Paris Air Show

Took a mid-week trip down to the Paris Air Show to take advantage of a free ticket I obtained. To be honest, I found it a little disappointed. Maybe this had to do with being there on a professional day instead of a public day, but nonetheless my expectations were for something different. For sure, it is the biggest aviation trade show, but most of the booths weren't all that interesting because they mainly consisted of a sign, a scale model and a rep. The static displays outside were only ok. Again, this is probably because the displays are chosen for commercial reasons more than public interest. Thus, the business jet section was comprehensive, but the commercial and military jet sections were a little thin. The biggest let down was the aerial displays. I had visions of seeing formation flying from teams from around the world. That wasn't the case. It was an afternoon of solo display, which are interesting, but certainly don't lend themselves well to photos. The only interesting ones were the A380 and the thrust-vectored MiG-29, which does things airplanes shouldn't do. Even the view wasn't good, buildings were in the way and the distance to the displays was too far even with the long lens. Just compare the pictures from Leeuwarden last year.


The rest of the pics are here.