LABUAN – Prior to the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) 59th-anniversary celebration with the theme “Air Force Power is The Pillar of National Sovereignty” on 1st June, 80 media practitioners from the Peninsular of Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak were invited to witness a special air show near RMAF Labuan Air Base here recently.
The Chief of RMAF, General Datuk Seri Affendi Buang and a couple of high ranked Air Force Officers were on board the RMAF Aircraft A400M together with 40 media people from various news agencies in Kuala Lumpur.
The journey took about two hours and 40 minutes from Subang RMAF Air Base to Labuan Air Base. The RMAF pilot flew the airbus smoothly in a clear and sunny weather. We thanked him for the safe and comfortable flight all the way.
At the Labuan Air Base, the media were briefed by a RMAF officer about the visit schedule and after having light refreshment, the media were taken to a 30 minutes special air show near the air base.
The air show was awesome when Hornet crew flew all the way from RMAF Base in Butterworth. Everybody was excited to see F/A-18D Hornets passed by. They were from 18 Squadron. They showed their strike demonstration at 250 feet.
It is a twin-engine supersonic all-weather multirole combat jet designed as a fighter to attack aircraft. The F/A -18D have a top speed of 1,915km/h at 40,000 feet. It can carry a variety of bombs and missiles, including air to air and air to ground.
Meanwhile, three Hawks aircrafts from No.6 Squadron flew in a tactical and implemented close air supply mission or CAS. They performed a spectacular and daring ground strike maneuver.
A military helicopter EC 725 demonstrated how it dropped six soldiers from Air Force Special Air Service (PASKAU) using the Fast Roping technique. Fast Roping dropped soldiers in a high risked enemy area. This team will show the route and act as Ground Forward Air Controller.
The air show was amazing as the RMAF pilots and soldiers were highly trained and everything went well according to the plan and schedule.
However, some media practitioners felt that the air show was too short a time as they wanted more for their camera recording and news coverage. In respond to that, Datuk Seri Affendi said happily: “If you feel the air show was short that means the RMAF pilots and soldiers had done a good job and spectators want to see more and more and that is quite normal.”
The media had also an opportunity to watch closely some of the military assets in a static exhibition held within the premises of the Labuan Air Base.
Before they leave for Kuala Lumpur in the afternoon, they were brought to free import duty shops immediately after they had lunch at a famous restaurant in the city. –Malaysia World News
