Aerobatic teams brings colour to the House of Paint airshow:

Brad Bennetts as part of the Mazda ZOOM Zooms	All the top civilian teams attended and as the aerobatic teams feature some colourful trim they complimented the colourful livery of the House of Paint. This was especially the case on the Sunday with the brilliant blue sky.  The Mazda ZOOM Zoom twin ship formation team of Brad Bennets and Ian Billing displayed their colourful aircraft to the delight of the crowd. Their extra ordinary way to form the “heart” instils instant applause from the crowds wherever they display. Also attending was the Flying Lions Aerobatic Team as a four ship in their Harvards. The colour scheme for 2008 is certainly the most colourful yet and looked spectacular even against the greyscale sky on the Saturday. For the Saturday evening Scully Levin described the technical aspects of their evening show. Against a very late dusk the four ship team streamed thick smoke. In order to enhance the visual impact, their three engineers added incandescent lights to the Harvards. These lights face backwards and by lighting up the trailing smoke it enhances the eerie atmosphere. To add to the effect the aircraft’s landing lights remain switched on with the occasional growl of the Pratt & Whitney engines complimenting the display. Most team members also feature in the Gabriel Wings Aerobatic display team and displayed a three ship routine in their Pitts Specials. Very popular with the crowd is the Wesbank Aerobatic twin ship Pitts Special team. Following the 2007 event at the Durban Airshow, which saw a 3rd aircraft introduced - the use of the third aircraft was also continued this year. However the three ship routine is a tightly integrated show expanded upon from the 2007 display following the favourable feedback from the spectators. Glen Warden designed the sequence and this was presented at the 2008 Al Ein show to a standing ovation from the capacity crowd.
Wesbank Aerobatics Pitts Specials
Warren Haslam - RippIT

The success of the show is based on the twin ship Pitts Specials performing a dual routine which is alternated with visually spectacular routines of a single ship Exta 300L flown by Nigel Hopkins.  Currently the Extra 300L is regarded as the best available aircraft for advanced aerobatics and Nigel Hobkins exploit every inch of this envelope. This was one of the best received displays with the “heart” and “cupid arrow” winning instant crowd popularity. Not that there is anything wrong with the Zlin 50 aerobatic aircraft but their numbers on the SA airshow scene have diminished to a singular example of Warren Haslam in the RippIT sponsored Zlin 50. A number of Yak aircraft are on the South African register and their proud owners have come up with some very colourful colour schemes. There is not a single example which features a rather dull colour scheme. 

In recent months the Yak owners took to the sky for a mass South African Yak formation. This has culminated in a formation flypast sequence which is presented at the major airshows. And especially on the Sunday the Yaks were a canvas of bright and very diverse colours in the sky. The Snakes microlight team also attended in their colourful microlights. Following Kimberley  airshow from the previous weekend the Silver Falcons attended with some incredible routines. The team has introduced a number of changes to their sequence this year of which the spiral climb to height won instant crowd affection. The Silver Falcons closed the weekend airshow activities on the Sunday late afternoon.

Silver Falcons - Team 66