In less than a month, Den ve vzduchu (English: Day in the air) will open this year´s air show season in Europe. Traditionally organised during the last weekend of April, Den ve vzduchu is one of the most important aviation shows in the Czech Republic, as well as the biggest event of that kind in the West Bohemia region.
As in the previous years, the 2025 edition of the show will be hosted by small but picturesque airfield of Aeroklub Plasy, in the West Bohemia region. According to official information recently published by the organizers, the upcoming edition of the event is going to bring attractive programme, full of premiere performances.
The list of highlights of the show opens with flying display of Melanie Astles, the well-known French aerobatic pilot. The sole aviatrix who took part in the Red Bull Air Race championship series will perform her premier display in the Czech Republic, flying an Extra 330SC aerobatic special.
Luca Bertossio´s show will be the next national premiere at Plasy. The talented Italian glider pilot, multiple world champion in aerobatics awarded with nine FAI gold medals, will perform his display with Swift S-1 sailplane.
In addition, the programme of Den ve vzduchu promises an interesting set of local debuts, such as Niebergall aerobatics team from Germany, flying two SIAI-Marchetti SF-260 aeroplanes; Yakovlev Yak-3U and CAC CA-13 Boomerang from the Netherlands; and Spartan 7W Executive from France. The list of Den ve vzduchu premiere performances will also include two domestic participants – Taylorcraft Auster Mk V and Trenér Box aerobatics team.
Thanks to the cooperation with LOM Praha aviation maintenance plant, visitors to Den ve vzduchu will be able to see flying displays of L-39C Albatros and LET C-11 (Yak-11), two iconic training aircraft operated by Centrum Leteckého Výcviku (Flight Training Centre – CLV), a subsidiary of the aforementioned company. They will be followed by Enstrom 480B-G helicopter and Zlín Z-142C AF trainer aeroplane – the latter with the most famous Czech aerobatic pilot, Martin Šonka, at its controls.
In 2020, Šonka joined the CLV flight instructors´ team and, since then, enhanced the presentation of company aircraft with the Z-142 solo display. Certainly, visitors to the show will also see the Red Bull Air Race champion flying his traditional, high-end aerobatics performance with Extra 300SR.
The Red Bull Aerobatics Team will bring even more aerobatic emotions and positive impressions to the show, with their breath-taking group performance of four XA-42 aeroplanes. And for those who would like to take a break from the sound of roaring aviation engines, there will be another glider aerobatic display of Schleicher ASK-21 flown by Roman Šlapáček of Aeroklub Plasy.
The presentation of historical aircraft will be crowned by an iconic biplane from the 1930s and 1940s, Polikarpov U-2 (Po-2), commonly known as ´кукурузник´ (English: dust cropper).
Last but not least, the visitors to Plasy airfield will be also able to enjoy the traditional flypast of JAS-39 Gripen, the jet fighter aircraft of the Czech Air Force.
The 2025 edition of Den ve vzduchu in Plasy will be held on 26th and 27th April. Tickets for the event are already available here.
More information about the event can be also found in our reports from previous editions of the show – 2024, 2023, 2022.
Cover photo: Martin Šonka / Extra 300SR, 2024
