India - Republic Day rehersals 2016

[Borispole]

Hi

The rehersals for the annual Republic Day (26th Jan) flypast started today 19th Jan and in typical Delhi fashion it was affected by the fog.

Being the first day it would appear that just the lead aircraft of each of the formations took part with one Mi-17 at 1045L followed a few minutes later by one Dhruv. Sadly there was no sign of any Mi-35 but that may have been the fault of the fog.

Around an hour later there were at least 2 C130s that I could make out with possibly a 3rd hiding in the fog and then a C17. This was followed by 3 either single or formations of fast jets approx 90 secs apart but sadly all were in the fog and were unseen - from past experience I suspect these to have been Jaguar, MiG29 and Su30.

The around another 30 mins later at approx 1215 there was what I think was one Su30 (heard only) followed a few mins later by 2 x Su30 which I saw briefly.

The only aircraft I was able to photograph were the Mi17 and Dhruv plus the 2 C130s. The camera refused to focus and shoot on the C17 and of course I didnt see most of the rest due to the fog. The really frustrating thing is the last 3 Su30s that went by after I left and I only saw them from the car as I was stuck in traffic. They would have been very poor photos but at least I may have had a chance to identifying the serials. Delhi rarely fails to frustrate!

Anyway, for what its worth here are the aircraft confirmed from today 19th Jan:

ZP5213 Mi17 carrying the Indian flag
IA-1124 Dhruv, Army titles and the plain sand cols
KC3801 and I think KC3805 C130Js

Some terrible photos are at this link where you might see the horrible fog I'm talking about:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/4drlkora9wqc ... iqVya?dl=0


Am hoping for better weather tomorow! As with all things Indian and military in India there is very little if any advance info of anything happening aircraft-wise but if the pattern continues like in recent years then there should be practice flypasts every day from now til the main event on 26th with the exception of 25th.

Sadly after 20th I wont be able to report on them as I am scheduled to leave Delhi. Is anyone else in town at the moment to photograph the flypasts?

Hope thats of interest

[Borispole]

The rehersal for Weds 20 Jan was a bit better than the previous day with a slight improvement in the fog which meant that the Fighter aircraft were visible.

There were still much less aircraft than would be expected on the main day, I expect as each day goes by then additional aircraft will be added. Sadly this was my last day in Delhi during this period and I wont be able to add any more logs for this event.

The format on 20th was fairly similar to the previous day. The helicopters at the start were earler than on 19th and they were recovering by the time I arrived at 1030 with only Mi17 ZP5213 seen.

The main flypast started an hour later with the following noted:

formation 3 x C130J: KC3801, KC3804, KC3806
formation 1x C17 with an Su30 by each wingtip: only SB340 identified as the other one went directly overhead me
formation 3x Su30: SB025, SB124, SB126
1x Su30: not identified, too high and only the shape seen in fog
1x Su30: SB134

And that was it. Disappointing that there was no Jaguar or MiG29 formations this year and of course the ever-present fog at this time of year nearly always makes a difference.