Military Jets Photography: February 2011

This TLP flying course provided us some Spanish jets. These included the Mirage F.1M, the EF-18A+ Hornet and the EAV-8B Matador. Other participants were Belgian, Turkish and Portuguese Vipers, Tornado GR4 and F3 from the RAF and AMX from Italy.
The local Vipers didn't flew much that day but with a visiting Marchetti, Alpha Jet and a Fouga Magister the morning passed by rather quickly.
The afternoon gave us the promised TLP mission. Unfortunately the Turkish Vipers cancelled their participation for this mission just when they wanted to taxi to the runway. They probably had some sort of warning in the cackpit that couldn't be fixed in time. Still some 17 jets had taken off, which resulted in a nice half an hour of jet noise.
After a bit more then one hour the first jets came back. I tried an other spot then usual so I could get some banking shots. It took me a while to find the right spot becuase each pilot turned differently towards the runway.

At the end of the day I went back home after another great TLP session.

Fouga Magister CM.170R Belgian AF MT13

F-16AM Belgian AF FA-115

EF-18A+ Spanish AF C.15-23/15-10, C.15-31/15-18

Tornado F.3 RAF ZE295/DC

F-16A Portuguese AF 15109

AMX Italian AF MM7198/32-03

Mirage F.1M Spanish AF C.14-56/14-31

EAV-8B Matador Spanish Navy VA.1B-39/27

F-16AM Portuguese AF 15101

This TLP (Tactical Leadership Program) promised to be a special one because Greece participated with no less then 4 F-4E Phantoms while the Germans provided 6 F-4F Phantoms. Speaking of a phabulous TLP session.
The day started cloudy but after the first batch of local F-16's were up in the air the clouds dissapeared and the rest of the day we had a clear blue sky.
The day was fully booked with flying activities. In the morning we had many local Vipers that made some local missions. When there mission was over they all made several nice touch and goes before landing back at there home base.
Around noon we heard the engines of the TLP participants starting up. The missions was about to begin. With no less then 27 airplanes taking part in the mission it took some time before they all were airborne.
Unfortunately the Spanish Hornets had to came back quickly because one of them had some technical problems. After a little bit more then one hour the first participants came back to Florennes. After one houre of the last take-off, the first jets began to land back at EBFS.