LIMA Langkawi 2023 | Airshow Dispatches S06E02

The Langkawi International Maritime & Aerospace Exhibition returned for the first time since 2019, hosting five national aerobatic teams: August 1st, Al Fursan, the Jupiter Aerobatic Team, the Russian Knights and the Black Eagles.
The Royal Malaysian Air Force provided their ever-popular F/A-18D Hornet and Su-30MKM solo displays, but the star of the show was their 'Opening Gambit' performance, featuring over 30 jets, helicopters and transports in a tightly-choreographed eight minute performance.

[@ThisisFlight]

It's been a mammoth effort to get this video out on the same day the show ended, with some tricky decisions about how to include the Russian Knights. Ultimately I decided you're probably here to see the airshow, not for a moral argument, so as usual I have covered every act and you can choose which bits to watch. I hope you enjoy the show; if you did, then you'll also like the previous episode, featuring the Black Eagles, F-22, F-35 and F/A-18F: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWSqmYGXp8d0nrM

[@mariahnawi3683]

Your effort is very much appreciated. As some of us were not able to attend the event, this video with such narration is the best indeed.

[@adyshamil5445]

Thank you

[@AndiSadeedSaid]

1:30 Opening Gambit 6:20 August 1st 11:20 Al-Fursan 17:50 Helicopter Tactical Display 21:10 RMAF F/A-18D Hornet 24:40 RMAF Su 30-MKM 30:50 Jupiter Aerobatic Team 34:10 Russian Knights 42:20 Black Eagles 47:50 Friendship Flight

[@tengkuhairrytghasni2543]

Pilot 🇲🇾👍

[@sehijauwarnadaun5859]

THE BEST IN THE WORLD I HAVE EVER SEEN. Congratulation MALAYSIA..nice country. Salam from CANADA klate😊

[@zulkifliibrahim4834]

Tomorrow 1st June 2023, the Royal Malaysian Air Force will be celebrating their 65th Anniversary. Happy birthday Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia (TUDM) or RMAF as it’s acronym in English is known as.

[@adamsuksesunggul7788]

Bagaimana kabar terbaru Smokey Bandits pakcik...?...salam dari Indonesia😁

[@mahiranabdrauf7077]

😊

[@Zane17198]

Congratulations

[@zulkifliibrahim4834]

@@adamsuksesunggul7788 Waalaikumussalam warahmatullah. Jet-jet MIG tidak diterbangkan atas faktor airframe telah melewati lifespan. Ini bermakna Smokey Bandits pun tidak aktif lagi. Tapi, jet-jet ni masih elok dalam simpanan dan dipamerkan statik di Sambutan Hari Ulang Tahun Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia di Pengkalan Udara Kuantan tahun lepas.

[@zulkifliibrahim4834]

@@Zane17198 Thank you

[@Carbossa77]

Love the RMAF F/A-18 “Pikachu” colour ❤

[@benjibyte8612]

Wow great video great narations did not realise the 50 minute fly

[@Nicky_Nacky_Nooo]

Brilliant video, loads of information and great narrating. Being British, I always love watching the Red Arrows but lately they've always been missing 1 or 2 planes and its never as exciting watching without all 9. It's great to see how the Black Eagles can still manage a very nice looking display with 8 when the Reds cant.

[@Olive_Chap]

Now that's what you call the air show 😎

[@peachfreude]

Thanks for uploading. Its so fascinating to see this show. Your commentary is so helpful for my enjoyment tbh.

[@Anthony_Fogarty_Aviation]

Another brilliant presentation, fantastic stuff!

[@jamiljaafar4170]

Truly a detailed, well-informative video guys! Good camera work too, kudos to the videographers! As a native Langkawi, I recall watching LIMA as far back as 1995 edition when I was a kid. Missed the ‘11, ‘13, and ‘15 editions though. 2017 was my first time photographing the show, carried on with 2019 but I got to say I had a blast photographing 2023 edition. Weather was perfect (with exception on fourth day), clear skies and crisp clouds. I’m not sure GB1 Gamebird show was not filmed or not intended to be part of this video 😅. Once again, superb work from the team!

[@ThisisFlight]

Thank you for the kind comment! We love LIMA and I really hope to return in 2025. As for the Gamebird, it was a little bit of both!

[@Deku69420]

Nice air show great acrobatics! I have been part of many air shows!

[@lhw.iAviation]

Awesome video!! Can't believe I wasn't there on Sunday when the weather is actually good. You got some pretty amazing and talented cameraman.

