MET ÉIREANN may have had to apologise for not predicting rain last week but it couldn’t have been expected to forecast the sand storm that struck Bray yesterday afternoon.
In fairness to the weather forecaster the event was not a meteorological phenomenon but the fallout from the annual Bray Air Spectacular, now in its sixth year, which yesterday attracted a record-breaking 80,000 spectators to the beaches and headlands around Bray Head in Co Wicklow.
The sand storm was kicked off by an unusual hitchhiker in the form of Sgt Louis Linnane, who was picked up from Bray beach by winchman Capt David Hennessy who dangled precariously below an Air Corps AW139 helicopter piloted by Capt Mick Liddy.
Although most front-row spectators were taken aback by the ensuing “sand tornado”, as it was aptly described by Lany Reilly, it did not take away from the good-natured air event which forms the most famous part of the annual Bray summerfest.
Sand-blasted Bray native Breda Murphy said the sand had merely “added to the excitement” of the air show.
“The whole summerfest has been fantastic but this is the highlight.”
The Black Knights of the Irish Air Corps opened and closed the day’s events, parachuting out of the sky and spiralling downwards from 4,500 feet above sea level before landing with grace and precision on the beach to the delight of those below.
Children shrieked appreciatively as a home-built two-seater sports plane, nicknamed the “flying cow” due to its black and white Friesian colours, fittingly flown by organic beef farmer Gerry Humphreys, dived, spun and twisted upside down.
Five-time Irish aerobatic champion Eddie Goggins executed gyroscopic manoeuvres including flat spins and knife-edge rolls that left the crowd open-mouthed.
But how did it feel for the “flying dentist” who has a practice in Cabinteely, south Dublin?
“I enjoy it immensely,” he said, telling how he watched a similar display when he was eight which drove his passion for his part-time career and obsession.
“It’s a lot of preparation, a lot of work . . . there are just 10 or 20 displays in Ireland each year, but Bray is the biggest so you put in extra preparation and practice for it.”
The Irish Air Corps put on a four-plane formation of Pilatus PC-9M planes in a display so well choreographed you would be forgiven for thinking the aircraft were linked together.
Yet this was just one of the synchronised feats of the day – the UK-based RV8Tors stunned the crowd with their death-defying display, criss-crossing overhead in a demonstration that at times felt almost too close for comfort.
“They’re going to crash,” one little girl screeched.
“No they’re not,” her friend retorted dismissively in a voice filled with expertise beyond her years. “The pilots are experts.”
The second last event of the day came in the form of The Blades, a UK group whose close formation precision displays – flipping, diving, rolling, criss-crossing through each other’s air streams before corkscrewing down out of the skies – left the crowds agog.
Display director Sé Pardy credited them as “the Robbie Williams or Rolling Stones” of their trade.