Leeuwarden 20-21 June - Comments

[andel]

The pass of the KDC-10 just above the runway was incredible .

[sfeyenoord1]

C-17 got cancelled the commentators said indeed... unfortunatly. Lancaster is already back to the UK due to the bad weather forecast.

But the friday was definitly one hell of a day! Awesome job organisation!!! And respect for the KDC-10 Pilot, was one hell of a fly-by that he made!!

[Leeuwarden]

Saw the practice demo of he KDC-10 last week. It was absolutly incredible. I never knew I could get exited of the demo of such a large aircraft. What the pilot did friday is even more incredible: flying at +/-2 metres over almost the entire runway!!!! Fantastic!!!

[Jan Stol]

The KDC-10 pass was ! Really nice pass. Must say the shows the fighters (EF-18, Mirage2000 and both F-16s) put up really impressed me. Wauw @ the manouverability of the Mirage! Great show on Friday, thanks KLu, another great show!

[Oscar01]

Hi,

I'm quite sure that the people organising this event did everything they could, but I was a bit disapointed (again) with this open day. For sure, nice day and some nice demos, but looking at both static and flying programme, there was not much realy exiting.... And again, too much a/c on the other side of the runway, FWIT a/c far from static (is it that difficult just to add them to the static?), lot of last minute cancellations etc.

Pitty that other shows (France, Belgium, UK) manage to get great a/c every year and "we" don't manage to do so....

But please, this is not "aimed" on the persons who organized, just a general comment....

Oscar

... and indeed that KDC-10 made a very LOW pass on friday!!!!

[Janos]

Hunter, Mitchell, F-16 together, Bronco (never seen), Gnats (never seen),
Ikra's (never seen), Heli's with flares, great demo's of Dutch and Belgium F-16's, F-18 and Mirage, Lancaster, div. Heli's (Huey, Merlin, NH-90 etc.),
Airfield attack, etc. etc. etc.

Not much realy exiting ?????

SOMMIGE MENSEN ZIJN NOOIT TEVREDEN !!!!!! (sorry for the Dutch)

[sfeyenoord1]

True those gnats were definitly awesome
And that NH-90 and Merlin, one hell of a demo that was!
Liked the helo's with the flares, but the airpower demo itself was a bit 'tam' compared to other years. But am pretty sure the organisation did whatever it could! And with the missions far away from our safe home country, the organisation put down one hell of a show with the planes availeble from our own country.

Good job organisation once again! Some awesome demo's, with allot of (at least for me) new demo's! You can be proud of yourselves.

[AggressorVolkel]

I really enjoyed the airshow on firday the 20st. Lots of aircraft ive never seen flying, like the gnats, NH-90, Lancaster, original NAM heli.
The KDC-10 low pass, i will never forget that one, these engines scream when this beast passes that fast & low!

There was lots of jetnoise, and the Mirage 2000 impressed everyone, litterly, i heard everyone around me saying, WOW.
Allthough, friday was great, due to a problem at home, we had to leave on friday night. Next year, i hope to can fully enjoy both days. I count on the klu airshows for a whole year.

[Oscar01]

Hi,

I was not saying I was not satisfied, only that it was disappointing (but still was a nice day out (at least better then work )).

BUT, if you look at mil fighter yets, then present (flying) were:
- Klu / BAF F-16
- F-18
- M2000

Perhaps you can count the hunter too, but that was about it....

Of course Team Iskra and Frecce were nice, but again, not that high quality (not a full show on friday for Frecce also).

Would have been great if the static MiG29, or Eurofighter would have flown for example.

But again, I had a nice day, only not that much interesting a/c. But that's my PERSONAL opinion....

Regards,
Oscar

Hunter, Mitchell, F-16 together, Bronco (never seen), Gnats (never seen),
Ikra's (never seen), Heli's with flares, great demo's of Dutch and Belgium F-16's, F-18 and Mirage, Lancaster, div. Heli's (Huey, Merlin, NH-90 etc.),
Airfield attack, etc. etc. etc.

Not much realy exiting ?????

SOMMIGE MENSEN ZIJN NOOIT TEVREDEN !!!!!! (sorry for the Dutch)

[Pieter]

Mijn menig over deze editie van de KLu open dagen.

. Weer geen toiletten in de buurt van de baan
. Helft van de static zeeeeer slecht neer gezet (strak in de hekken)
. Borden tegen de kisten aan
. Brandblussers vlak naast (sommige) kisten, was dus niet echt nodig
. Overal weer stoelen en andere zooi vlak bij/achter de static kisten
. Weer de FWIT flightline/SU-20 niet aan de static toegevoegd
. Geen echte highlights
. Drank & eten belachelijk duur
. Veel te veel reclame (steeds de zelfde) over de speakers
. Onvriendelijke bewaking bij de static
. Air power??? demo.
. Veel te veel kisten aan de overkant neer gezet
. Commentatoren

Blijkbaar niks geleerd van de vorige keer.

Kortom :

WAARDELOOS

Pieter...die ook belasting betaald en dus een mening mag hebben.

