19 January 2017 – Sion Airport

This year it happened to Sion.

The tradition of rotation in the support for the commitment of flights at the World Economic Forum in Davos coverage has been met and after in Meiringen 2015 (Article and photos which) and in Payerne 2016 (Article and photos which), this year was the Base located near the capital of the canton of Valais to accommodate the fighters of Schweizer Luftwaffe with the delicate task of preventing and eliminating any air threats to the most important global economic meeting.

The "work" to be completed this year was no different from that of past years: patrol aircraft armed with a circle of 50 nautical miles (about 93 km) in the center the town seat of the important summit. To do this they primarily use the armed cannon Hornet M 61 Vulcan's 20 mm, AIM 9X Sidewinder alle tips e AIM 120 AMRAAM station in the ventral. In recent years even the Tiger participated in the CAP (Combat Air Patrol), but this year, judging from the station occupied by missiles "live", it seems that older small fighter have given up some 'hands. In fact all the Tiger took off with only the ventral tank and, in some cases, only a simulacrum of AIM 9P occupied the tip of the right aircraft. Of course we do not know if the guns Pontiac M 39 the 20 mm were loads.
the Hornet, as in previous years, in alcuni casi montavano alla station ventrale sinistra un pod AN/ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) the Rayteon used for visual identification of possible threats far. All Hornet were also equipped with the ventral tank from 1200 lt with the visible and the frequency to be contacted by the intercepted aircraft.

The Zion military airport is located in the valley of the River Rhone, west of the town of Sion. Its slope is 07/25 It is long 2000 mt and is (still for a few days) one of 4 bases for the use of the Swiss Air Force fighter with Meiringen, Payerne e Emmen. The scenario is, as often in Switzerland, spectacular: high mountains (in this season of snow loads) They stand in all directions when taking pictures and, Consequently, the background and always very charming. The sun always takes place on the south side of the airport and, taking into account that in winter you never rises much, it is always better to take pictures from the south side of the track to the north.
Unfortunately Sion has, unlike for example Meiringen, of a network of high fence that forces spotters to use the ladder or, alternatively, photographing the movements through the mesh, setting on the camera lens a diaphragm as open as possible. Alternatively you can always take pictures of airplanes in flight, when they are over the net. In the day when I took the pictures has always been in use the track 25 and, Consequently, the best place to photograph takeoffs was the open space next to the hangar party place almost in the header 07 while landings were taking good from the grass alongside the luminous path of the head 25.

In addition to military traffic you can also shoot some Civil flight bizjet and small planes, in addition to the helicopters used in the surrounding mountains perlavoro airplane and helicopter rescue. Do not forget that the canton Valais is home to the Swiss side of the Matterhorn with Zermatt and endless kilometers of ski runs and ski lifts.
In the next days, as written above, The military part of the airport will close, leaving the full structure of the civil service flights. In some parts of the year there will be small amounts of aircraft (maximum 6 cars) for exercises like the one to be held from next 15 to the 17 May, named REVITA 2017, which will see the presence of both Hornet that Tiger II. To find out if there are military aircraft on land you can see the calendar of military flights for Sion present which.

Also remember that this year, from 15 to the 17 September, It will take place, just Sion, il Breitling Air Show, which promises to be one of the most important events of the year airmen in Europe. More information which

Nuff said ...... here are the pictures ...