PAYERNE and SION - Planning 2016

Looks like no EPERVIER in Payerne next year, but with a step further to an continuous QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) quite a couple of manhours more activity.

Sion goes a step further to closing down, but local politics tries to cancel this decision with all those lost millions of hard currency loosing ;)

Meiringen - Planning 2016

With the Airshow for it's 75 years jubilée, the main event 2016 is clearly announced on this military airfield !

But as you surely know, there is really no limit for taking some breathtaking pictures back to your home after a visit. For your planning it's maybe helpful to take a look on this chart for the flightactivity in 2016:

 Some impressions from earlier years ;)

COMING SOON ... ITALIAN BLADE 2015 ... NOOS GNIMOC

Visit to europe's biggest helicopter exercise near Rome ... coming soon ;)

Axalp 2015 - Shooting on 2200m above sea level - Update 18th October 2015

First shootings had already begun and Grimmi was there to train his muscles for next weeks Shooting Demo/Airshow up there ;)

Hornet vaporises its 20mm bullets

As always, there is no guarantee that some aircrafts are flying. Weather (high up in the mountains and down on the airfields too), availability and exercises are the most important factors. But you can nearly always photograph something ...

Ok, I will finish ... some more aircrafts of 1st training day October 01, 2015 now ;)

2nd part - beginning low and fast !

Tigris Helveticus

3rd part - 'The other side' ...

Swiss Hornet Display Team with Captain Julien 'Teddy' Meister 

And the already legendary little show of 'Stampa' for the <100 people high up above the fog !!!

Flugplatzfest / Hunterfest St. Stephan 2015

After a very hot summer, it was refreshing to photograph again some aircrafts with snowy mountains. On former military base Sankt Stephan (LSTS) you can expect a very nice show with propeller and jet aircrafts once a year - after the crash of two aircrafts a week before (Dittingen) without airshow demos this time. But the scenery is always worth the travel !

One of the many stars of the show - PAPYRUS Hunter is based here and showed some high angle approaches to this little strip of runway somewhere in the valley.

Do I've talked about the marvellous scenery there already ?

Quite a lot of visitors in the Simmental Valley 

REGA had installed her daily base also on the field

Fliegermuseum Altenrhein was also present and there flights where well booked

And yes - I will be there again next year - Aug 27th, 2016 !

official website

STABANTE'15 - guarding the UNESCO World Heritage

It's quite a strange timing this year's STABANTE exercice is placed in the vincinity of some UNESCO World Heritages - with ISIS Terrorists destroying some of them in Iraq and Syria the same time ....

In reality it's the same scenario like every year - guarding an International Conference with multiple assets on ground and in the air. This time the center of interest is in the area of Watch Valley, with the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds been awarded UNESCO World Heritage status for her exceptional universal value.

Some Info to La Chaux-de-Fonds out of wikipedia:
La Chaux-de-Fonds is a Swiss city of the district of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometres south of the French border. After Geneva and Lausanne, it is the third largest city located completely in the Romandie, the French-speaking part of the country, with a population (as of December 2013) of 38,699.

The city was founded in 1656. Its growth and prosperity is mainly bound up with the watch making industry. It is the most important centre of the watch making industry in the area known as the Watch Valley. Completely destroyed by a fire in 1794 La Chaux-de-Fonds was rebuilt following a grid street plan, which was and is still original among Swiss cities. Karl Marx said about the very special urban design of the city that it was a "city-factory". The famous architect Le Corbusier, the writer Blaise Cendrars and the car maker Louis Chevrolet were born there. La Chaux-de-Fonds is a renowned centre of Art nouveau.

Main base for jet aircrafts will be PAYERNE, holding an repetition course the same time with Esc d'AV 5 on F-5 Tiger II and Fighter Squadron 17 on Hornet. There are some planned flights during the Weekend !

Repetition course: March 02nd 'till 27th KVK/WK (FDT) FlPl Kdo 11, Payerne (CH)
STABANTE with restricted Airspace: Friday 20.03.2015 07:00 UTC 'till 17:00 UTC, and Saturday, 21.03.2015 07:00 UTC 'till Wednesday, 25.03.2015 07:00 UTC.

Some Pics taken due this exercise ;)

Our Government is supporting a healthprogram called 'Bike to Work' - something happened on Swiss Military Airfields every day ;) Note the temporary STBY sticker for CAP mission of this (NC)PC-7.

This Hornet Pilot has noted some strange person with a big lens somewhere in the field. Controlling if it's a manpad or another thread (please use some flares next time :D )

One of many ground defense units in the area of the exercise - RAPIER

An Spain Air Force bizjet is identified by two F-5 Tiger II

Ride with an Cougar to Courtelary, an civil airfield used as temporary base near La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Snipers ready to take off

Hornet in final preparations for a 15' scramble