Unofficial Swiss Air Force Blog: May 2018

May 28, 2018

Serge Dassault passed away

Serge Dassault ( 4 April 1925 – 28 May 2018) was a French heir, business executive and politician. He served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dassault Group and a conservative politician.

Groupe Dassault belongs to Dassault Aviation, worldwide known for famous Fighter and Business Jets like Mirage, Rafale and Falcon.

French pilot school visits Emmen

Armee de l'Air sent five (of there 99 remaining) AlphaJets to Switzerland, visiting our schooling 'till tomorrow. Unfortunally the weather ist not as nice today - but flights with Alphajets and PC-21 on mixed crews can be expected.

Flightline
E35 as FAF6441

E42 as FAF6442

E94 as FAF6443

E153 as FAF6444

E163 as FAF6445

Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet (via wikipedia)

The Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet is a light attack jet and advanced jet trainer co-manufactured by Dassault Aviation of France and Dornier Flugzeugwerke of Germany. It was developed specifically to perform the trainer and light attack missions, as well as to perform these duties more ideally than the first generation of jet trainers that preceded it. Following a competition, a design submitted by a team comprising Breguet Aviation, Dassault Aviation, and Dornier Flugzeugwerke, initially designated as the TA501, was selected and subsequently produced as the Alpha Jet.

Both the French Air Force and German Air Force procured the Alpha Jet in large numbers, the former principally as a trainer aircraft and the latter choosing to use it as a light attack platform. As a result of post-Cold War military cutbacks, Germany elected to retire its own fleet of Alpha Jets in the 1990s and has re-sold many of these aircraft to both military and civilian operators. The Alpha Jet has been adopted by a number of air forces across the world and has also seen active combat use by some of these operators.

Armée de l'Air is using this aircraft for the famous Patrouille de France display team.

Alpha Jet in Service by the Belgian Air Component, second largest mid-european user today.

SABCA Gosselies in Belgium finishes with the last overhauled Belgian Air Force Dassault-Breguet Alpha Jet these days. The history of the Alpha Jet and Sabca started in the late 1970s when the factory was responsible for the assembly of 32 (out of 33 ordered) aircraft that were ordered for the Belgian Air Force in late 1973.
In recent years the number of sightings of Belgian Air Force Alpha Jets was reduced considerably as in 2004 the first aircraft moved to Cazaux in France to be operated in the Belgo-French AJeTS (Advanced Jet Training School). In early 2017 the Belgian Air Force announced to end this collaboration and that future pilots would be trained in the United States instead. The future of the remaining Alpha Jets was uncertain, as the last flights of the aircraft were scheduled for mid 2019. At this moment 29 aircraft remain in service and as it appears now 25 of these aircraft will be offered for sale in small batches, the remaining four will be kept for preservation. Noteworthy is that the official authorization by the government still has to be given.
So far no possible interested candidates have made themselves known to the Belgian Air Force.

Belgo-French AJeTS, Casaux (F): AT01/02/03/05/06/08/09/10/11/12/13/14/15/17-33

Portugal has received 50 former German Luftwaffe Alpha Jets, withdrawn there fleet January 13th, 2018.

Worldcup Fribourg's Trophy F3J (rc-glider)

''... and now for something completely different ...''

Switzerland's first Worldcup of F3J category was held 10mins by bicycle from my home - so it was quite a must of going there. I've already photographed radio-controlled aircrafts in the back, and competitions too - but never before the F3J category (Radio-controlled glider).

Anyway - impressive flights of very helpful and friendly people from seven countries in the beautiful scenery of my home !

Official Website: https://fribourgstrophy.jimdo.com

my pictures via dropbox

Temporary airfield with 10 parallell ''runways'' near Pierrafortscha, known for its natural monument of an impressive Glacial erratic and the Chalet de Diesbach and the granary of Château d’En-Haut who are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The hamlets of Granges-sur-Marly and Villars-sur-Marly are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

some shots taken on Sunday, May 27th:

May 27, 2018

50 Years of Air Zermatt, Raron

A perfect day on and above Swiss Air Force's former Raron airfield, with nice background for railway, animal and aviation pictures !

The famous Aérospatiale Lama - the oldest workhorse present May 19th, 2018

Air Zermatt is launch customer of the new player on the market, kopter SH09 !

After the mishap (crash of HB-ZKF about 600 meters away from this position) a day before, HB-ZOY is already present in Primer colour.

The remaining runway of former military airfield of Raron can be seen righthand-side (active, parking area is the inactive part), left side is Heliport Raron of Air Zermatt. In the middle the future Autobahn (motorway) can be seen, one of the most expensive (due decades of fights/regulations and else) pieces of road in Switzerland. In the foreground you can see a high speed train going into the NEAT tunnel of Lötschberg.