Koksijde 2020

Koksijde : January and February

Traditionally the year starts with (more than usual) F-16 practice approaches, and this year was not an exception. On the first flying day of the year, the D-Day striped 349 Sqn F-16 and 20 Sqn C-130 visited Koksijde for some training approaches. The first full stop visitor was Agusta H-31 on the 3rd of January. On the 15th an Irish Air Corps AW-139 helicopter crossed overhead on its way to Liege for maintenance. On the 28th a RAF Chinook crossed the airfield on its way to the north, probably to Norway for winter training.

On the 10th of February another RAF Chinook passed overhead on its way to the north. As the Irish Air Corps AW-139 274 passed on its way to Liege in January, this was the sign that not long after that another one would return back to Ireland. On the 11th of February AW-139 278 came back from maintenance in Liege. On the 18th Federal Police Air Support MD902 G-17 came in for fuel after an intervention in Koksijde. Before landing at the airfield they landed at the soccer field in Koksijde village. G-17 is the latest addition to the MD902 fleet of the Federal Police. Furthermore the usual visitors of the Belgian Air Force came to Koksijde for training approaches throughout the month.


Koksijde : March and April

March brought us some marchetti's which made training approaches. On the 4th, 10th and 12th some even made a full stop landing. On the 6th, C-130 CH-05 made five IFR approaches, and on the 9th CH-09 made three approaches. Some F-16's from Kleine Brogel found their way to the coast as well and brought us some jet noise. On the 9th a MD902 from the Police Air Support Unit made a fuel stop after a mission in the surroundings of Koksijde. Due to the COVID-19 virus, Belgium went into a lock-down as from the 18th of March, and so this was the end of regular military flights. As from then only strictly necessary flights to maintain the qualifications of the pilots were executed. Also the airbases were open only a couple of days per week. On the 30th NH-90MTH RN-06 from the 18th Sqn in Beauvechain came to practice some winching exercises on one of the bunkers on the airfield.

April was very quiet with only some movements on the few days the airfield was open. The only visitors we had were some F-16's which made IFR approaches. On the 23rd a Royal Netherlands Air Force NH-90NFH made a fuel stop on its way to De Kooy coming from Culdrose. They had to terminate their mission on a ship due to the COVID-19 virus and returned home earlier than planned. On the 29th two F-16's from Kleine Brogel performed two base attacks which could be heard from far away!


Koksijde : May

In May the flight activities resumed and Koksijde was often used by the Belgian Air Force for practice approaches. We had training of Marchetti's and A.109BAi from Beauvechain, F-16's from Kleine Brogel and Florennes and C-130's and ERJ-135 from Melsbroek. On the 12th C-130 CH09 came to Koksijde for night VFR patterns with Night Vision Goggles which was nice to see. As the borders are still closed no foreign visitors were seen except for one Irish Air Corps AW139 that crossed overhead on the 27th on its way to Liege for maintenance.

Koksijde : June

On the 12th an ERJ-135 from the 21st Sqn in Melsbroek made four training approaches on both RWY11 and 29! Throughout the month some F-16's came to Koksijde for training approaches or just crossing the airfield to the North Sea. On the 18th FA-114 made some nice approaches with banking's towards the tower for the recordings of the Virtual Opendoor which replaced the 'real' opendoor on the 1st of July. On the 19th an Irish Air Corps AW139 made a fuel stop on its way back home after maintenance in the Leonardo facilities in Liege. After departure the helicopter had some technical issues and returned back to Koksijde. The next day some technicians from the Leonardo company came to Koksijde to fix the helicopter. To have the clearance to fly back to Baldonel, an inspector had to be flown in at Ostend Airport with a CN235 to release the helicopter. On the 25th another AW139 made a fuel stop, this time on its way to Liege for maintenance at the Leonardo facilities. It was nice to see two Irish AW139's in one week. On the 22nd C-130 CH12 made a nice low pass over the runway on the request of the tower! On the 29th the last 3-ship formation flight Alouette III was held and A.109 H-28 flew with the formation to make awesome air to air footage of the formation flight.

