Türkiye II 2022

Anatolian Eagle

Türkiye II 2022

In June 2022, a large group of aviation photographers visited both the Press Day as well as the Spotters Day for Anatolian Eagle 2022 at Konya in Türkiye.

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28 June 2022

On Tuesday 28 June, the small part of the larger 4Aviation Anatolian Eagle group that would depart the next day gathered at Schiphol. After several challenging hours battling the chaos at Schiphol, the group reached the plane 30 minutes after the scheduled departure time, but luckily the plane was still there. We enjoyed a direct flight to Konya so that the rest of the day went smoothly and the group reached our familiar hotel early in the evening.

29 June 2022

The next morning, Wednesday, 29 June, our taxis took us to Konya for the half day Anatolian Eagle. In the morning a briefing was attended and there was time to shoot the morning AE wave. Only one mission was flown this day and after a nice lunch in AE’s huge eatery, another (VIP) briefing was attended, followed by a demonstration of Solo Türk. At around 4 p.m., a swarm of yellow taxis took the people attending the media day back to the city. Despite the cloudy weather this day, the group had a pleasant day including a nice meal in the evening. On arrival at the hotel, part of the large group had arrived, including many familiar faces. This large group had departed from Schiphol earlier that day.

With the crowds at Schiphol in mind, we decided to be at Schiphol as early as possible. Nevertheless, it was a day of waiting and patience. Nevertheless, the large group (more than 60 people) managed to get over all the hurdles and fly to Turkey. Due to the large group, there were two flight schedules, so the groups landed slightly one after the other at Konya, where the buses were waiting to take us to the hotels. Time for a nice meal and some sleep!

30 June 2022

The spotters day was scheduled for Thursday (30 June), which again meant an early start. Together with the people from the press group, we were right on time at the gate of Konya. It was clear that it was possible to travel again, photographers from all over the world had come to Konya to experience the spotters day. After the usual formalities, we were taken by bus to a spot near the ramp where all participants of Anatolian Eagle 2022 were parked.

This year’s participants included Turkish F-16s, Su-25s from Azerbaijan, RAF Eurofighters, Jordanian F-16s and Pakistani F-16s. It took a while before the mission started, but once it did, a large part of the aircraft went up in the air. Meanwhile, the Bayrkatar Akinci Drone was shown to the photographers several times and a Pakistani Il-78 came in as support. This last aircraft could be considered one of the highlights of the day!

After all aircraft had come back in (and were photographed), the group was taken in parts to the other side of the runway to watch the Solo Türk show from there. Despite the fact that there was only a limited flight program in the afternoon, it became very interesting with several flypasts of two Turkish F-4s, a Pakistani C-130 and some Turkish F-16s. After everyone was ready, we set course for the hotel to rest and enjoy the Turkish food in the city. Although it had been a while, the Turks had still not forgotten how to organise a spotters day! Hopefully there will be many more days like this in the future.

1 July 2022