21 July 2020: military parade

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sn26567
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21 July 2020: military parade

Post by sn26567 »

No military parade for the national day on this 21 July, due to the coronavirus crisis.

However, there will be a very short aerial parade: 5 F-16s will launch tricolour fumes around 14:00 in front of the Royal Palace. There will also be one helicopter (type?) carrying a Belgian flag.

Minimal show this year...
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Re: 21 July 2020: military parade

Post by FLYAIR10 »

5 F-16s will launch tricolour fumes
5 f-16's only? I thought there had to be 2 planes per colour of the flag to avoid that a colour would be missing if one of the pods doesn't work, like happened years ago.
This used to be the task of the Alpha-jets; did the F-16's already do this 'tricolour' thing?

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Re: 21 July 2020: military parade

Post by sn26567 »

FLYAIR10 wrote: 08 Jul 2020, 23:24 This used to be the task of the Alpha-jets; did the F-16's already do this 'tricolour' thing?
Yes, last year.
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Re: 21 July 2020: military parade

Post by hexman »

NH90 from Koksijde will be carring the flag.

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Re: 21 July 2020: military parade

Post by sn26567 »

More details:

This Tuesday, July 21, 2020, the National Day will take place with a limited overflight of the city of Brussels by an NH90 NFH Caiman helicopter and a formation of F-16 jets.

The Belgian Air Force opens this year at 2:06 p.m. the modest ceremony at the Royal Palace in Brussels with the overflight of an NH90 NFH Caiman helicopter from the Koksijde airbase. The NH90 will fly over the Palace, carrying a Belgian flag (4x6m). This helicopter performs daily the search and rescue (SAR) missions on the Belgian coast and supports the Navy in its maritime mission aboard frigates.

Three formations of three F-16 fighters will follow after the passage of the Belgian tricolour at 2:07 p.m. The F-16s will take off from the Florennes airbase and will not fly over the Royal Palace of Brussels by the usual West-East axis, but directly above the Palace from South to North. In tribute to 75 years of the end of World War II, the formation's first aircraft is decorated with white stripes from the D-Day invasion. This unique painting was worn by Allied aircraft at the start of the liberation campaign in Europe. At the end of April, our F-16 fighters completed an eight-month mission in the Baltic countries in the midst of the corona crisis within the framework of NATO. In October, an Air Force detachment will again participate in a mission to Jordan to support the international coalition in the fight against Daesh in Syria and Iraq. This mission will last one year and will require the continuous deployment of four F-16 aircraft and around 100 people.

In tribute to the efforts made by healthcare staff and the Belgian population during the current health crisis, the first two F-16 formations will continue their trajectory over the whole of Belgian territory, after flying over the Royal Palace. The fighter planes will fly over the various provincial capitals each time with three planes. They will follow a route to the west (Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, Mons, Namur, completed by Ostend) and a route to the east (Louvain, Wavre, Hasselt, Liège, Arlon, completed by Dinant). All the F-16s will then land on the Florennes air base.

This overflight will consist of a "victory formation" flight, of three F-16 fighters, the leader of which will be decorated with "invasion bands", as regards the western loop. The leader of the eastern route will be the Belgian F-16 demonstration aircraft, the Dark Falcon.

Details and times for this flight over Belgium can be found on the map below (click on the map to enlarge):
21Jul2020.png
This overflight complies with applicable air traffic regulations and has been coordinated with the civil aviation authorities. The planes will fly at an altitude of 1000 feet (300 metres).

Source: Belgian Air Force
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Re: 21 July 2020: military parade

Post by Homo Aeroportus »

The NH90 coming from EBFN will make a pit stop in a meadow in front of the Castle at Grood-Bijgaarden to pick up the flag.
Overflying the Royal Palace at 12:06:50Z 700ft AMSL, then heading for Watermael where the flag will be dropped before turning right towards Waterloo and from there back to base in Koksijde.

The F-16s will be crossing the NH90 path above the Royal Palace at 12:07:00Z, 1200ft AMSL.

H.A.

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