Only three of the seven participants of the fifth 4Aviation tour to Bahrain gathered at Schiphol on Tuesday 12 November 2024. Three more were joining in Istanbul, while the last one decided to fly to Bahrain himself before joining the group. A total of seven participants therefore. The group would have been bigger probably, if our tours to Brazil and China hadn´t been coinciding with this one.
The arrival in Bahrain, on 13 November (Wednesday) by now, was on time. Customs and immigration was a lot faster than expected and the rental cars were “given” rather efficiently. So, off to our hotel and off to bed soon after. It was already close to 3 o’clock in the morning already.
Despite our late arrival, breakfast was enjoyed early and we were heading for Sakhir Air Base well in time. The sun was shining brightly, as expected here. Before heading to the entrance of the event (today was the first day of the Bahrain International Airshow 2024), we first had a quick look at what the options on the opposite side of the airport were like now. With the airshow itself being backlit, we always venture outside in the afternoon. Unfortunately, access to our preferred area wasn’t possible, a barbed wire fencelike construction was in the way.
Access to the terrain was easy (we had our press passes on us when arriving) and after a quick visit to the press center we headed for the platform. While the aircraft for the flying display were positioned somewhere else, the site looked very familiar. A strong presence of aircraft from the Royal Bahraini Air Force, a rather serious contribution from the USA and aircraft from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Pakistan. The show focuses on the civil aviation aspect as well, so several civil aircraft were present as well.
Because of the opening ceremony, the fly past of the RBAF fighter aircraft was earlier than normal. This meant that we captured these from the show terrain and went outside soon after (after enjoying another cold drink and a snack in the press center). Since our preferred spot was not accessible, we positioned ourselves on the terrain of the University. This wasn’t appreciated by the Security dudes of the University, so we ended up nearer to the Formule 1 track.
The flying display consisted of a fly by of two B-52s, followed by the Saudi Hawks, Saudi Eurofighter, USAF F-16 (from Spangdahlem), a pass of a USNavy P-8, Pakistan Air Force JF-17 and the Indian Dhruv helicopter team.
The evening was spent in a restaurant at walking distance from the hotel, relaxing and sleeping. Spending the whole day in the hot sun after having slept just a couple of hours the night before took its toll on all.
