Qatar (2014)

Qatar 2014

The celebrations of Qatar National Day in December was the reason to organise a tour to the country in 2014. The group was able to capture the practice runs and the actual parade.

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15 December 2014

The first 4Aviation tour to Qatar started on Monday 15 December 2014. The plan was to witness the preparations for Qatar National Day and attend the actual day. During QND a large number of the Qatar Emiri Air Force take part. The day is celebrated on 18 December, the date that in 1878 Sheikh Jassem bin Mohamed bin Thani became the ruler of the country. The preparations for the tour were a bit troublesome. Since the number of participants was limited it was decided that we would depart from two airports. Three people would fly from Amsterdam and two from Brussels. We would then meet at Dubai and travel together from there. The flight from Brussels was scheduled on 15 December. Indeed, the day the Belgium would come to a complete stop as a result of a general strike. The flights from Brussels were therefore rerouted to Dusseldorf at the last moment.

16 December 2014

As such we met at Doha very early in the morning of Tuesday 16 December 2014. After all formalities at the airport had been cleared and after picking up rental car at the overstaffed car rental offices we drove straight to a very basic hotel to catch a couple of hours of sleep. Before National Day there are regular practice sessions for the parade but there is no plan known. We expected the rehearsal for today to take place around noon, but since we did not want to take the chance to miss anything we were up early and headed for the spot in the harbour where we wanted to be. And indeed, around 12 o’clock we saw the take-off of the first Alpha Jets. A little later we were treated to a full rehearsal. Interesting formations of fixed wing aircraft (Mirage 2000, Alpha Jet, C-130, C-17, PC-21) and helicopters (Gazelle, AW139, Sea King/Commando). This was followed by a solo display of a Mirage 2000 and an Alpha Jet. Everything could be photographed rather well, somewhat unexpectedly. The only down side was that the sun was at its most cooperative today. This was also the case during the second round of practices. Absolutely happy with the outcome though we did a round of wrecks and relics after the rehearsals, under guidance of an English colleague that had been in Qatar for a while already. At the end of the day we checked in at our hotel where would spend another two nights. In the evening we enjoyed a relaxed dinner outside within a souq.

17 December 2014

On Wednesday (17 December) we positioned ourselves in the harbour early again. The expectation was that there would be no rehearsal today (since there wasn’t one the day before National Day in the previous years) but we wanted to make sure not to miss a thing just in case the plans had changed. Around noon we concluded that there was no rehearsal indeed and drove towards Al Udeid. At Al Udeid the transport aircraft and AW139s of Qatar are based but also dozens of USAF aircraft (KC-135s, B-1s, etc.). It is a gigantic base and situated in the middle of nowhere. After spending a short while in the approach (a KC-135 and a B-1 landed) we left again. On our way back to Doha we saw hundreds of quads in the dunes and couldn’t resist… with 250 cc the quads were rather fast and didn’t appear to be limited at all! After collecting dust for half an hour we handed in the machines again and drove to the beach. The coastal area was not idyllic at all. At the end of the day were back in Doha again.

18 December 2014

We were up early again on Thursday 18 December. The parade for Qatar National Day started at 9 in the morning already. To get to our favourite spot we have to be in time before they would seal off the entire area. This appeared to be a challenge in general since only families and women were allowed in. Eventually we managed to get where we wanted to be though. The sun was shining brightly today and the fly pasts started soon after. The actual fly pasts differed a little from the practice displays. We were able to add a number of nice shots to the collection! During the parade two American Apaches took part too. After all was over we walked back to our hotel and our car and headed north for a while to have a look at a civil airport (Al Khor). On our way back to Doha the idea came up to have a look at the hospital. During the previous days we had seen a rescue AW139 landing there several times and these are part of the air force. We wanted to try our luck. And… no guts, no glory… we parked our car at the hospital premises. We look around and by were surprised to see rotor blades on top of a building. Headed for that building of course. The building appeared to be a parking garage with a floor that was named ‘RF’ in the elevator. Indeed, on the ‘RooF’ the AW139 was parked. A quick chat with the international crew (no Qatari on board) and we were invited to make photos of their chopper. While we were making the best possible shots they told us that their best (trauma)customers came from the area with the dunes. At the end of the day we wanted to see the huge fireworks display in the harbour. To see that we had to get back to our ‘regular’ spot. To get there we had to participate in the ‘ecstatic cheering’ for National Day. All that think high of themselves decorate their (too large) cars with pictures of the Emir and his father and drives around at Al Corniche all day, blowing their horns and waving flags. We were among them to get to the harbour. After the fireworks we drove to the airport (while queueing a lot for the first 10 kilometres).

19 December 2014

Qatar 2014

Qatar 2014

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Qatar (2014)

Qatar 2014

Qatar 2014

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