Brazil 2018
In 2013 4Aviation had travelled to Brazil for the first time for exercise Cruzex2013. This was a great success with a large variety of aircraft from Central and South American countries attending. Because of all kind of reasons, the exercise was postponed several times, but in 2018 it was put back on the calendar.
We spend five days on and around the base which gave lots of opportunities to shoot the many different aircraft under different weather conditions and many different angles.
Over 100 Brazilian armed forces aircraft and over two dozen aircraft of participating other armed forces were on view during the week.
On Sunday morning 25 November a group of nine gathered at Schiphol airport for the flight to Natal (Brazil). In Lisbon we picked up another six persons to join the tour. An old Airbus A340 brought us across the Atlantic Ocean and we landed at Natal International Airport after a smooth flight. Two more guest were waiting for us at the airport and the last two had already checked into the hotel at the beach.
Immigration and picking up the rental vans took some time, but we arrived at the hotel around midnight. The hotel keys were all prepared and while the majority went to bed, some ventured across the street to a local bar for a cold beer on this warm spring night.
On Monday 26 November the group of 19 headed for the military base, which was about a 20-minute drive. Before the exercise started, we all had received instructions from the Brazilian press centre to arrange accreditation to enter the airfield daily as press/photographer during the exercise. On the base a couple of spots were assigned where we would could stand during the day (from 09.00 – 12.00 and 14.00 – 17.45). These spots were announced via email the night before.
We picked up our press cards, received a short briefing and collected our yellow shirts. Just before 09.00am two vans brought us to the designated spots and the fun could begin. Well, that was the idea. The weather was not that great and when we entered our spot it started to rain, and this went on for some time. Because of that the mission was cancelled and we returned to the press office. Here we waited for some time and were informed that the weather would improve after noon. Around 14.00 we started our second attempt for some operational photography and visited spot 3 which was next to the eastern runway. Here you could take good pictures of the aircraft lining up the runway, taking off and recovering. In the afternoon it was not a big wave of aircraft taking off, but a continuous flow of aircraft taking the skies. Whilst the sun was setting the light was very beautiful and the pictures turned out great. At about 17.30 the sun was gone, and it became to dark to take pictures. We left the base and headed for our hotel. Here we had a much-needed shower and went to the nearby food truck court to enjoy a simple meal and a couple of drinks.
On Tuesday 27 November we started out at spot 4 which was next to the taxiway. From here you could shoot all the aircraft taxiing past and some shots on the runway were possible. After about 11.00hr the shots on the runway got more difficult as the sun was turning against you, but the taxi-shots were getting better and better.
In the morning there would be a large Cruzex mission of about 60 aircraft. The Brazilian Command & Control aircraft would go out first (E-99 and R-99) followed by the tanker aircraft (Chilean KC-135E, USAF KC-135R and Brazilian KC-130M). After that the transport (Brazilian C-130, C-295, Canadian CC-130J and French CN235) would leave, followed closely by many fighter aircraft (Brazilian A-4, AMX, F-5, Super Tucano, Chilean F-16AM, Peruvian A-37 and Mirage 2000, Uruguayan A-37 and US F-16C). Around midday we left the base and had a cold drink and lunch at a little restaurant just outside the press centre. Just before 14.00 we jumped in the vans and brought us to spot, the same as yesterday afternoon. Weather was better than yesterday, and we had a great time being close to so many beautiful aircraft.
On Wednesday 28 November we started our daily ritual by leaving the hotel on time and visited a supermarket for some food and refreshments. Temperatures were around 30°C, so it is important to drink enough liquids. The same spots, 4 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon, were assigned to us. Each day the group was escorted by a couple of drivers and pilots. The latter were training on the A-29 and C-95 at Natal. But training was halted during Cruzex. Our pilot for the day needs to refresh his navigational skills as he could not find the correct spot. Bonus was that we saw some parts of the base where we had not been before. Big negative was the fact that the mission had started and a because of a constant stream of aircraft we could not cross the taxiway… We were positioned at a different spot, underneath a shed, for some time and were able to capture a few shots from different angels before coring the taxiway.
As we, almost, always operate very flexible some wanted to leave the base after the launch to take shots in the approach. Most of the transport aircraft usually returned between 12.00 and 13.00, while we were not on base. In this way we could also catch these aircraft with the sun in the back.
For the afternoon mission we all returned to the base and were happy at spot 3 during the afternoon.
Thursday 29 November was the last operational flying day of the exercise. In the morning we headed for spot 4 and leaving the base again after the launch. In the afternoon we were originally scheduled for spot 3, but the exercise commander did not wat us there. We were position under some aircraft shed, which was rather cool as it was very warm, and gave some other angles on aircraft. But as this spot was mainly against the sun we opted to leave again for the approach.
After the last aircraft came in, we headed back to the media centre. All week we had been asking about the possibilities of a night shoot. As it is dark rather early this would not result in too much extra workload on the organizers. At the last moment it was possible, and we went to the main ramp with all the parked visiting aircraft. Here we spend over an hour in beautiful light conditions. In pitch dark we left the base for the last time.
On Friday 30 November we had a lazy start. Some slept in, some took a tour of the city and some tried out the Atlantic Ocean for a morning swim. There was no operational flying today. Around 11.00 most of the group went back to the airbase hoping to see some transport aircraft of the participating countries. It was, however, very quiet. An A-29 Super Tucano took off and never came back, a C-95 Bandeirante took off, but landed on the wrong runway. Suddenly a Chilean C-130 dropped in and later in the afternoon we saw the latest acquisition of the Brazilian transport fleet, the Boeing C-767 drop in, followed by a departing C-97 Brasilia and finally a C-99A arrived. That concluded our aviation part of the tour.
We headed back for the hotel for a refreshing shower and enjoyed our last meal at the square outside the hotel in lovely temperatures before going to the airport. The flight home was uneventful and via Lisbon we returned to Amsterdam on Saturday 1 December. A trip certainly to remember and put on the 4Aviation calendar next time. Hopefully in 2020.
