| Basevisit Eindhoven Airbase January 28th 2011 |
 On
Friday the 28th of January, 2 C-130 Hercules aircraft of the
Algerian Air Force were expected on Eindhoven Airbase to pick up 2
machines to make passports. Algerian aircraft don’t come by so often
in this region, that’s what makes them so special.
Because they were announced early, it was possible to arrange a base
visit by EWAS (Eindhoven Welschap Aviation Society). Before the day
started, more aircraft which are nice to see were expected, but they
wouldn’t tell which aircraft. The weather would also be good so the
day couldn’t go wrong. There was only one problem; everybody had to be
at the spotting place on the airfield on 8:15. This means leaving home
early (and that on a day off).
I went out of bed on 6 o’clock to eat my breakfast and packed my bag for
the day. On 7 o’clock I went to the airfield to wait for my friends
Michel and Martijn, who also would come. I arrived on the airfield half
an hour later and didn’t saw them, they were still on their way to the
airfield. The spotting place was already very crowded, the most of them
went on the base, and the rest was looking for a good spot to see the
aircraft.  At 8:30 we went to the BIC (Base Information Center) for a cup
of coffee and waited there for the bus, which should bring us to the
place where we could take pictures when the two aircraft would land. It
was a great place to stand, next to the touchdown point. Because it was
still early (9 o’clock we saw the first aircraft) the colors of the sun were also great
After
the first Hercules had landed, the surprise of the day should come. It
was a Eurofighter Typhoon of Nörvenich airbase in Germany, one of the
newest Eurofighters of Germany. The flight which he made over the
airfield was also great, at the end of the track he went straight up.
After the first fly-over He made this maneuver right in front of us.
After this the second Hercules landed and we waited for the rest of the
aircraft which should come. The aircraft which came where: one KDC-10
and the Gulfstream which started their flight, one American C-21 which
made 3 touch-and-go's and 3 fly-overs, a couple of Dutch and Belgium
F-16's made also a few
touch-and-go's and so did a German Tornado. And of course all the civil
stuff such as Ryanair and WizzAir came and went in the meantime.
At 11:30 we could go to the military platform to see the Fokker 50 and the
2 versions of the Dutch Hercules. The two Algerian Hercules aircraft
where on the civil platform, which we couldn’t visit. The Fokker 50
was inside the hangar and the 2 Hercules aircraft outside. After this we
went to the gate to pick up the cars and drove to the parking spot where
we would see both Algerian Hercules aircraft depart. This was the end of
a great morning on Eindhoven Airbase which started at 7:30 and ended on
13:45. Many thanks to the people who made this possible.
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