This was my first visit to FAMEX, a bi-annual event hosted by the Mexican Air Force the aerospace industry and other branches of the Mexican military. The event is held at Air Base No.1 in Santa Lucia State, not far North from Mexico City. There were many sponsoring companies and partners, mostly from South America but the USA, Europe and the Far East were engaged also. Participants included EMBRAER, Airbus, GE Aerospace, Safran and Thales, to name but a few. There were numerous ground exhibitions and opportunities for people within the aerospace industry to meet and engage with potential customers and the atmosphere was very relaxed. Great ease of access to the trade event was also notable.

Whilst the first few days were devoted to trade, on the weekend, the public were also admitted, although the trade stands had by then all closed and the exhibition hangars were shut. If that is usually the case then the general public will not have been surprised. Their closure did mean that there was almost no shelter from the sun for them and one could see them retreating right up to the hangar doors seeking shade as the morning wore on. We attended on the Thursday afternoon, the Friday and the public day on Saturday. It was an interesting time. We were primarily there for the participating aircraft rather than business networking but I am sure that was very successful given, as mentioned, the friendly and warm backdrop to the whole event.

I have not seen statistics, but I expect that the number of aircraft displayed was somewhat less than on previous occasions. On that though, there are two points that I would make. The first is that attendance at all such events, Farnborough, Paris, have been in decline. The business itself may not have reduced but the number of participating aircraft has. I expect that has been so in the far east also so it is no reflection upon the organising committee for

FAMEX; rather a factor of our times. The second is that the display of static aircraft from the various branches of the Mexican military, but primarily the Air Force, was wide ranging and very well laid out behind a barrier so that those visiting could see and photograph the items that were there without barriers actually getting in the way. A few helicopters were within the exhibition area, outside of the hangars but they could be photographed once the flying display was underway and, when it was not, gave people a chance to look inside cockpits, etc.

There was a spirited display from an Airbus A.400 in the colours of the Spanish Air Force, Lockheed-Martin had a C-130J in the static and the USAF F-35A demo team was there for the flying display (an aircraft that drew much attention from the crowds). EMBRAER flew their, increasingly popular, KC-390. There were a number of interesting items and I expect they were displayed by the Air Force, not the manufacturer (I am not 100% sure but as there was little in the way of commentary it was hard to know), however, it was good to see a Mexican Air Force CASA 295 displaying, two groups of Raytheon T-6 Texan II’s and, particularly, a flight of three Northrop F-5 Tigers (two single seat and one twin seat) and their display also held the audience, whether that was the ‘professionals’ on the weekdays or the public on Saturday. Great display by 401 Squadron.

One unusual item was the Flying Legends TP-75 Dulus, flown in the colours of the Dominican Air Force, something of a rarity, and for someone more used to European or North American airshows, seeing items on static display such as, to name just a few, a Guardia Nacional Blackhawk, a Mexican AF Dakota, a Mexican AF Mil-17, all in pristine condition, was very pleasing.

There is also the Mexican Air Force Museum, a bit of a walk from the display area and think it is best visited on a quieter day to really appreciate all that this very special museum has to offer (see separate article under museums).

So, an enjoyable time was had. However, there were two disappointments. The first concerned the flypast – or absence of one. On past occasions the Air Force has put on a flypast of fixed and rotary winged types. We expected that to be the case this year. We asked about it beforehand, that is we asked FAMEX. We were told it would be on Saturday, the public day, which made sense. We were told at first that it would be at 11:00 then soon after we were told it would be at 09:00. We made sure we were there in good time and a number of spectators were also present by 09:00, nothing happened, nothing continued to happen. We decided to wait until 11:00, the show opened with some parachutists from the Mexican AF and shortly after from the US Army. All very good and pleasing for the public. 11:00 approached. The crowd was, by then very large. Occasionally a plane had taken off or displayed but there seemed to be no announcements of anything, 11:00 passed and still no flypast. Shall we give it until 13:00 or 13:30 we wondered? in the end we gave it until 13:15 and with still no flypast and no way of finding out what would be happening and then we left. During this long wait, we sensed also that the public attending had no idea of what was going on. They enjoyed what did happen, no doubt about that, but the absence of any information on the day and wrong information beforehand was very frustrating.

The second issue, was that i had wanted to write something about some of the squadrons working out of Air Base No.1. My particular interest was Squadron 303 flying the Mil-17. We asked at the hangar, the Air Force guard helpfully found a civilian contractor (they do the maintenance it seems) who spoke great English and explained that they would be happy to provide information and let us take a quick walk around their operation, but that the military needed to give the green light first. So, back to the FAMEX tent and a very helpful chap there offered to sort that out for us - thought it should be no problem. (Incidentally, we had tried to arrange something several weeks before travelling but maybe the language

issue was the reason for no response at all). We found our contact on Friday morning and he went to the hangar with us but still no access was possible. He would try to arrange for something during Friday and we would return on Saturday. However, even by Saturday our contact had heard nothing from either of the two Air force officers so that was it. Very frustrating for us (and embarrassing for our helpful contact). These aircraft, the Mil-17’s, are flown by countless air arms around the world. Sturdy, reliable, workhorses. A pristine one was in the static display and the museum as its predecessor, the Mil-8, on display. The hangar where the contractors were working had over a dozen examples being held or worked on and it would have been fascinating to hear how they accomplished the work. If either of the two Officers (I won’t give their names here) happens to read this, or someone else with connections does, maybe I can be put in touch with someone who can provide the information so that I can, remotely, try to write something?

Would I go to FAMEX again? sadly I have to say that I would not, it is a long way to travel, expensive of course and it could have been very rewarding, but the two issues that I have referred to above, which all stem from lack of information or lack of response, would make it hard to be sure I could accomplish what I was trying to do. However, if you happen to be in Mexico at the time of the next FAMEX, then do go. It is a very good and unusual static display, with a wide variety of aircraft in colour schemes that will not be seen in Europe or North America, a reasonable amount of flying takes place and there is the opportunity to visit the truly excellent museum.

Author: Peter Nelson

Photograph: Peter Nelson & Duncan Campbell