[Wildpicture]

. Weer geen toiletten in de buurt van de baan
Pieter...die ook belasting betaald en dus een mening mag hebben.

At the northern end of the runway there where lots of toilets very close. From there you also had a nice view at the planes taking off and landing.

The organization was perfect. Was there yesterday with my wife and two little kids. We parke dthe car at WTC and could get into the buss immediately. All day long we never had any long queues. The kids got all kinds of little presents and stickers from friendly personnel. When we went home again, absolutely no waiting for the bus or anything. I guess they had expected some more people on Friday. All together, prefect organization!!! Thanks KLu!

Personally I may have wanted to see some more jets and less small/old stuff. But that is just my opinion. I guess that safety regulations prevented the F16's to get really low over the crowds during the base attack. I can still remember an airfield attack at the Open Day at "de Peel" many years back (early eighties?) when the Starfighters came in from all sides with full afterburnber, literally at tree top level.

[Richard de Florennes]

this is how I judge the event - although I was satisfied with the two arrival days and did not visit Leeuwarden during the two Show days as I just can not stand presence of so many people arround me


arrival day 1:
(notes: as in all previous years since 1989, the KLu Open Dagen safeguarded their place as one of the most important military aviation events in Western Europe also in 2008. A very bad weather forecast for the second arrival day, not too many confirmed participants and rumours regarding closure of all spotting places at first instance seemed not to indicate a successful event at Leeuwarden this year.
Nevertheless, I tryed my luck and left home very early on Wednesday morning in order to experience the first arrivals for the airshow. Indeed, not only full access was granted to the spotters parking place at the Runway 24 side of the Frisian airfield, but also the sun was shining. And so, after a little bit of patience, flying activity began with the departure of a rare Jordanian C-130. This was followed by a welcome mission of the FWIT involving 12 F-16s of four nations. Nice surpises were arrivals of my first ever pair of Gnats and of a pack of Dutch Cougars and Apaches.
The latter were later involved in the rehearsal for the air power demo in the afternoon, which I had already thought to be cancelled. A mass-launch of 10 based F-16s was followed by a violent, fast and very impressive base-attack under increasingly cloudy skys. Later arrivals featured two French Mirages performing some turning and burning over the airfield before landing and no less than eleven MB.339s of the Italian "Frecce Tricolore". Nice aditions were provided by a Hungarian MiG-29, a third Apache and a rare Skyline L-39.)

arrival day 2:
(notes: the forecasted bad weather really appeared in the course of the main arrival day for the Open Dagen at Leeuwarden. Luckily, in spite of the continuous rain showers and the strong wind, quite a lot of arrivals took place until early afternoon. My personal highlights amongst these of course were the four "new" Polish TS-11s, the two nowadays rare F-15Cs, a pair of Dutch CH-47s and two single Alouette IIIs of the same operator, all arriving during the rare dry moments. Clear air and sunny weather during the afternoon allowed for further arrivals and a full flying display of the "Frecce Tricolore" display team and of the two Gnats. An then three important highlights arrived rather late: two EF-18s, two RF-4Es and two Harriers. A very relaxed car-ride back home and the victory of the German soccer team against Portugal witness on the radio completed this very successful journey!)

[aviodromefriend]

Well, comments about the Jan Cocheret and Leo van der Goot "performance" have been posted before the last couple of hours, but I would like to state one thing about this: last year they were even put down at the site of the european airshow council. http://www.european-airshow.com/News/Ai ... fault.aspx All other shows reviewed there had no word about commentary, only Volkel. So I would like to ask why KLu/BAD hasn't changed the commentary. It must have been known there that they delivered a poor commentary last year, Why sticking to that two that nowadays spoil almost every airshow in Holland?

Jb5 and edehtx, if you're interested in what I really wanted to post about these men, (be aware, I do my utmost best to keep polite, as my real feelings would be removed by the moderators for not meeting the rules of engagement at this board) send me a PM, or else I can write Ed an e-mail.

Btw. maybe we should be happy there was no Spitfire or Hurricane this year. This prevented them for a chance to say that there are almost no Spitfires airworthy nowadays but fortunately a lot more of Hurricanes...

[mikek1357]

I didnt have any problems with this years open days, i think it very much depends on what you like to see and what not?

For me highlights:

-NH90, Merlin, Lancaster, Bronco, Frecce Tricolore, B-25 to name but a few.

Yes some teams/displays you see every single airshow from the Klu and maybe yes. I still had a good time there.

About the food and cost of drinks, YES expensive, i totally agree. But all in all i had a great day. Met some fellow photographers along the way and had a great 2 days.

[Felle]

Waardeloos??? For me looked very nice! Just one exception(except the signs on the aircraft nosewheels and fire-extinguishers in front of the planes(why not in the back?))... the static aircraft in the shelter area... what a waste! so much place, so much barriers. But thanks to put the Aurora, c-130 and kc-135 in a very good photo condition. Would have been nice though to see also the Iskra's and the Casa's(on the other side of airfield) from more close.

Stephan.

p.s.: Parking at WTC and shuttlebus = super!