Degumnieki Aviation Festival 2013 – Review

The annual Aviation Festival at Degumnieki airfield gathered aviation enthusiasts, pilots and aircraft from all around Latvia. This is already the second year such event takes place in Degumnieki and now with much more to show – there were 8 participating aircraft in total, not counting paragliders, hot air balloon and model aircraft.

Three Vivat motorgliders and the 4-seater Gawron aircraft arrived already in the previous evening. The first morning guests in the Festival day were a motorized trike from the nearby town and Bell helicopter of Latvian Border Guard. These two aircraft were on static display while all the Vivats and Gawron did some nice demonstration flights before the noon. And after a while guests from Ādaži airfield with Cessna 172 joined the show.

General public likes all kinds and sizes of aircraft. This was confirmed by public’s interest to radio controlled model aircraft performance demonstrations – starting from a loud RC helicopter aerobatics to a silent soaring of a light glider model.

Unfortunately the wind was too strong for paraglider and balloon flights; however they still gathered people’s interest on a static display.

The highlight of the event was the Agusta helicopter of Latvian Border Guard, which made a low-pass over the airfield on it’s way from Ventspils to Ludza.

Many thanks to the municipality of Ošupe District and aviation enthusiasts who organized this event and hoping to see even more enthusiasts in Degumnieki next year!