Beauvechain AB 3/4 juli 2010

[Hoogy]

I fully agree with the above commenters. This was the worst organised spottersday I ever attended. Paying € 30 for this charade makes me feel like I have been robbed. The so called 'spotters corners' were emptied when rehearsels took place. The schedule for these closures was quickly changed to 'closed all the time'. The 'ramp tour' on the north (ops) side of the base was a complete disaster. The aircraft could hardly be pictured at all, they managed to put fences around the Morrocan CN235 and changed busses so that spotters had to find out afterwards in which bus they left their belongings.
There was one toilet building opened for spotters use which was a firm walk from spotterscorner 04. Even for that you had to pay. Closely to that was the only food & drink booth that was available (only in the afternoon) which grabbed the opportunity to ask riduculous prices from dehydrated spotters. This was a total rip-off. After some successfull spottersdays in Belgium it looks like some organisations seem to consider this as 'easy money'. Well, I won't fall for these types of 'spotters-traps' anymore. Please give the organisation of such events back to defense!

Cheers,
Frank

[Propwash]

Here you go...

Guys and Dolls,

If I read The Spotter's Corner Beauvechain Rules Of Engagement, it says:

1 Wing of Beauvechain would like to welcome you on their Spotters day. We made a worthwhile program and hope you will enjoy a fantastic aviation day.

[afterburner]

Guys, lets know your dissatisfaction by contacting Mil.be http://www.mil.be/def/index.asp?LAN=nl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; , it's necessary to saturate their mailbox with complains !

[Propwash]

You mean THIS page in Dutch, THIS page in French or THIS page in English

[Jetzone 2000]

Normally I’m very happy to have a opportunity to visit a spottersday. Most of these are very well organized and I appreciate the extra effort the organizers do. How very much different it was yesterday at Beauvechain. It turned out to be the worst one I’ve ever attended…

Starting with the subscribing and ordering tickets. I had problems with creating an account. It turned that one of the non-mandatory field was not so ‘non-mandatory’ after several emails (including some which did not get a even reply) and phonecalls (only resulting in standard answers and not a solution to the problem). Finally they adjusted the form on the website by making the ‘Provence’ Field a required one.

Receiving the confirmation email, it contained different information than listed in may accound information on the site. Somehow it showed on site that I lived in “Array”, where the email listed my correct address.

I could not find proper international bank account information to make the required international money transfer . I mail them with this question and received two different replies. One with a standard reply which did not contain any useful information. The other one contained the requested bank info, IBAN and BIC numbers. Great… until I had to discover that the IBAN number was WRONG and I could not get the money to be transferred. With help of my own bank I finally get RIGHT number and transfer the money.

Having requested tickets for ONE person, I received two different emails containing TWO sets of tickets (with two different numbers, barcode etc). So after all the initial problems I’ve now two sets of tickets…

Arriving at Beauvechain’s P6 gate at 8.40 am, I found myself in the infamous traffic jam in the village of( …? ). It turned out that after queuing up to the gate, one was directed to the side of the (small) road, temporary park you car on the sidewalk, queue up again for a ticket boot. Providing them with one set of the ticket I received, I’ve got two bracelets tickets for the spottersday. Not the requested one for the spottersday and one for the airshow on Saturday. Try to to explain this to a person in the ticket boot that only speaks French…

Finally on the field.. Yes ! Or not… It turned out that there were two small spotters corners with very restricted views on the runway. Due to the height of the crops and the length of the spottersplaces, it was extreme difficult to obtain a spot where you could take decent pictures. To make thinks worse, both spotters corners were ‘temporary’ closed during the rehershals. It turned out to be for ever as they were never opened again! Why not a safe and appropriate area near the landing, fulfulling both safety and spotters needs

The taxitrack provide (for me) only an opportunity to shoot less than 10 aircraft as most of the aircraft were parkt in the ops-zone. Fortunately there were busses to the ops-zone. But… the ran very irregularly. The bus I took to the other side was not getting us to the fighters like the Grippens, F-18’s and F-16’s at the end of the field. To make it worse the guide told us we would get 3 stops, but after two they decided as we were on the last shuttle, it was time and we should go back to the static. Also the aircraft in the ops-zone could not be photographed very well. We were confined in very small areas. And even then, what is the purpose of placing fences for the most interesting aircraft (Moroccan CN235) which is parked (inaccessible) at the other side of the taxitraxi ?

