Axalp Fliegerschiessen 2015
Seven years after Touchdown Aviation's first visit to Axalp Fliegerschiessen, it was time to go back to the annual live fire demonstration of the Swiss Air Force. The event heavily depends on weather circumstances; two years ago the author had climbed to the top only to hear the event was cancelled both days. This year the event was planned for October 7th & 8th.
As the last three editions (2011, 2012 and 2013) only saw one actual show day (in 2012), it was decided to visit Axalp on the two training days, prior to the event, as well. This turned out to be a wise decision after all, as again both show days were cancelled, due to bad weather circumstances. Wednesday was cancelled beforehand, which saved us the climb, but Thursday saw a cancellation the moment the show should have started. It meant all 5000+ people who climbed up to the Axalp range had to return home with empty hands.
On Monday morning, October 5th, our party of four drove up all the way to the foot of Windegg, by car, to start the longer but bit easier climb by foot. At Sunrise it turned out it would be going to be a beautiful day, with excellent views on nearby Alp tops covered in snow. The Axalp-Ebenfluh range has three public viewing areas: Brau, Tschingel and KP, ranked first to last to walk along on the climb up. We decided to start on KP first, this is where the control tower is situated as well.
The day started with an inspection of the area by an EC635P2, soon followed by three rehearsal demos of the PC-21. After a little break it was time for the live shooting action. With only a few years to go for the F-5E Tiger in the Swiss Air Force it was THE reason to go to this years event and theydid not disappoint. The Hornets did their thing as well and this programme was repeated in the afternoon, supplemented with the F/A-18 Hornet demo and Patrouille Suisse.
The following day saw us at Tschingel in the morning. We were treated with more training like the day before and a rehearsal by the Cougar/Super Puma demo releasing all it's flares at once. In the afternoon the weather changed rapidly resulting in a cancellation of the afternoon events. Afterwards, it turned out to be all the action we would see that week. I'm happy with the shots I took though!
As the last three editions (2011, 2012 and 2013) only saw one actual show day (in 2012), it was decided to visit Axalp on the two training days, prior to the event, as well. This turned out to be a wise decision after all, as again both show days were cancelled, due to bad weather circumstances. Wednesday was cancelled beforehand, which saved us the climb, but Thursday saw a cancellation the moment the show should have started. It meant all 5000+ people who climbed up to the Axalp range had to return home with empty hands.
On Monday morning, October 5th, our party of four drove up all the way to the foot of Windegg, by car, to start the longer but bit easier climb by foot. At Sunrise it turned out it would be going to be a beautiful day, with excellent views on nearby Alp tops covered in snow. The Axalp-Ebenfluh range has three public viewing areas: Brau, Tschingel and KP, ranked first to last to walk along on the climb up. We decided to start on KP first, this is where the control tower is situated as well.
The day started with an inspection of the area by an EC635P2, soon followed by three rehearsal demos of the PC-21. After a little break it was time for the live shooting action. With only a few years to go for the F-5E Tiger in the Swiss Air Force it was THE reason to go to this years event and theydid not disappoint. The Hornets did their thing as well and this programme was repeated in the afternoon, supplemented with the F/A-18 Hornet demo and Patrouille Suisse.
The following day saw us at Tschingel in the morning. We were treated with more training like the day before and a rehearsal by the Cougar/Super Puma demo releasing all it's flares at once. In the afternoon the weather changed rapidly resulting in a cancellation of the afternoon events. Afterwards, it turned out to be all the action we would see that week. I'm happy with the shots I took though!