[@ThisisFlight]

Thank you! I will pass on your kind comment to Nigel who was our cameraman for this show. It's over to me to film the next few episodes so I'll try and keep up the standard! It's a shame about the variable weather conditions, but when the sun came out, it was stunning. - Adam

[@cejannuzi]

For the most part, the Russian Knights stole the show. The most advanced planes on display.

[@skylarbizzle1705]

It's the final airshow for the pilot who did the solo airshow for Su-30 mkm. He is going to retire soon.

[@pickyjackal7283]

What a legend

[@meertenwelleman4600]

Another excellent report. Thank you.

[@chandimabodhinath1779]

A brilliant and well-informative professional presentation. I have never seen a video presentation like this before. Thoroughly enjoyed watching this. Thanks and greetings from Sri Lanka.

[@PaulStewartAviation]

Great video, thank you!!

[@ThisisFlight]

Thanks for watching Paul!

[@FMJJSpecialTV]

Great love this 🔥❤️

[@marcoroiati4642]

su 30 is shocking

[@akyf90]

Great video 🎉

[@cosiDIVerso]

5:43 Russian and American (originarly) jets together in formation, how cool is that!

[@hubertthong7405]

I was there. NICE !!!!

[@amirzuhierinmalaysia3977]

❤❤❤

[@alfincassimirorodrigues3787]

VALEU PELA POSTAGEM.

[@meertenwelleman4600]

The non-European teams bring a new elan to the airshow world! Great!

[@orlandoclark8062]

Awesome show

[@SOCALAVIATION2K]

Awsome job as always man!

[@twize4916]

Al Fursan drunked jet flying was a pleasant sight

[@orlandoclark8062]

Nice footage.

[@Jaguar10My]

Haha.. I like when the speaker comment about Russia flights.

[@jeffconway4410]

Great stuff

[@tanzidane]

Fantastic

[@kultursender6507]

Very, very nice!

[@Aviatorspot]

Oh, are there anymore RMAF display next year

[@ThisisFlight]

The next airshow in Malaysia is in 2025. However, the RMAF might put in an appearance at airshows in other countries before then.

[@jeffwen9469]

一场视觉盛宴。太向往了。

[@ginanjareko8259]

Jupiter Indonesia 🇮🇩

[@jowowi2354]

Pesawat tua jadul awokoko

[@akbarfebrian5017]

Ytta

[@cerminandirimu4547]

​@@jowowi2354 gak penting tua kamekaze aja jepang pesawat tua tapi bisa buat hawai tertekan

[@user-xj1uy4xw1t]

Itu tahun 1945 ,sekarang 2023 😂😂😂

[@ginanjareko8259]

@@jowowi2354semakin tua pesawat semakin estetik,, tapi yg utama skill bro,,

[@Aviatorspot]

Awesome Lima airshow video. So there were several cameraman filming at different locations.🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@ThisisFlight]

Just one, who's good at moving about!

[@Aviatorspot]

@@ThisisFlight Ohh, OIC. So you have to get different places on different days?

[@ThisisFlight]

Yes indeed. Our camera operator was there for nine days and filmed from five different locations.

[@Aviatorspot]

@@ThisisFlight Great work.

[@irvannursick10yago50]

Indonesian said this from HUT RI 🤣🤣 IN TIKTOK and INSTAGRAM

[@ardin1234]

Gaga btul jet Rusia ini s u 57 canggi btul

[@tonyhowell2442]

nice

[@ahmedjapon4512]

nice vol avion arienne

[@nuriansaraansara1163]

👍👍

[@user-fp5ei7cc5s]

Airshow so liked far and wide And Brazil airshow we have several all yr the round but Not alike Black Eagles .

[@paulthiel5145]

So what did the Chinese team bring with them as support plane(s)?

[@komalasari-wl6ml]

👍👍👍👍👍❄👍🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️👍👍👍👍❄❄🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🛬🛬🛬🛬🛬🛬🛬👍👍👍👍👍🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈💋💋🛩🛩🛩🛩🛩🛩🛩🛩🛩🛩👍👍👍❄👍👍🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈👍👍👍👍👍👍👍💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟☀☀☀☀❄❄❄❄🖐🖐🖐🖐🖐🖐🖐🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🚁🚁🚁🚁

[@raygan777able]

Was hoping that the Y20 will be there

[@medulaoblongata2274]

Y20 is small than globemaster..

