Gallery > 2009 > Schaffen-Diest Oldtimer Fly-in

Schaffen-Diest Oldtimer Fly-in, August 16

Every year in August Diest Aero Club organises the Oldtimer Fly-in. This year was the 26th edition with again a few hundered pilots visiting an 298 aircraft! The busiest day mostly is the Saturday. Unfortunately I was only able to visit Schaffen on Sunday. Already a number of aircraft departed back home but there was still a very nice collection present at the airfield!

I arrived early and the weather was overcast. I decided to photograph the static display first and after that I would look for a nice spot next to the runway. Later that day it turned out I would get a front row seat! But more about that later...

When I was about done photographing the static I could hear a massive rumble on the other side of the field. It turned out the Avenger started up her engine and was preparing to depart! I finished up quickly and made my way to the other end. When I arrived there a lot of people already were waiting at the fence to watch the Avenger depart. Unfortunately there was no more room for me so I tried to balance on another fence hoping to photograph over the people. It wasn't a big succes... The Avenger departure was spectacular with a lot of sound and prop vortex! But the pictures weren't very spectacular, most of them half crowd/half Avanger...
Two pilots on the field called me to them after the Avenger departure. They saw me struggling on the fence and gave me both their arm bracelets which gave me acces to the entire field! I was really happy with the gift and after a big smile and thank you I went past the security a bit closer to the aircraft.

I found a very nice spot very close to the runway and met a very friendly spotter from the other side of Belgium. He was visiting Schaffen together with his son. The weather started to improve, I had a front row seat thanks to two very friendly pilots and I was in good company! What else do you want?

I decided to practice my panning skills so most of the pictures you see here are taken with a loooooong shutterspeed :)

Later in the afternoon the weather was fantastic! We (the Belgian spotter, his son and I) were waiting for the Bronco to depart. The Belgian spotters son went to the pilot (they were no strangers) to ask for some nice passes after take-off and the pilot agreed. Friendly people everywhere!

After the Bronco take-off (and two fantastic passes! Thank you Tony!!) I went home.
When I arrived home I downloaded the pictures from my camera to the pc and did a quick check. There was one picture that caught my attention...
It was a picture of a Storch ultralight, the only picture I made of this aicraft and it worked out well! Even better when I recognized the pilots as the pilots who gave me their bracelets! I would love to thank them again by sending them the picture but I had no e-mail or name... ....only the aircraft number: OO-F56.
I started my search on Google; no result... Then I decided to mail various persons and airfields in the hope to get in touch with the pilots. Already the day after I had an e-mail adres and send them the picture. They received the picture well and were happy with it because this was the first one with both them in the aircraft. I was glad the liked it.

About ten days later I received an e-mail with not bad news... Another Storch owner received the word I was looking for the OO-F56 owners and told me the aircraft crashed near Brakel on August 23. Gabriel was badly injured and taken to the hospital. His wife Marzenna escaped with minor injury. I was dazed by the news but very glad they survived.
The last picture in this album is the picture of the two pilots in their Storch.
A very sad ending of a wonderfull fly-in.

Guus Luijten, January 10 2010

Official Fly-in website: flyin.dac.be
The Belgian spotters website: www.wingsovereurope.com