Photography and film trials for the Black Grouse

One of the most endangered birds in Switzerland are living near my home, sharing a region together with the Western Capercaillie.

The birds are quite big, but you can be lucky if you can see them. Wandering in the early light of a day and without staring on mobile devices or listening to music helps a lot ...

1st sight in the fog on an spring day, winter is a bit longer in those mountains, back in 2019 and far away:

Be aware to make not big noises and movement, akward the distance. With a few minutes of waiting, he was flying up to an three nearby.

Lucky me - this one was not too afraid of this human being with the big lense. 

Airshow Neuchâtel - July 05th, 2025

One of the interesting shows not only for the program, but also for the landscape at the biggest lake of Switzerland (completely in Switzerland) this summer

- Patrouille Suisse (remember, our F-5E/F Tiger Jets will be end of life in 2027)

- Classic Formation 

- PC-21 Display

stay tuned 

30 years of SPORTHILFE

Another view into my archive ... this time nearly an quarter of an century back in the summer of 2000. There I've loaded my bicycle with my photo gear (main gear that time was an Nikon F4S and Sigma's 170-500mm lens) and rode about 2 hours from Emmen Airfield to the Bürgenstock mountain. No radio scanner available - just waiting for the show going on.

Parts of my gear back then - the beloved Cannondale 3T700 was stolen one year later and never came back

There was an celebration for the 30th anniversary of Switzerland's Sporthilfe (Swiss Sports Aid), an private Foundation and one of the most important sports organizations in the country. The official announcement was about 300 Top Athletes, multiple sport disciplines for testing (BMX Parcours, those where the days) and the famous Swiss Air Force Display Team Patrouille Suisse.

1st surprise where the two flybyes of Airbus A321 HB-IOC (the olympic one - International Olympic Commitee, nice preparation for an sports event) of Swissair, 2nd Surprise was an power demo of Pilatus Aircraft Ltd's flagship back then, the famous Pilatus PC-9.  Other participants like the mixed Pilatus formation, the two Junkers Ju-52 and the Super Puma Display Team where also not known to me as I'm remember. The Patrouille Suisse was no Surprise, but a nice catch anyway.

 

Flight schedules for Emmen, Meiringen and Payerne military air base

 Like every year, the Swiss Air Force is announcing the flight schedules. Not many Airshows planned in Switzerland for 2025, but a day araund an air base is also interesting. It will become more difficult when the new aircrafts arrive I fear ...

And please - take your trash with you - no littering on this planet  !

Memories on our Hornet Solo Display Team

 After the big announcement last week about the future (or no future) of the Hornet Solo Display Team I've screened my hard disks for some content ...

And no, my content is never ending - first aviation pictures in 1993 and still not all digitalised ...

No more Solo Hornet Display Team in 2025

The Parliament has discussed some financial reductions to the Swiss Air Force. No more Hornet Solo Display Team, no more Swiss Para Wings and the Super Puma Display Team have to adapt it's very spectacular Demo to an tactical one.

PC-21 will become an official one and PC-7 Team with no changes.

Original Info (german)

Luftwaffe will adapt the range of its demonstration teams from 2025

Bern, 29.11.2024 - To contribute to the austerity measures, the Air Force will reduce the deployment of its demonstration elements. Essentially, this refers to the suspension of the F/A-18 Swiss Hornet Solo Display Team and the abandonment of the Swiss Para Wings as of January 1st. January 2025. These measures also serve the aim of focusing resources on the introduction of the new fighter aircraft.

Spread over the year, the Swiss Air Force has been taking part in around 50 events and demonstrations at home and abroad for decades with its now five demonstration teams. In connection with the consistent implementation of austerity measures and a focus on strengthening defense capability, the Air Force will adapt the portfolio of demonstration teams from 2025. Specifically and taking into account the political processes, the adjustments relate to the following points:

• The F/A-18 Swiss Hornet Solo Display will be released on January 1st. January 2025 suspended. This is particularly in order to consistently use the heavily loaded F/A-18 fleet on pilot operations and training;
• Swiss Para Wings will be available from 1. Abandoned January 2025. Instead, the Parachute Reconnaissance Company shows 17 tactical parachute jumps on selected occasions;
• The Super Puma Display Team is increasingly focusing its program on demonstrating its capabilities in tactical air transport;
• The PC-21 Solo Display is now recorded as a demonstration element and used on selected occasions. This with a focus on demonstrating the modern, forward-looking training of Swiss military pilots on the PC-21;
• Patrouille Suisse is tentatively scheduled to continue flying on the F-5 Tiger until 2027;
• The PC-7 TEAM remains unchanged.

In addition, the total number of demonstrations and exhibitions – both on the ground and in the air – will be halved. In the future, demonstrations abroad will only be planned in exceptional cases.

Contribution to savings measures by the Defense Group
With these adjustments, the Air Force is making a further contribution to the consistent implementation of the Defense Group's austerity measures. In addition, the measures are intended to use the flying hours released for the benefit of the operations and the training and further education of the pilots. Further corresponding measures are in preparation.

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) visible

Something completely different for today's blog - actually another comet is visible in the northern hemisphere and the pictures from the southern hemisphere where fabulous. 

Visible in the evening, but most days with the clouds not visible these days. 

But yesterday it looked good:

Information of the Wikipedia:

Comet (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS), also known as the Great Comet of 2024 and formally designated as C/2023 A3, is a comet from the Oort cloud discovered by the Purple Mountain Observatory in China on 9 January 2023 and independently found by ATLAS South Africa on 22 February 2023. The comet passed perihelion at a distance of 0.39 AU (58 million km; 36 million mi) on 27 September 2024, when it became visible to the naked eye. Tsuchinshan–ATLAS peaked its brightest magnitude on 9 October, shortly after passing the Sun, with a magnitude of −4.9 per reported observations at the Comet Observation Database (COBS)

UPDATE October 18th, 2024

Finally - my best pictures so far from yesterday evening

From Lake Schiffenen to Lake Constantia - E-Bike Tour 2024

Not many aviation events this year in Switzerland - or not of big interest to me. After 30 years in military aviation photography I've seen many, many interesting aircrafts gone.

But I'm living in Switzerland - a country known for nice landscapes and chocolate 💞

Since November 2019 I'm riding with an E-Bike Scott Axis e.Ride 10, my first Ebike with Bosch engine. After nearly 3100km I had to change the motor, and drove 10'000km with the new one since. 2024 saw the 2nd ride through Switzerland for this Bike, this time from lake Thun to Lake Constantia. Actually I startet at Lake Schiffenen, but the first step to Lake Thun is nice to ride but already well known, so I've taken the train for this step.

2nd day - Giswil to Einsiedeln

3rs day - Einsiedeln to Appenzell

4th day - Appenzell to Schaffhausen