The three aerobatic performances and a joint show of the Red Bull Air Race world champion Martin Sonka with Gripen fighter pilot Ivo Kardos were a part of the Days of NATO and the Czech Air Force weekend event in Mosnov that attracted as many as 125,000 people yesterday.
A strong attendance can also be expected on Sunday, given the sunny weather, Jaromir Krisica told CTK on behalf of the organisers.
The unique Sonka-Kardos show flight will be repeated on Sunday, but probably never more afterwards, since Kardos is ending his career of the Czech Airforce display pilot, Zbynek Pavlacik, the head of the Jagello 2000 NGO that organises the annual Mosnov event, said.
The two-day programme of a total of 16 hours includes 70 dynamic shows, with the Sunday programme being almost identical with Saturday's.
Pavlacik said he liked, for example, the unique mass parachute drop of 40 Czech and Polish troopers from two aircraft. "According to my information, nothing similar was shown in Czechia previously," he said.
The visitors could also see dozens of planes on the ground, including big ones such as the strategic bomber B-52 and the world's biggest transport plane from a flow production, C-5M Super Galaxy, whose modernised version was presented in Mosnov for the first time today.
The Days of NATO are also the public premiere of the L-39NG, a new aircraft made by the Czech producer Aero Vodochody, which is to start being used for pilots' training as of next year.
Also on display are the U.S. helicopters AH-1Z Viper and UH-1Y Venom, which are to replace the Czech air-forces' outdated Mi-24/35s. For the AH-1Z Viper, this is the first presentation at the annual Mosnov event.
Days of NATO is the biggest event of its kind in Europe, presenting military, rescue and security units from a number of states. This year, 17 countries are represented, including the Czech Republic.
Tomas Maruscak, from the Czech General Staff, told CTK that Czech Air Force commander Petr Hromek and Polish military operational command deputy head Tadeusz Mikutel today signed a technical agreement following up a previous agreement of bilateral cooperation. The technical agreement enables the Czech and Polish fighters to intervene in the other country's airspace in order to secure national sovereignty or help aircraft in emergency situations.
The Czech Republic has already signed similar agreements with Slovakia and Germany.