Other things: toilets opens late and even you already payed €30,- for the spotterday ticked, you had to pay € 1,- extra for using the toilets. There were no garbage bins available to get rid of your garbage. And why are people send away from having a little shade under the wings from the plastic F-35 replica by a BAF guard, only to be followed by her and her colleagues going to sit in the same shade where she send away the spotters a few second earlier. Oh… and since when are active duty guard allowed to drink beer ?!?! Also the (number of ) aircraft listed on the site to attend the show ors static, were (was) at least optimistic... At 1700hrs there were 11 aircraft an a few helo’s on the static

Having experienced very good and well organized spottersdays in Belgium (very professional at KB or Koksijde). This one was a complete rip-off. It turned out the ones that payed nothing and were standing in the landing (next to the public road) were of far better.

One compliment must be given to the individual young pilot of 20 smd who took small groups op five onto the aprons in other to get at least a few decent shots of the MFI T-17’s. Another should go to the technicians of the Hardship Red team for waiting to put covers over their last aircraft untill spotters were finished shooting the plain. For those induviduals is a big "Thank You" in place ! (not for the organizers)

Having started positive and grateful of heaving a spottersday at all, and knowing that we spotters are sometimes extremely demanding, I think it is fair to say that the Spottersday Beauvechain 2010 was probably the worst ever!! Please take a look at the organization of KB and Koksijdes events and how they find a balance between their 'customors' needs and operational aspects.

[typolev]

Hello all,

Just a question. Is it possible to take good landingshots during the airshow outside the fence?

Thanx, Johan

[Nilson]

Hello Johan,

As far as I could see these areas are prohibited for pedestrians and the police is presemt.

Grt
Arnold

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Propwash]

Bronco (German markings) ATA1757L

G-BZGK

[Stafsels]

Hi all,

Which BA FA-xx F-16A OCU was put on static with the black nose?
Seems like on oldy but could not find any serial or BAF-code...

Greetings,

Stafsels

[Richard de Florennes]

Thanks for the reports Tigerspoon! Very handy! Allthough we experienced really bad traffic on our way to Beauvechain (left Den Haag at 6:30 and arrived in Beauvechain around 10.45), we have really enjoyed the allmost continueus stream of arriving aircraft and rehearsals! Pretty hot in the sun though!

I case you are referring to me and my reports: I am NOT Tigerspoon and I am quite happy with this

thanks for the additions / corrections from my fellow spotters in this forum!

[DJMikey]

Crizz, few posts back the serials were mentioned. We all miss something once in a while :
ZG729/138, ZD742/090, ZA458/024
Sadly I was too far away too to read the French CN235's serial.

Some additions:
2 of the 4 BAF F16's in the base-attack I read of as FA83 and FA127.
A330 BAF CS-TMT
ERJ145 BAF CE03
SF260D BAF ST12, also in maintanance hangar

[Jeroen K]

Witch 2 RAF Tornado's came in on Saturday around 14:30. And someone a reg. for the France CN235 and 4 A109's near the rwy that were flying.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

The French CN235 was the 165 (62-IT). About the A 109's. I only saw 3 of them flying. H02 / H 21 / (H30) I am not sure of the last one.

Jeroen

[Tigerspoon]

Thanks for the reports Tigerspoon! Very handy! Allthough we experienced really bad traffic on our way to Beauvechain (left Den Haag at 6:30 and arrived in Beauvechain around 10.45), we have really enjoyed the allmost continueus stream of arriving aircraft and rehearsals! Pretty hot in the sun though!

I case you are referring to me and my reports: I am NOT Tigerspoon and I am quite happy with this

thanks for the additions / corrections from my fellow spotters in this forum!

By the way: i didn't gave any comments about the show................(not at scramble)

[wamovements]

Furthermore during the morning PC9 262 came in and was parked on the static.

