USA III (2017)

USA III 2017

In November 2017 we travelled to the United States of America for the third time in 2017. A visit to the photocall at NAF El Centro was combined with the Aviation Nation show at Nellis. Obviously some other interesting locations in Nevada, California and Arizona were not skipped.

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10/11 November 2017

Our third tour to the USA in 2017 started on Friday 10 November 2017. The tour was specifically aimed at visiting the NAF El Centro photocall. As soon as it was announced that this would take place on Thursday 16 November it was an easy decision to include a visit to Aviation Nation 2017 at Nellis AFB in the itinerary. Having asked for a small number of ‘places’ for the photocall only we ended up flying Delta to Las Vegas (via Minneapolis) with only 3 people, meeting the other 2 participants after our arrival in Las Vegas.

Saturday 11 November was the first day of Aviation Nation. We made sure that we would arrive at the parking lots at the Las Vegas Speedway before the masses would show up. We certainly managed to do just that and were among the first people on base. The weather was fine but the static was a bit disappointing. Considering the 70th Anniversary of the USAF was celebrated during the event, one would expect a more comprehensive static. A static including a lot more aircraft. Interesting items during the flying display was the Texas Flying Legends formation (with their B-25J leading the pack) and the USAF Heritage Flight (consisting of a P-51, F-22 and two A-10s). Stars of the show was the USAF Warfighter Demo. This demo included a simulated attack by Aggressor F-16s, followed by an interception of these by F-15s. A demo of a CSAR operation saw A-10s and F-35s providing close air support. All in all a very impressive display! Getting off base took some time, but we were able to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Las Vegas strip in the evening anyway.

12 November 2017

On the Sunday (12 November) we repeated our Saturday procedure; get to Nellis AFB early in the morning. Today was largely a repeat of the previous day, with the weather a bit less cooperative. The show started with the ‘Vegas Strong’ F-16 again. To commemorate the mass shooting in Vegas in October 2017 an F-16 was given ‘Vegas Strong’ and ‘U.S. Air Force 70’ titles behind the cockpit and this made a couple of passes showing its top side. The USAF Warfighter demo was impressive again, with lots of flares and pyrotechnics involved. Today the participants landed from the other end, allowing them to taxi back in front of the audience. Getting off base was a bit smoother today, so we ended up in Beatty at a decent time in the evening to spend the night.

13 November 2017

On Monday 13 November we planned to go to Rainbow Canyon, hoping for passes through the Jedi Transition. With 4Aviation having been there several times since 2014, we knew that there were no guarantees for success. It was really cold when we got up, but the sun was shining as it was supposed to be and by the time we got to our position near Panamint Springs the temperature was OK. We were treated to a couple of Growlers, an F/A-18E and a F/A-18F (making several passes at different heights). The treat of the day were the two DM A-10s that came from Nellis AFB. Happy with the result we headed back to Las Vegas at the end of the day, choosing to spend the night near Fremont Street. This was an interesting and exciting experience, certainly a location to visit again.

14 November 2017

The Tuesday (14 November) was spent near Nellis AFB again. This almost always gives a large number of aircraft, and almost always gives moments of frustration because of the frequent runway changes (both between the left and right one and the changes in direction for take-off and landing). Despite this almost always you end up with a fair number of cool shots! Today was no exception to that rule. The based aircraft were quite active and we saw a number of the “AK” aggressors that had taken up temporary residence here. Other interesting visitors were some VAQ-140 Growlers that flew sorties from here. We still had to cover quite some distance at the end of the day, since we wanted to spend the night in Yuma. We ended up in Yuma just before midnight and enjoyed a well-deserved rest after that.

15 November 2017

On Wednesday 15 November we were very close to our target for the day already. With MCAS Yuma just a couple of miles from where we slept we could sleep in a little and enjoy a decent breakfast. We spent the whole day around Yuma. Unfortunately they were flying in the wrong direction (for us), which meant that several aircraft couldn’t be photographed when they landed. There was quite a lot of activity throughout the whole day. The local AV-8s, F-35s, F-5s and some choppers flew, we had AV-8s from Cherry Point visiting (including several TAV-8Bs), T-45s came in and left, an RAF C-130J flew several sorties from the base and two civilian ex-RNZAF Strikemasters were active. At the end of the day we covered the distance between Yuma and El Centro to be ready for the next day.

16 November 2017

The photocall at NAF El Centro was scheduled for Thursday 16 November so we made sure that we parked our car near the entrance in time. Access to the base was smooth and after a briefing about the do’s and don’ts all (roughly) 100 participants were randomly split into 2 groups of 50 (Republicans and Democrats) and taken to the active runway. The sun was playing ball and we enjoyed the sights and sounds of USNavy T-45s and EA-18Gs from very close by and were able to capture some of the USMC AH-1Zs and UH-1Ys that were also present. The day brought a lot of brilliant photo opportunities and was enjoyed by all that were present. After thanking our hosts wholeheartedly we took to the road again, heading for Phoenix. After a on OK meal along the way we arrived there later in the evening.

17 November 2017

For Friday (17 November) we had scheduled a day in the approach of Luke AFB. After our arrival there we soon found out that an F-35 was nothing special anymore. Having seen several at Nellis AFB and at MCAS Yuma, the rather large numbers here make the Lightning II a common sight when you are in the South West of the USA. But, the F-16s still flew as well. Not only the Taiwanese and Singaporese, but also the remaining USAF units sent aircraft in the air. The formation of four Draken L-159s made us aware of the growing fleet of aircraft this company is using. The day ended in an Outback Steakhouse in Phoenix with a decent steak!

18/19 November 2017

Saturday (18 November) was the last day of the tour. Before our flight home, taking off at 1 in the afternoon, we obviously visited Mesa Gateway Airport. We weren’t disappointed, no less than 23 military aircraft and helicopters were parked here on Saturday morning (T-45s, AV-8s, F-5s, T-38s and SH-60s). A nice end to the tour and after saying goodbye to one participant we headed for Sky Harbor. There we handed in our rental car and said goodbye to yet another participant before our flight home was ready for departure.

We had a scheduled stop at JFK where our KLM Boeing 747 was late, therefore it was almost Sunday 19 November already before we took off on our flight to Amsterdam. Our arrival there meant the end of a yet another successful tour to the USA! We will certainly try to visit the November photocall at NAF El Centro in the future again!

USA III 2017

USA III 2017

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USA III (2017)

USA III 2017

USA III 2017

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