UPDATE: A significant flying program update was made on 28th of February.
The flying & speech programs for Airshows Downunder Shellharbour 2024 have been released!
For the 1st time, the air show organisers have released the speech program for the schools & careers day held on the 1st of March. This day is only open to registered students (minimum Year 9), teachers & career advisors including parents.
You can read the flying & speech programs by clicking here and currently, the flying programs are the same for both public event days so you will not miss anything at this stage if you only attend 1 public air show day.
Returning favourites returning include the F-35A Lightning II, Balbo, Simulated Airfield Attack, Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules (unlike last edition, this will be on the public airshow days between 1:43pm & 1:55pm), opening 11-minute Flag Drop at 10:30am, Connie as well as aerobatics from Matt Hall Racing & Paul Bennet Airshows throughout the day including The Sky Aces, flying between 2:06pm & 2:18pm. Matt Hall Racing will be bringing a new aerobatic pilot, Emma MacDonald, to fly the Extra 300L between 11:04am & 11:16am.
The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly jet will also feature for the 1st time since 2016, flying between 1:55pm & 2:06pm, while the CAC Sabre MK32 jet will also feature for the 1st time since 2021, flying between 1:32pm & 1:43pm.
The finale for both public event days is the F-35 Lightning II, beginning at 3:49pm and lasting the final 11 minutes of each public day’s flying program.
The Wall Of Fire, a new tradition in recent years that concludes the air show, however, has not appeared on the current flying program but will feature at the end of the F-35A Lightning II handling display that concludes the flying program as the grand finale once again of this Illawarra air show.
The Balbo is now the 3rd last act in the skies and will appear between 3:26pm & 3:37pm each day, with 1 less warbird than last year. A Vought F4U Corsair, CAC Boomerang & P-40 Kittyhawk will not be a part of this year’s Balbo with only the latter plane returning to the air show but this edition with 3 of them! The 3 P-40 Kittyhawks will appear between 1:21pm & 1:32pm. A Supermarine Spitfire XVI & North American P-51 will be new Balbo participants.
There will be a wide assortment of warbirds flying throughout the day with Connie flying between 2:18pm & 2:29pm. The Connie (Lockheed C-121C Super Constellation) at the airshow is a warbird variant even though most were built for commercial public passengers, so it is technically a warbird but painted as a ‘commercial bird’.
There are also 2 more special announcements to come to fill the final 3 flying program slots!
The speech program for the schools & careers day opens & closes with an address by the air show organisers, the Aerospace, Maritime & Defence Australia Foundation. Keynote speakers are the Australian Defence Force & Qantas Group, who will speak twice. There are also speeches by Shellharbour Airport & Paul Bennett Airshows. Speeches about getting ready for employment are made in the 30 minutes after 12pm by the University Of New South Wales & Workpath Learning. The first 45 minutes of speeches after the Opening Address will be focused on women in aviation with a very likely appearance by Emma MacDonald in the 1st half hour. All speeches will be made in the new Speakers Pavilion.
There is no confirmation yet of any official flypasts for the schools & careers day. Last edition, a Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules made a surprise appearance at 12pm on that day.
For those who registered for the 1st of March before 15th February 6pm, they were also invited to an online-only 2-hour Aerospace Student Industry Information Session via Zoom co-hosted by the Royal Aeronautical Society: Australian Division on the 15th of February at 6pm.
The above flying/speech programs shows what is/was scheduled as of 16th February 2024 at 4:06pm & is subject to change. When the event begins, weather, mechanical issues with the aircraft, pilot availability or military requirements may have amended the flying program in its final displayed form at the Airport. The weather forecast for the air show will be released by the Bureau of Meteorology between 23-25 February 2023.
Airshows Downunder Shellharbour, now held every 2 years, is on 1-3 March 2024 at Shellharbour Airport. Tickets can be bought here & merchandise can be bought via click & collect (at the event) here.
Sydney Spectaculars 