Koksijde : July

In the first half of the month we almost had daily visits of Agusta helicopters from the 17th Sqn in Beauvechain for training approaches or refueling. From 14 till 16 July one MEDEVAC equipped A.109BAi went to Lombardsijde for exercises and came to Koksijde to take some fuel before leaving back to Beauvechain. On the 13th a Royal Netherlands Air Force NH-90NFH from 860 Sqn in De Kooy came in for a quick fuel stop on its way back from a ship to his home base. On the 22nd a NH-90MTH from the 18th Sqn in Beauvechain made one IFR approach and continued low level along the coastline to Knokke. The next day C-130H CH-04 made its last flight after 48 years of loyal service and 23203 hrs on the clock. The last flight was a navigation flight over Belgium and two low passes were made over Koksijde before leaving for the last time inbound Ursel. After CH-08 (2017), CH-10 (2018) and CH-03 (2019), this was the fourth C-130 that was taken out of service in preparation for the new Airbus A-400M.

Koksijde : August

August was a very busy month, although only with visitors from the Belgian Air Force. From 6 July till 31st of August the Belgian Air Force summer expo was held at Koksijde airbase which attracted many people. To make their visit even more memorable, ATC requested the pilots from the aircraft which were in the vicinity of the airbase to make low passes near the expo which resulted in a lot of visiting aircraft and spectacular low passes. On the 11th an Irish Air Corps AW139 came overhead on its way back home after maintenance in Liege. On the 17th and 21st a rehearsal of the Belgian F-16 solo display was planned at Koksijde, but due to technical issues with the aircraft this was cancelled. Instead the pilot made some low passes with another aircraft later that day. On the 21st two NH-90MTH from the 18th Sqn at Beauvechain made a nice formation low pass on their way to Le Touquet (France) for a lunch stop. On the 27th another NH-90MTH made some impressive low passes over the airfield for the expo, and continued to De Panne to give a little demonstration for the many tourists at the beach. On the 28th the Belgian Red Devils aerobatics team did a demo rehearsal over the airfield to mark the end of the very successful summer expo.

Koksijde : September

On the 2nd Agusta H-22 made its last flight from Beauvechain to Ostend Airport together with H-27, which acted as crew ferry. The helicopter is donated to the VLOC (technical school) and will serve as an instruction airframe for the student technicians. Before they landed for the very last time in Ostend, the crew made a low pass over the runway at Koksijde. On the 8th Agusta H-46 made a local night flight out of Koksijde. On the 29th C-130 CH-07 made a touch and go and a full stop landing afterwards. For this occasion two Panter crash tenders were brought to Koksijde to have sufficient fire category to support C-130 flight into Koksijde. On the last day of the month a PC-7 of the 131 Sqn EMVO in Woensdrecht made two IFR approaches before leaving back to the Netherlands.

Koksijde : October

Bad weather conditions and the corona crisis that still has a lot of influence on our society, resulted in little visitors this month. On the 8th, 14th, 15th, 19th, 20th and 23rd an A.109BAi made a fuel stop during an IFR training flight out of Beauvechain airbase. On the 15th A.109 H-26 delivered spare parts for NH-90NFH RN-03 which was on board of the Belgian Navy ship F930 Leopold I for a mission of two months. NH-90NFH RN-02 flew the spare parts to the ship so the helicopter could fly back to Koksijde to be fixed. RN-03 was swapped with RN-02 which continued to support the mission on board of the Leopold I. Nice teamwork! On the 27th F-16AM FA116 made a low approach. This airframe wears a nice special tail to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Multinational Fighter Program. Unfortunately no pictures could be taken during its first visit to Koksijde.