[@commie5211]

@@medulaoblongata2274 they are literally the same size. Y20 has slightly larger internal volume, C17 slightly largest loading capacity.

[@cosiDIVerso]

3:09 The hen with her chicks lol

[@nelitasciretta7101]

So how many countries are represented here, and where does each team come from? Amazing air show..

[@ThisisFlight]

Six countries are represented in the flying display in total. The nationality of every team is mentioned in commentary and their national flag is shown on screen at the start of every display.

[@nelitasciretta7101]

​@@ThisisFlight thank you, I love to watch air shows, it always amazes me the things these pilots can do with their aircraft!

[@user-mr2yk1sp9g]

/16.12.23/❤❤❤

[@loviemarcella824]

Is the pilot in auto pilot mode when they doing the formation?

[@ThisisFlight]

No. Autopilot cannot do aerobatics, nor can it detect other aircraft.

[@kairatdz]

Когда же Российские пилотажные группы будут летать с дымами?

[@fritzkrakaz]

Those South Korean formation...

[@dickyfery]

Basi

[@sfs_launcher]

34:16

[@cesarotoya6414]

12

[@yusriyusri7141]

Yu kat tu besi tapi bolih terabang kerana orang tahu faham mf

[@PasleyAviationPhotography]

Im surprised russia has any aircraft/pilots left

[@ThisisFlight]

A genuine surprise to see them at the show, and as I say in the video, their participation was as chaotic and unpredictable as you'd probably expect.

[@scheldon2244]

Yeah. And here I would think in this kind of situation they’d deactivate the demo team and shift those pilots over to combat status.

[@ThisisFlight]

@@scheldon2244 Interestingly, the opposite has happened. The Russian Knights has always been a 'phantom unit' that does not exist most of the time - it is crewed by full time front-line pilots and staff. When there is an airshow, the crew leave their squadrons to fly for the Russian Knights for as long as it takes to train for, and fly at, the airshow. Afterwards, they return to their full-time jobs. There are no airshows in Russia at the moment, so this whole display was staged purely for an international audience, presumably to try and present a false narrative that life goes on as normal. I explain more at 36:05 and 40:15.

[@PasleyAviationPhotography]

​@@ThisisFlight I got to this part of the video after my comment. Thank you for the explanation!

[@k.k.c8670]

I read that these j10Cs have the more powerful ws10b engines just like the normal j10Cs in the PLAAF

[@stefasaki97]

Since my comment was apparently deleted, I will rephrase it hoping it won’t be taken down again. In the video you state that being big and heavy makes the flanker slow in roll rate and sustained turns, which is however factually incorrect. Let’s start with big: this has no influence whatsoever, what matters in a turn is the wing loading and the flanker has it quite low (less than an F-16C), and being big is just marginally detrimental to roll rate as it’s always FBW limited in modern aircraft, including the flanker. Now let’s talk about heavy, while it’s true that weight has a huge impact on sustained turns (lift induced drag goes up as the square of the weight), you have to take into account the wing area again which is plenty, as a result the flanker has a low wing loading. For roll rate being heavy only influences its onset and not the maximum value. Now, about the performance of the flankers themselves, we know for a fact that they are not bad at sustained turns, as they repeatedly performed a 360 degrees level turn (which is not exactly a measure of sustained turn rate, but it’s related to it strongly) in 12/13 seconds during airshows in the nineties with the su-27PD, and then it used to be the second to last maneuver before landing, so they were pretty light. The su-35 usually doesn’t do max performance 360 turns and when they did, they performed it at the beginning of the demo, with times in the range of 16-18 seconds, which is not bad anyway when you consider that the best 360 times we have observed at airshows for other aircraft are either the same or larger. To give some examples, the F-16C, which is considered as the king of sustained turn, needs 16 seconds. The best recorder time for a eurofighter is also about 16/17 seconds, the raptor, contrary to common knowledge, isn’t the best at sustained turns at low level (it’s very good at high altitude though) and it’s never been clocked in less than 18 seconds to complete a 360. The F-35 does it in 20/22 seconds for comparison and the su-57 did it in 15 seconds at MAKS-2021.

