July 25-26, 2009 - The second stop on the team's English two-fold was the Sunderland Airshow. This two-day event is one of the largest airshows in Europe. With its original setting on the coastline - with aircraft actually performing over the English Channel - this airshow makes a trip worthwhile. On the second day Mitch experienced some electrical problems during his demo which made him return to base immediately. Despite this little hick-up, the weekend was a nice temporary closing before the team hits the second leg of the season in late August starting at Rygge in Norway.

With a stop-over in Belgium during the national holiday, the team left for the United Kingdom once more. On Friday morning (July 24) the team - consisting of Sandro, Wim, Frank, X-tof and Maxime - left Melsbroek AB with an Embraer for the Sunderland airshow. Sunderland is the largest airshow with free entrance in Europe, we were told. When we arrived we were welcomed by Allan Simson from Samson Aviation. He would stay by our site the entire weekend.

Around 11am the two F-16s touched down with Mitch and Cash on board. After the necessary inspections, Mitch did his rehearsal in the afternoon. It was his first time to perform over open sea.

In the evening we had diner together in the hotel and had a drink as well. Everyone hit the sack early since we had to be on base the next morning at 8am to install our PR tent.

That morning it was splendid weather, ideal for an airshow. You notice it everywhere: a lot - and we mean really a lot - of people, nice atmosphere, fantastic displays and a lot of other things to do during the event.

Mitch performed flawlessly - as always - and after this magnificent day we went to an Indian restaurant with the entire team where we closed off the day in a nice atmosphere.

On Sunday the weather is less favorable. Some rain showers and low clouds are part of the deal. If that wasn't enough, Mitch also experienced some electrical problems during his display and must return to Newcastle airport prematurely. Fortunately he lands his aircraft safely. Safety before everything!

Sunday evening was a nice getting together with all the teams where we had a lot of fun. Monday morning the Embraer arrived with a repair team on board to fix #FA-134. A part of the team went home and the rest stayed until Wednesday to help out the repair team.

The team wants to thank Samson Aviation, New Castle airport and their fire crew and the Sunderland Airshow organisation for this fun weekend!

Thank you all and see you next year!!