Aeroshow Cozumel is April 1 & 2

[cicopo]

For those of you who don't know there is an air show at the private airport near Chankanaab April 1 & 2. This has been free to attend & I suspect it still is but may be wrong. Either way I've decided to attend this year. It features several highly regarded aerobatic acts including Skip Stewart, Gary Ward & Jason Newburg. Because the airport is in the jungle you get to stand relatively close to the action which may deter some. You also have to walk in from the highway which is about a 1/2 mile walk in each direction.

 

[sharky60]

I've tried to find English info on this event, and have had trouble achieving that. Thanks

 

[Texas Torpedo]

Here's their FB page:
Aeroshow Cozumel | Facebook

 

[cicopo]

To date the FB page isn't showing the line up yet nor have they answered my question about the Friday practice session which I'm hoping is open to spectators / photographers. I have booked flights & a room at Hotel Coz so I can attend. The owner of Hotel Coz puts the air show on & the pilot meetings are there so I consider it as the base of operations. What info are you looking for?

 

[El Graduado]

I heard the Cozumel airshow will not happen in Cozumel this year. Maybe they will have it in Playa del Carmen?

 

[cicopo]

I sure hope you're wrong about that.

 

[El Graduado]

From the horse's mouth.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

It may be that is better. As a pilot myself I am well ware of the safety standards imposed on airshows around the world. In the past here in Cozumel there have been NO safety standards and I would not go again, indeed walked out when I first saw what was happening.

Dave

 

[Texas Torpedo]

@Dave Dillehay
You just said what I've been thinking about posting. While very entertaining, this event is a tragic accident waiting to happen.. Spectators and especially event personnel & media are WAY too close to the flight line / show center...

Skip Stewart is a great pilot but if he were to have a rudder cable snap while doing some of these low-over-the-runway psudeo knife-edges, he could end up in the crowd in a split second. On top of that, you have some fool hovering a giant scale R/C airplane just to the side of the runway, over a group of people.. (2:57 into the video) And by the looks of his "3-D" flying, he's not real good at it = he could have easily fallen out of the hover and end up directly in front of Stewart's biplane.

And then the really good stuff... Doing aerobatics directly over and behind the crowd.. What could go wrong??

Imagine if my pal Bryan (R.I.P. man) had been doing this over a crowd? He was more skilled than the majority of pilots that show up to the Cozumel airshow, and he still ended up going in..

In the U.S. (and most developed countries) spectators must be at least 500 feet back from the runway and aerobatics are never allowed to be performed over or behind them.

How many crashes @ the Coz airshow in the last 4 years? 2 with 3 fatalities? Both pilot error, I'm fairly certain...

[PASS]

 

[cicopo]

Thanks for the video links. Not sure but I think what you see as a 3D hover may in fact be a large camera drone, and it may be directly over the east taxi way onto the runway. I have attended the show & know the layout of the field & spectators aren't allowed in that area once the show gets under way. Last year a group called "Air Show Team" did the R/C side of things from what I saw in the photos Dean Wingard & a few others posted. I spend my summers on the flight line of a lot of R/C events in my area and grew up on air force bases / served in the air force reserve so know the risks but I always warn others what to expect.