Bahrain (2016)

Thursday (21 January) was to be the first day of BIAS 2016. The last participant had arrived overnight so the group was finally complete. We wanted to be at the base on time and we succeeded in that rather easily. With the experience of our first visit in 2014 in mind we immediately agreed a meeting time back at the media centre at the end of the morning. At that time all could decide whether to stay inside during the afternoon or to go outside to be able to capture the air show from the other side (with the sun shining from behind). After that all started taking photos of the static display. It was rather hazy/misty early in the morning. The weather would clear up soon after though. The (military) static was dominated by the Americans and the Royal Bahraini Air Force. The flightline showed a lot of resemblance with the previous edition. Unfortunately the Russian Knights were missing (announced and actually on their way at one point), but interesting were the two LCA Tejas of the Indian Air Force. At the end of the morning the majority of the group went outside om take photos of the air show. This show started at 1 PM with a flypast of 3 F-16s and 3 F-5s of the RBAF. This formation could be pictured very well. The same goes for all other participants of the air show. The location outside the base was very good! All aircraft demonstrations actually took place around us and could be captured perfectly. After the show the ‘outside group’ went back in and some more shots were made of the static display while the sun was setting. In the evening we headed for the Tehran Grill opposite a large mall. This was a restaurant with lots of booths were a decent, but simple, meal could be ordered.

On Friday 22 January we took to road in time again. As with the previous edition there was a clear separation between the public area and the trade area. The public area contained a couple of helicopters again this time. Since it appeared not be possible to arrange transport for our group size from the trade area to the public area we drove to the parking lot of the public area (at the Bahrain International Circuit) first. After taking photos of the choppers we moved the cars to the parking lot of the trade area again. The rest of the day was comparable to the previous day. The majority of the group went outside to take photos of the air show from the preferred side. Apart from the opening flypast the schedule was reshuffled resulting in different positions of the sun on each of the participants compared to the day before. The USAF F-22 performed the same rubbish pass at on the Thursday; way and way too high. It came by once and making a decent photo was not really an option. At the end of the day the group gathered again and in the evening a comparable restaurant near the one from Thursday was found.

The Saturday (23 January) was the last day of the actual show. Full of confidence we drove to the parking lot of the trade area. While we were able to use excuses to pass all check without parking passes on the previous days (the parking passes were just a little to hard to fetch on the first day) we didn’t succeed today. This unfortunately meant that we had to drive extra to park somewhere else, go on base, get the parking passes after all and move the cars after that to the parking lot that was a lot more accessible. Today the majority of the group decided to stay inside, for different photos, and only a small party was dropped outside. The time inside was also used to find people that would be able and willing to allow us back in on Sunday. On Sunday the actual event was over, but departing aircraft are always interesting. With some effort we managed to get permission and the required passes or being there on Sunday as well. At the end of the day the whole group was back at the show terrain and we waited until dark. The atmosphere at the event was that relaxed that really nobody really had any problem with us sticking around until late. Feeling good about the result we later drove back to our hotel in Manama.

On Sunday 24 January we were heading for the exposition area rather early again. Without any problem we parked at our preferred spot and could do whatever we liked. No restrictions appeared to be in place. We could move around freely on the platform. By acting sensible and cooperating whenever requested it all went as you would hope it would. Everybody was able to enjoy the departures a lot. The support aircraft for the departing visitors made all more fun. We saw the arrival of a Saudi C-130 and two Indian C-17s. Later in the afternoon everybody was more or less ‘finished’ and we decided to drive back to the hotel. There we could all take a shower and pack our bags for the return journey. After a good meal and saying goodbye to the participants that would fly back on their own we handed in the rental cars again.

Our flight to Heathrow departed at 01.50 on Monday 25 January. A night flight therefore that was spent sleeping by most on the group. After a fine connection at Heathrow we landed at Schiphol again during the morning. All luggage arrived as well and so the second very nice tour to Bahrain came to an end. Since this second visit was very good as well and provided very good opportunities for photos, we are already looking at the next tour to Bahrain in 2018 (when the show is scheduled for November).