Aviaticka Pout 2024
Pardubice, 1-2 June 2024
Bad weather plagued much of Central and Western Europe in the first half of the 2024 airshow season. Aviaticka Pout in the Czech Republic was particularly badly affected, with severe stormfronts crossing the wider region in the days leading up to the show, leading to countless cancellations. How did the show cope?
Aviaticka Pout is held at the airfield of Pardubice, home of the Czech military pilot training facility CLV, which was celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2024. In the run-up to the event, it had become clear that something very special was brewing, with quite a few headliners announced, despite some stiff competition for participants in the United Kingdom during the same weekend, attracting some of the Czech show’s participants.
Heavy rain in parts of Germany led to the cancellation the cancellation of the star item, the Me-262, while a technical problem kept the planned Me-109 from Hangar 10 on the ground. The planned Flying Bulls participation from Austria also didn’t risk the trip over their Salzburg homebase due to severe weather. Even some Czech participants couldn’t make it to Pardubice due to inclement weather.
The organizers were left with a barebone programme and scrambled to get some last-minute replacements in and for the most part, they succeeded, even if it did show at certain points that they had envisaged parts of the show differently.
On Saturday, heavy rain kept visitors and aircraft safely inside until well after lunchtime, but after that, the programme proceeded without interruption. On Sunday, the morning weather was much more benign, but a thunderstorm cut short the flying display just after 4PM.
That flying display was scheduled from noon until just after 5PM. With the last-minute additions, the programme flowed quite nicely despite the numerous cancellations. The flying display focused on different parts of aviation, with a strong emphasis on re-enactment and historic aircraft as usual, with a few modern aerobatic and military acts thrown in, a nice mix to be sure.
The showground was almost identical compared to previous years, and transport to the airfield was also very similar, except the train service which was now no longer extended to the airfield itself, but rather dropped visitors off at the horse race track due to construction works.
Whilst it was clearly a difficult year for the organizers, they still managed to put on a nice show for the audience against all odds. If you are keen on aviation history, particularly Central-European aviation, this show is definitely well worth your attention!
