Gallery > 2009 > An-124 at EHGR May 7

An-124 at EHGR

On Thursday May 7 2009 I went to Gilze-Rijen AB in the Netherlands to watch the arrival and departure of an Antonov 124 cargo aircraft. The Antonov brought in a Cougar helicopter from Afghanistan. Gilze-Rijen is the RNLAF helicopter airbase. Apaches, Cougar, Chinooks etcetera. You will find them only on Gilze-Rijen. What makes the arrival of an Antonov so special is the location of the runway 28. The start of 28 is very close to a public road. There are traffic lights to stop the traffic when an aircraft comes in to land. When the Antonov came over the road it's wheels were about ten meters above! Very impressive to see such a beast so low and close. EHGR can be called the Sint Maarten of the Netherlands.

While the Antonov was unloading we had some Apache activity. Also one grey Cougar was flying around and a Chinook practiced cargo lifting.

After she lined up with 28 she stood there for quit a while. Using the scanner we heard she was too early for departure and they had to send in a new flightplan. The new flightplan however didn't get approved, the Antonov crew were pretty pissed because they were burning a lot of fuel. The traffic lights already turned to green because they couldn't let the traffic wait so long. After one hour the flightplan finally came trough and she got take-off clearance.

After the departure we went to the slopes. The slopes are two hills where the pilots practice landing. Unfortunately we were unlucky and there was no activity the entire afternoon. Now I have to go back some time! The following months you won't see any Antonovs at EHGR, the next wave is expected in September 2009. See you then!

Guus Luijten, July 19 2009