs considerably more. In fact if you fly a 52 after flying a 50, you wonder where all the power has gone as you start your take off roll…! The Aerostars used to fly Yak 52’s in the 1990’s but converted to Yak 50’s, which maintain energy more than the 52’s, allowing us to fly longer full formation aerobatic sequences before running our of height and energy….
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