Belgian Defence to replace its A330 by an A321

[Duke]

I took a few pics of the A321.

The Belgian flag on the right side of the tail is painted in the wrong direction...

Regards,

Duke

[cathay belgium]

Hi duke,

No, it's NOT wrong painted!
The paint is as the flag would be fluttering/wobbling in the wind and on this side it is like this so right and not wrong!
This should be on all belgian flags and planes ! Also sn!
compare
greetz,
cxb

[Boavida]

Duke, have a look at the American flag on Air Force One: http://planepictures.net/netshow.php?id=1289762

[b-west]

Hi duke,

No, it's NOT wrong painted!
The paint is as the flag would be fluttering/wobbling in the wind and on this side it is like this so right and not wrong!
This should be on all Belgian flags and planes ! Also sn!
compare
greetz,
cxb

It is pretty standard around the world.

In the US, like United and American, in China and indeed also in Belgium, with SN or JAF and the Belgian Air Force. Also, airlines like Air France do it, but here it isn't obvious as the flag is actually part of the tail logo.

But not everybody does it, Finnair for example has the flag flying from left to right on both sides of the planes.

And of course, for a lot of countries you just can't tell... horizontal striped flags, like Netherlands or Germany, or a flag like the one of Japan

And here's a fun one (and then I'll stop, I'm just having a lot of fun looking these up). The UK flag isn't symmetrical. Something the UK air force didn't forget when they painted their Avro. Look closely

(anyway, back on topic)

[Ecam]

First passenger carrying (test) flight thursday 10th, 11:00 L

[Airbus A330]

Hello everybody,
I will maybe ask a stupid question but is there any chance this A321 will get a military registration?

Thanks for your replies,

[Stij]

And here's a fun one (and then I'll stop, I'm just having a lot of fun looking these up). The UK flag isn't symmetrical. Something the UK air force didn't forget when they painted their Avro. Look closely

Well, well, I didn't know that either!

Cheers,

Stij

[sn26567]

Is there any chance this A321 will get a military registration?

Never say never, but since the Belgian Defence is not the owner of the plane, it is almost sure that it will keep the registration of its actual owner HiFly.

[Ecam]

CS-TRJ moved to the 15W apron by now.
The Belgian flag on the tail has disappeared, so no more discussion on how it should be presented.
Now it has become the "50 shades of grey" airbus.

[sn26567]

... and it is still the A330 that flew to Rwanda with the families of the 10 para-commandos and the 12 other Belgians assassinated in that country in 1994.

[ggmeese]

Just saw the A333 taking off on 25R

[Boavida]

CS-TRJ moved to the 15W apron by now.
The Belgian flag on the tail has disappeared, so no more discussion on how it should be presented.
Now it has become the "50 shades of grey" airbus.

But why oh why? :thumbdown:

The BAF is always messing up their aircraft liveries! The A330 flew for years without titles, and now they finally had a decent military sheme on the A321 they mess it up again by removing the Belgian flag and make it -again- rather anonymous...

[Ecam]

The A330 flew initially with very large "Belgian Air Force" titles, but they had to be removed each time HiFly used that aircraft for its own purposes, which was contractually allowed. I guess putting new stickers each time was too costly and time consuming, so they were simply omitted. The BAF policy regarding national insignia is indeed rather strange. The new NH90 helicopters were painted in factory with toned down roundels, only to be replaced with full color ones after delivery.
And technically speaking, the "belgian air force" actually no longer exists, as it has become the Air Component of the Belgian Defence some years ago under minister Flahaut. Much like the "Canadian Forces". The correct titles "Belgian Defence" were used on the A310, but not on the A330, nor on the A321 (both under minister De Crem). So the titles on the A321 are not even correct. But this may have a political origin.
Strange also that the C-130 never carried any titles such as many other air forces do to identify the operator of the aircraft, especially during humanitarian aid operations. They had briefly the new defence logo applied on the vertical stabiliser, but they were removed as quickly as they appeared.

[teddybAIR]

if i were a big shot flying around in state aircraft I would also prefer the aircraft to carry discrete titles. Unless it comes with an entire security armada such as air force one. But I don't think the belgian voter is willing to pay for that circus. So until further notice, i find the current titles ok. As I think 99% of the population does to

[Ecam]

I have the impression that the real big shots don't share your idea of being discrete at all, judged by the number of government aircraft with indiscrete titles that visit BRU:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/85829590@ ... 610320305/

I don't think they carry an "entire security armada" with them either.

Back on the topic:
I wonder what aircraft HiFly will provide when the A321 is unavailable, as this is the only single aisle Airbus in their inventory.

[Konus]

How is BAF doing it today as their A330 left BRU a few weeks ago and the A321 is still not operational ?

[Ecam]

Not weeks.
The A330 was used for transporting ministers, families and journos to Kigali 10 days ago.

[Ecam]

Further to the titles worn by the BAF "white bodies"
From http://www.belgian-wings.be/Webpages/Na ... ation.html :

When asked for the reason of the change of titles from Belgian Defence into Belgian Air Force, Minister of Defence Pieter De Crem replied that “The Belgian Air Force has always been a real Air Force, not a Component. If it were not so expensive to change the names of the Components into Forces again, it would already have been done.”

Politicians ...

[Boavida]

^^ The "components" are one of the many ridiculous decisions of PS-minister Flahaut... Thank God he's gone (hopefully for good). He just saw the military as a humanitarian organization instead of a real army. When he was minister, the Belgian military was the laughing stock of Europe: never real (combat) missions, but always safe, no-risk missions. The soldiers got really frustrated about this. They could never do where they actually trained for...

I wonder why it's so expensive to reintroduce the 'Forces' again...?

[Boavida]

Does anybody know when this A321 will enter service? It's been flying in BAF "colors" (lol) for some time now...