During the Media Day at the exercise HOT.NL, a Chinook of the Royal Netherlands Air Force would land at a short distance next to the media present. Unfortunately, the media people were positioned on the downwind side of the landing Chinook. The helicopter would land less than 50 meters from the media. Downwind means that people are in the air stream that is created behind the helicopter when landing. On the Oirschotse Heide this means that you are directly in the sandblast that arises during the Brown Out landing. The people of the media thus had to endure the brunt of the landing Chinook. This resulted in a nice video of how I took cover myself before I completely disappeared into the sand. I have experienced this myself several times, so I didn't feel like running the risk of disappearing again in the sandstorm. Some people from the media were present at such an action for the first time and therefore did not know what was happening to them. Normally, a photographer consciously stands upwind to stay out of the storm and to take better pictures of the helicopters. On the positive side, the media was able to feel and see what the actual training goal of the exercise HOT.NL really is.
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