[@ThisisFlight]

Nothing was deleted (at least, not by me) - this is the first time I have seen your comment, which is very interesting. And a very good point about wing loading, which I will make sure to take into account in future. I would like to correct you on one thing: you say that I claimed the Su-35 was "slow in sustained turns". That's not what I said at all - I said that their weight "carries a penalty", meaning that turn rate is not as good as it might otherwise be. That is not the same as saying it is poor compared to other fighters. Time taken for a 360-deg turn is indeed one of the factors I consider while writing these scripts (check previous ep from Avalon where I talk about it quite a lot) - their performance in my experience has always been roughly equal to a typical western fighter, clocking in at about 20 seconds. And yes, F-16 and Rafale the fastest of the western bunch, in the high teens. This was backed up by an exercise analysis I came across while researching this video, in which RMAF Su-30s and USN Legacy Hornets were pitted against each other and crews from both sides stated that the Hornets consistently outturned the Su-30s. I assume that weight is a large factor in this, because the Su-30/35's thrust to weight ratio is not particularly good compared to, say, an F-16 (about 15% less, depending on configuration) - thus limiting max load factor and therefore the turn rate if the pilot wishes to turn and maintain energy. The Su-30/35's method of TVC is also not particularly helpful in this regard, because the nozzles pivot on opposing y-axes. This means that, while TVC does substantially increase the rate of a turn, the engines are pushing against each other and causing substantial energy loss. Great for instantanious turn rate, not so good for sustained turn rate (which requires constant airspeed - and is not neccesarily what we see demonstrated at airshows). Regarding roll rate, the Su-30/35 is just about the slowest rolling fighter we have ever recorded and the large wing and weight surely play a part in that - there is more inertia to overcome due to weight and more aerodynamic drag during the roll due to size. I shall link shortly to our reference material (which, by the way, does not include the first and last 90 degrees of the roll, thus not even taking into account the slow roll starts and stops). I appreciate there are lots of vague assertions there so I will find and post the source material in a separate comment.

[@ThisisFlight]

Here is the source material I described earlier. As there's so little available info/evidence for the Su-35, I mostly used Su-30MK variants for comparison as they ought to be similar enough for the general trends to stand up. 1. Sustained roll rate (figures from a triple aileron roll, excluding first and last 90 degrees, in all cases). All figures are best-case-scenario from our own footage. Taken from a video series comparing various fighters which I decided not to release, because there are too many unknowns and variables and it would just provoke arguments. The aircraft in grey at the bottom are ones I never got around to making the video for as I cancelled the project before completion, but all came out slower than the Su-30, except the Su-27. thisisflight.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Screenshot-118.png 2. Sustained turn rate. I can't find the original report I used right now for the Su-30MKM/F/A-18C exercise, but I can find a good video documenting the same exercise and arrives at the same conclusion (start at 09:00): kzbin.info/www/bejne/qIG6qmCdjtOEga8. At Red Flag 2008, Raptors went up against Su-30MKIs and there, too, it was found that the Su-30's sustained turn rate was not very impressive, substantially lower than the Raptor's. The original pilot reports from that exercise included classified material and were taken down (you can find lots of dead links about it on Aviation Week and Flightglobal) but there's still some discussion about the article on various forums which is fun to read - have fun searching! It's such a complex topic that I'm more than prepared to accept I may have made some factual mistakes, but on all the evidence I've found thus far, the Su-30/35 family's sustained turn performance is quite unremarkable. Thanks again for your interesting comment!

[@stefasaki97]

