The famous Slopes South @Gilze-Rijen, An Unique Spot in the Netherlands

[Redskin301]

The famous Slopes South are one of the unique well-known places at Gilze-Rijen Air Base. These two small hills lie here on the edge of the airbase and overlook the A58 motorway. The Slopes South spot is a popular place with many airplane and helicopter enthusiasts, because the helicopters of the Defense Helicopter Command (DHC) come very close here. This small area also has a beautiful background. Especially in the autumn months, beautiful pictures or videos can be taken here when a helicopter visits the Slopes for an exercise. The Slopes South are used by the DHC helicopters to train on uneven ground. This is a training that requires close cooperation between the pilots and the loadmasters of the helicopters. Often the helicopters appear on these hills for a short exercise. If you hear the message “hop over to Slopes South” on the radio, the helicopter will appear for the exercise within a minute. The helicopters often fly slowly over the taxi track to the left of Runway 02. Sometimes, however, the helicopters come over the trees from the confined area behind these trees. The Chinooks and the Cougars often continue to actively practice on these hills for around 10 to 15 minutes, making multiple practice landings. The Apaches often only use the hills for a few minutes, so they often leave this location after two to three landings. The Chinooks usually only use the right hill due to the weight of the helicopters, as this hill can hold more weight than the left hill. The Cougars use both hills and the Apaches, in their turn, practice more often on the left hill alone.

The two hills have been located at Gilze-Rijen for decades and date back to the time when the airbase was still home to the NF-5s and F-16s of the 314 Squadron. This unit is disbanded at Gilze-Rijen since 1995. After Gilze-Rijen lost its fighters, the current DHC took over the airbase. The Slopes were used sparsely in the past by the Bo-105 Bölkow of the 299 Squadron and the AH-64A Apaches of the 301 Squadron. Since the arrival of the transport helicopters that have been based at Gilze-Rijen since 2008, the Slopes South have been used intensively. From this period onwards, the NH90s from De Kooy in Den-Helder also often use these practice hills and flew to Gilze-Rijen especially for this purpose. At that time it was easy to catch four to five flight movements a day on these hills. Later the Slopes North were also introduced, halving traffic on the Slopes South. A practice slope was also constructed at De Kooy, which means that the NH90's no longer come to Gilze-Rijen for these exercises. Nowadays, a maximum of one to two helicopters per day pass by at this beautiful location. There are also days when photographers wait in vain and nothing shows up. So it seems that the highlight days of the Slopes South are over, but one can still take beautiful pictures and videos at this small location on the south side of Gilze-Rijen.