[kvanos]

Hi all,

Noted at the Airshow 2010 arrival day (2.7.2010):

Arrivals:
F4U-4 OE-EAS RB-37 Red Bull
SAAB 105 RF-26 TIGER27 (tiger c/s)
SAAB 105 F (blue) TIGER28
A109 H02 BAR702
A109 H21 BAR707
A109 H26 BAR707
A109 H28 BAR707
A109 (H46) BAR707
Alouette III M-2 NY402
Alpha Jet AT21 AJeTS BAF101A
Alpha Jet AT22 AJeTS BAF101B
Alpha Jet AT24 BAF101C
C-130 CH-12 20sm BAF649
F-16AM FA-101 TIGER11
F-16AM FA-110 BAF471B (demo c/s)
F-16AM FA-114 BAF471A
F-16AM FA-124 MACE81
Harvard H50 OO-DAF
L-18 OL-L47 OO-SPG
L-18 OL-L49 OO-LGB
MD900 G-12 Police GOLF12
Sea King (RS03) 40sm BAF93
SF260M+ ST-22 5sm BAF151
F-16AM E-194 DAF3260 (special tail "1950-2010")
F-16BM ET-197 Esk730 DAF3261
T-17 T-405 15-205 DAF3160 (1975-2010 200000hrs sticker)
T-17 T-409 15-209 FLSK DAF3160
T-17 T-414 15-214 DAF3160
T-17 T-418 15-218 DAF3160
T-17 T-431 15-231 FLSK DAF3160
Alpha Jet E22 705-LS AJeTS FAF6441
CM170 F-GLHF DHJA (red c/s)
EC120B F-HBK_ HeliDax
EMB121 072 YA FAF6754
EMB121 083 ZE FAF6704
EMB121 102 YS FAF6711
EMB121 105 YU FAF6706
Rafale C 117 113-IV EC01.007
Rafale C 119 113-IX EC01.007
BO105 (86+11) GARN444
OV-10B 99+32
P-3C 60+07 MFG-3 GNY4539
Tornado IDS 46+01 JbG-33 (camo c/s) GAFE82
An-26 110 HUNAF705
JAS39C 40 39311 Puma sqn DEMON02
JAS39D 43 39852 Puma sqn DEMON01
E-3A LX-N90446
Alouette III A-292 BLUEBIRD28 (2x)
F-16AM J-015 ORANGE21 (demo c/s)
F-16AM J-193 323sq ORANGE23
F-16AM J-513 323sq ORANGE22
Hunter N-294 ORANGE24
F-16BM 305 FLO NOW338B (NATO 60ar sticker)
Chipmunk 1375 F-AZJV
F/A-18C J-5017 SAF517B (special tail "17 Falcons")
F/A-18C J-5023 SAF517A
An-26 25 (blue) Ukraine AF
Chipmunk G-AOJR
Hawk T.1 XX231 231 208(R)sq RFR7141
Merlin ZH860 NY812 (tiger c/s)
Tornado GR.4 ZA449 020 RFR7170
Tornado GR.4 ZA463 028 617sq RFR7135
Tucano ZF171 LZ-R RFR7125A
Tucano ZF317 QJ-F RFR7125B
DC-6B N996DM Red Bull
C-21A 40111 VALOR70
KC-135R 23565 D 100ARW QUID12
Harvard N4109C
T-28B NX377WW 137777 KV-863 (USN c/s)

Support:
TBM700 111 XM ETEC00.065 arr/dep
P180 MM62203 14St I2203 arr/dep
Citation TR.20-01 403-11 AME0306 arr/dep
Beech 1900 T-729 SAF729 arr/dep

Other:
Alpha Jet AT19 AJeTS (towed)
F-16AM FA-100 (special tail, towed)
F-16A FA-113 preserved, gate, on pole
SF260M+ ST-02 Hardship Red #2
SF260M+ ST-03 Hardship Red #3
SF260M+ ST-04 Hardship Red #4
SF260M+ ST-27 5sm (special tail, towed)
SF260M+ ST-32 Hardship Red #1

Regards,

Klaas/Vincent

STILL SOME MASR2010 AVAILABLE GET YOUR COPY NOW!!!
http://www.ondutchwings.nl/masr/order2010.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;