Koksijde : November

November brought us some interesting visitors. On the 3rd two Army Air Corps Wildcat AH.1 crossed the airfield coming from their home base in Yeovilton (UK) on their way to Gilze Rijen (NL). The next day they continued their journey to Norway for their annual winter training. Three weeks later, on the 24th, they crossed again on their way back home. On the 4th, 5th and 6th Agusta H-24 (with its special demo colors) made a fuel stop during an IFR training flight. On the 9th the NLR (Nederlands Lucht- en Ruimtevaartcentrum / Netherlands Aerospace Centre) came to Koksijde with their citation jet to calibrate our navigation aids (VOR, TACAN and PAR). On the 16th Agusta H-27 made a fuel stop just before sunset and departed again for a night flight back to Beauvechain. On the 23rd the first A-400M from the Luxemburg Air Force made and IFR approach at Koksijde for the very first time. They were training in the firing range of Lombardsijde and after their mission they came to Koksijde for a quick visit. Unfortunately the sun was hidden behind the clouds, but it was a great sight to see such a large airplane at our home base. We hope to see it more in the future and hopefully closer to- or on the ground this time. On the 25th a French Air Force Ecureuil crossed our CTR from Ostend to Villacoublay (near Paris) during a training navigation flight.

Koksijde : December

Unfortunately December was a very calm month. Only one F-16 visited our base on the first day of the month. On the 8th AW139 279 from the Irish Air Corps flew back to Baldonnel in Ireland after almost half a year work at Agusta Aerospace Services in Liege. On the 17th C-130 CH09 made its farewell tour in Belgium before retirement the next day. They made one low approach followed by a nice gear up low pass to say goodbye after 47.5 years of loyal service. The Belgian C-130 fleet of the 20th Sqn now still operates six airframes and will gradually convert to the A-400M. All the other visitors this month were Marchetti's which made some IFR approaches.

Last formation Alouette III

In 1971 three Aerospatiale (Sud Aviation) SA.316B Alouette III arrived in Koksijde AB (Belgium) to serve with the Belgian Navy as supply helicopter for ships at sea. The helicopters of the Navy Flight are flown and maintained by Navy personnel but were part of the 40th Sqn of the Belgian Air Force. They support supply ships A960 Godetia and A961 Zinnia (retired), and since 2007 also F930 Leopold I and F931 Louise-Marie. Due to reorganization of Belgian defense in 2004, the helicopters were completely integrated in the 40th Sqn and are now part of the Belgian Air Component. After 50 years of loyal service, the helicopters will be withdrawn of service in 2021 and the NH-90NFH Caiman will take over.

In September 2020, the first Alouette III will be taken out of service (M-3 c/n 1817), followed by M-2 (c/n 1816) and M-1 (c/n 1812) in June/July 2021. To mark the end of the Alouette III service in the Belgian Air Component, a formation flight of all three helicopters was flown on Monday 29 June overflying the most important land/sea marks during their 50 years career.


Défile over Brussels

For the second year in a row our NH-90NFH presented the Belgian Flag to open the aerial fly-pass over the Royal Palace on our National Day the 21st of July. This year the fly-pass was very limited due to the COVID-19 crisis with only the NH-90NFH and three 3-ship F-16 formations. New this year was that two 3-ship F-16 formations overflew the capitals of each Belgian province so everyone could see the Belgian Air Force over their own province. To honor everyone that worked so hard during the COVID-19 crisis, they added a white piece to the flag this year. On the 6th of July the crew practiced with the MAOT (Mobile Air Operations Team) at Koksijde airbase to see if everything worked well so no surprises appear on the 21st of July. To pick up the 500kg of weight and the flag, a field in Groot-Bijgaarden near the flight path of the Defile was chosen. After the passes the flag was dropped at Beauvechain Airbase.

NH-90NFH over the sea

At the end of a regular training mission over sea on Saturday December the 19th, the crew of RN-01 made some really nice passes at the beach in front of Oostduinkerke. All this was in great evening light which gives the pictures an extra touch. A big thank you to the crew who made this special moment came true!

Alouette III - 2020

This is a selection of pictures taken in 2020 of the Belgian Navy Alouette III helicopters based at Koksijde. All these pictures were taken during normal training missions at Koksijde.

NH-90 - 2020

This is a selection of pictures taken in 2020 of the NH-90NFH of the 40th Sqn based at Koksijde. These pictures were made during normal training missions at Koksijde and surroundings.