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Belgium.
[...] The route in Germany to
the final destination is longer, over three hours of flight, but the landscape is beautiful,
with settlements along the rivers, bridges and castles. The formation gathers and carefully bypasses the giant windmills. At 14:40 hrs. we finally land
at Beauvechain, Belgium, the base from which the overflight mission to the Summit will be coordinated.
We have a first brief meeting in which our Belgian hosts have the opportunity to present the schedule for the next few days to all the guests that have already arrived. As we expected, on Tuesday we will have the first and only training in full formation.
July 10
Overflight training at the Beauvechain air base
The briefing itself was a premiere: representatives from 13 countries in the same room, planning a joint mission. It was not too hard, as the
Belgian hosts had devised all
the details, and the only thing
left for the rest of us was to adapt our communication procedures and follow the runway route and order for a perfect synchronization. This
was not easy to put in practice, considering that we had seen
the aerodrome only during the landing. Everyone was reading carefully the aerodrome rules, the guidelines, the maps, the timetables, murmuring various details, each in his language. Everything seems to go by the book, until we receive the news that we will only take part in the overflight with two helicopters out of the three, according to the organisers’ plans. So, after such a long way, one of the IAR-330 SOCAT helicopter and its crew will remain on the ground as a backup! Disappointing, as we did not have the slightest problem flying here, and everyone in the crew trusts that we will not need any backup tomorrow. Then ... the captain has the infamous task to decide who stays on the ground.
We're called at lunch, then we go to the helicopters. “We go”
is a way of saying, because everyone seems to be driven by bus around the base, because of its size.
The ten ground technicians and four on-board mechanics were around the helicopters
all morning, making sure that each piece works properly. We had brought a small CTD stock (checking tools and devices) from Romania, spare parts and consumables for maintenance work. We had tried to anticipate all the needs for logistical support, and our experience
in Konya in 2015 helped. We took into account the 50-hour flight work package, the medical insurance, the coordination
with the host nation to provide support on the ground, fuel and storage space. Moreover, the team is made up of the best specialists in each field, said cpt. eng. Ilie HERGHELEGIU, SMFA Logistics Support Coordinator.
At 13:00 hrs., the overflight starts, all crew members know
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