Hunter Valley Air Show set to soar

This is advertiser content for Hunter Valley Airshow.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane. Actually it’s a whole lot of planes.

Running April 6-7, the inaugural Hunter Valley Air Show is bringing some of the rarest planes and most heart-stopping aerobatic manoeuvres to Cessnock.

Held at Cessnock Airport, it’s the first time for the festival, which will now be one of the biggest airshows in Australia.

In the air, there will be 10 hours of aerial action over two big days.

“We’ve got a huge lineup of planes - there’s an F18 Hornet, a Hawk 127, a Spitfire, the P40 Kittyhawk, and a Hawker Hurricane which is the only one that still flies in the southern hemisphere,” said Hunter Valley Air Show’s Andy McLennan.

“Plus there’s the impressive Sky Aces, who do jaw-dropping aerobatic stunts in formation”

In his iconic yellow Wolf Pitts Pro biplane, one of the only two in the world, aerobatic pilot Paul Bennet will also be performing heartstopping manoeuvres in the sky above.

“He does the sorts of things you don’t think would be possible in a plane. It certainly leaves your hairs standing on end when you’re watching,” said Andy.

“In particular he does one stunt where he flies a plane low enough to go between two ramps on the ground, and a motocross bike does a backflip over the plane.”

If you’re wanting to head to a higher altitude yourself, there will be helicopter flights from the event, plus the Royal Australian Air Force will be on site with a tethered hot air balloon so you can head up and get a bird’s eye view of the event.

And the festival isn’t just about what’s in the air - there’s also plenty on the ground to keep the whole family entertained.

At ground level, you can explore farmers markets, wine tasting, flight simulators, military vehicles, and a display of new and vintage cars.

And the kids can spend the whole day at the kid zone. For $15, they’ll get a wristband which will give them unlimited access to two jumping castles, giant slide, swinging chairs, the Whirlwind and Twister rides and face painting.

The kids can even test their own aerobatics skills, of the paper variety.

“There’ll be a paper plane competition, and there’ll be prizes for the creations that can fly for the longest, and can do the most stunts,” said Andy.

“Winners will get prizes, and will even get to meet Paul Bennet himself.”

Those looking for an upgraded experience can buy special gold pass tickets which gets you reserved grandstand seating right in front of all the action, and access to the gold pass pop-up bar and priority bathrooms.

“But it doesn’t really matter where you are at the airshow - most of the action is up in the air,” said Andy.

Earlybird tickets are on sale now until March 23 at huntervalleyairshow.com.au, and tickets also available at the gate.

This is advertiser content for Hunter Valley Airshow.