⁠@@ThisisFlight oh yes I am very familiar with that hornet vs su-30 video, which I wouldn’t take as a source anyway, given that too many factors come into play. Note that the hornet pilot hints at the fact the su-30 has an advantage anyway, which is what we expect, that is however counteracted by the experience deficit of the Malaysian pilots (the hornet pilot was actually training them if I remember correctly), so it appears obvious that the hornet would win the fight even against a better jet (he states that he lost a few times anyway). Regarding red flags reports, I always take them with a grain of salt, especially if the news is from generals (politics) or even worse if it’s just a forum discussion. I usually restrain from looking too much into forums, and that’s because I’m an aerodynamicist by profession and I often have to read stuff that simply irritates me. First of all I’d recommend you to look at a video of a flanker demo from the nineties to actually see a 360 turn in 12/13 seconds, people usually don’t believe until they see it. The su-35 is substantially heavier than a su-27pd but it should be able to clock the same time at the same fuel level, as its better T/W makes up for it (it’s not 15% less than the viper btw, where did you get that impression?). The best 360 turn from a su-35 was at le bourget 2013 i believe, clocked in at about 16/17 seconds, but that was early in the demo so it should have been able to do that in 13/14 seconds at the end of it. Then at MAKS 2021 (or 2019, can’t remember) I clocked a su-30sm performing it in 17 seconds. The point is that as an aerodynamicist I cannot think of a reason why the flanker shouldn’t be a good platform for sustained turns. Another point is that there seems to be a large variance in their 360 time performance, it’s never consistent. And that’s because those are never really sustained turns. By the way the page of the su-27 sk manual about sustained turns is publicly available and it shows a peak at 21 deg/s at 19xxx kg if I remember correctly, which is about 1.5 deg/s less than a light viper (its manual is also publicly available, in its entirety), however the flanker is capable of completing a 360 turn without losing too much speed at an average of 25 deg/s, and that’s what is sometimes seen at airshows, while the viper maxes out at 24.x, as its best sustained turn is at higher speed compared to the others so it immediately hits max-g if it pulls more. About roll rate, yes flankers are slower but that’s a design choice, as it’s limited by its FBW (it’s aerodynamically capable of doing more) and again that’s true for just about every modern fighter, we could argue on way they put the limit so low. Russian designers probably thought that that made it easier to fly, and I think that because they did other tweaks for the same purpose, such as introducing a time delay between a stick input and control surface deflection. I base my observations on videos and manuals, then summing up using my personal expertise. Reading comments and opinions from pilots is usually the wrong way to get to the truth, I do make exceptions for test pilots though. Common military pilots just love their aircraft and are simply not objective. I’ll come back with a few video links if you like. Here’s the su-27 at ILA 1996, watch at about 4min, 20 seconds: kzbin.info/www/bejne/anOTYZiJqrGkZrM Here’s the su-30, this is at very low speed: kzbin.infoSvSmu48gk8o?feature=share Here’s the su-35(look at 3 min 55sec): kzbin.info/www/bejne/eHyblJpnnNp5d9k Here’s the su-57 for reference (5min 29sec): kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKa6iaFmp5iUbMU Notable mention: an su-35 performing a 180 turn in 5/6 seconds, personally I’ve never seen any aircraft do better, it’s not sustained at all but it’s impressive nonetheless (Time stamp is 2min 15 sec) kzbin.info/www/bejne/a6e3hp6Cp92DnNk

[@stefasaki97]

Reading again your comment I’d have to add another piece of answer that I missed: the part about TVC. Thrust vectoring Nozzles are locked at zero position during sustained turns, so that’s a non-factor. Moreover even if they moved simple trigonometry would tell you that very little thrust would be lost. In some particular high speed maneuvers it is still useful to have TVC as it actually reduces trim drag and improves Specific Excess Power. Thrust loss is again minimal and a non-factor. I would recommend to ask for an expert opinion by someone with an aeronautical engineering background for your future reports as it shows that some technicalities such as these are missing here and there. I am actually available to help if necessary! I’d also love to hear what you think about my previous reply, and I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have about it, that was a lot of info to condense in a single comment!

[@ThisisFlight]

My apologies Stefano, I am just in the middle of a very busy period of shows (3 shows in 3 countries in 2 weeks) so I haven't had time to digest all your info or follow up all the links yet. When I get a moment after this madly busy few weeks, I will be taking a proper look. But I can very briefly summarise my two main thoughts as follows: Firstly, it is clear that you are the expert and I am not! So I defer entirely to everything you have said. I think I've run out of things to add on this subject other than to fess up and admit I made an error with that sentence. And secondly, yes, I'd love to take you up on that offer at the end of your second reply for reports from airshows with a lot of modern military hardware. To be honest most of the shows I cover only have one or two modern jets, so there's no need for me to try and discuss aerodynamics. But we do have one coming up later this year (Radom) with a lot of jets and it would be nice to compare them - so I'd appreciate it if you were willing to look through that script and check it for any obvious mistakes. Do drop me an email to [e-mail] and we'll talk again in a few weeks when I'm back home.

[@roses2155]

"SU-30... is so much more visually impressive (than the F-22)" LOL Because that's what makes a fighter plane deadly... The only time a SU-30 will know an F-22 is nearby will be when they get shot down.

[@ThisisFlight]

A very selective quote - the previous sentence remarks that the F-22's version is probably superior in combat. But this is an airshow - we're here to be entertained.

[@mohdamirbinsaaban6833]

we are here just for enjoy the show....

[@lainawilliams6607]

6:20 11:20 30:50 34:10 42:20

[@kepler7453]

Cant we just enjoy the airshow and not get into politics?

[@ThisisFlight]

Isn't that exactly what we did? I don't believe there's a single political statement in the entire narration.