Turkey 2015
In May 2015 4Aviation travelled to Turkey again. This time for the NATO Tiger Meet that was being organised at Konya in Turkey. The NTA organised 2 photo days during the exercise.
On Wednesday 6 May 2015 no less than 56 people started their tour to Turkey with 4Aviation. The majority of them departed from Schiphol, some from Brussels while the rest came from various locations in and outside of Europe. Via Istanbul (where all but 1 participants gathered) we flew to Konya early in the evening. Two buses were waiting at the airport to bring us to the hotel. The goal for the large group was Konya, to visit the spotters’ days because of the NATO Tiger Meet 2015.
On Thursday (7 May) breakfast was being served from 06.30 already. The buses arrived on time, like all participants did, and we drove to Konya Air Base (aka 3. Ana Jet Üs Komutanlığı) under a bright sun. On our arrival there is was rather busy already and around 8 checks of the participants started after which everybody could go on base. At was already known that the number of participating units to the Tiger Meet would be limited this year. This was due to exercise calendars with conflicting dates and operational commitments. Present for the exercise were the Turkish F-16s themselves of course (192 Filo of Balikesir), Polish F-16s, Swiss Hornets, French Rafales and Italian AB-212s. The Turkish Air Force had dedicated a large area east of the two runways of the roughly 350 spotters that were attending. Before the Tiger Meet wave took off we were treated to two displays of the Turkish F-16 solo, flown by two different pilots. Since the Turkish Air Force knows that we all like their Phantoms they had arranged for two to arrive in the morning. These were parked nearby in a sort of static display. The wave itself could be pictured perfectly; both while taxying as well as during take-off. Between the two exercise waves the Turkish Stars flew their display and also the two solo F-16s displayed again. Since the sun had crawled across the runway in the afternoon is was very convenient that it was allowed to venture towards the Anatolian Eagle platform were all NTM participants were operating from. This almost compensated fully for the backlight on the taxi track and offered other photo opportunities. Everybody was very happy with the result of the first day! The night was spent in the city of Konya, with everybody venturing out in smaller groups for dinner.
Friday 8 May started like the Thursday did. Breakfast, buses being ready on time, the checks, etc. The only difference was that all knew that the sun that was still lighting the sky in the morning would not be around for long. The day started with a CN235 and a C-130 of the Turkish Air Force. The ‘Daggers’ of 132 Filo, the aggressor squadron of Konya that was flying Red Air missions for the Tiger Meet, took off first today. While the Tiger Meet participants where starting up their engines and the Italian AB-212s flew a small circuit around the base, the weather deteriorated rapidly. It soon became clear that the wave was cancelled and that serious amounts of rain and hail were underway. The entire platform was emptied though and all aircraft were parked in shelters or hangars. This gave all (that had not fled the area for the rain) the option to capture all aircraft one more time. While sheltering for the rain in a shelter, also used for catering purposes, it was announced that the program was over due to the bad weather. Everybody was kindly asked to board the buses again towards the exit of the base. While the number of thank you´s for the Turkish Air Force could not be counted anymore we were picked up again by or buses and headed back to Konya. Despite the weather almost everybody explored the city on the afternoon. In the evening a large part of the group gathered for a final meal in the city. The evening ended early for most , since we would be leaving quite early the next day.
On Saturday (9 May) breakfast was available from 5 AM already. The buses were to pick us up at 05.30 to make sure that we were able to catch the 08.10 Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul. The flight was a bit slow, resulting in a very tight connection to the next flight (to Amsterdam). By contacting a Turkish Airlines representative at Istanbul we were given the option to use a bypass so we could quickly go from the first to the second flight. The goodbye to some of the group (that were not heading for Amsterdam) was therefore a bit ‘short’. At Amsterdam we counted as many suit cases as there were passengers of 4Aviation on the plane so we could all go home soon. All were happy with the outcome and the Turkish hospitality!
