Air force live fire event Axalp 2011 - CANCELLED

[Eagledriver 32]

Hello,

The official Air Force-website is open for any information.
See: http://www.lw.admin.ch/internet/luftwaf ... axalp.html

Will be my first time!

greetz Ewald

[Eagledriver 32]

Will there be a flying programme in the morning? If there is, what is the best time to go up there?

Greetz Ewald

[VinFlyer]

In the morning live firing training will start at 09:00. So if it takes you about three hours to walk from Axalp village to Ebenfluh I would say leave Axalp around 06:00 or so.

[Hans Rolink]

A three hour walk? We did it much faster. From the top of the skilift from Axalp at Windegg it is an hour and a half. The skilift itself is 20 minutes I would say. But do leave early!
Don't forget:
Good shoes or boots
mountain walking poles (not to climb, but to break against when going down again)
a torch of the kind you can attach to your forehead. You will want to leave in the dark and keep your hands free while walking
a dry T-shirt to put on as you reach the range. You will sweat and it might be cold up there!

Usually, shooting takes place in the morning. F-5's will use all targets, the ones on the natural dam in the valley, the ones on the rock face on the south side and the ones on the northern wall. F/A-18's will only use the ones on the dam and will thus only fly from west to east.
In the afternoon there will be flying displays.

Have fun!
Hans.

[Copter]

Be carefull: weather conditions at Axalp can be very bad and dangerous (especially for people which are not used to mountain conditions). When we were there a few years ago there was 50 cm of snow and there were blizzards taking away all your view.

Don't forget the following equipment while visiting Axalp:
- warm clothes
- if there is a lot of snow, a ski outfit and ski-goggles can be usefull
- REGA membership for when you have to be recoverd by helicopter (if not covered by your own (travel)insurance).

[Hans Rolink]

Be carefull: weather conditions at Axalp can be very bad and dangerous (especially for people which are not used to mountain conditions). When we were there a few years ago there was 50 cm of snow and there were blizzards taking away all your view.

Don't forget the following equipment while visiting Axalp:
- warm clothes
- if there is a lot of snow, a ski outfit and ski-goggles can be usefull
- REGA membership for when you have to be recoverd by helicopter (if not covered by your own (travel)insurance).

Good points!
And something else, no shoulderbag for your camera equipment but a backpack. A Lowepro Mini Trekker AW like I have is perfect. You will not want to climb any slope with a shoulderbag, much less going down again.
Oh, and before I forget, I got a terrible case of muscular pain ("spierpijn") on the second descent, so you might want to bring some benzydaminehydrochloride creme like Tantum which takes care of the inflammation which accompanies muscular pain.

Hans.

[Copter]

Oh, and before I forget, I got a terrible case of muscular pain ("spierpijn") on the second descent, so you might want to bring some benzydaminehydrochloride creme like Tantum which takes care of the inflammation which accompanies muscular pain.

... or do some training in advance ...

[Hans Rolink]

Oh, and before I forget, I got a terrible case of muscular pain ("spierpijn") on the second descent, so you might want to bring some benzydaminehydrochloride creme like Tantum which takes care of the inflammation which accompanies muscular pain.

... or do some training in advance ...

When you live on the Groningen countryside, there is little chance of climbing exercise

Hans.

[leonard van T]

Usually, shooting takes place in the morning. F-5's will use all targets, the ones on the natural dam in the valley, the ones on the rock face on the south side and the ones on the northern wall. F/A-18's will only use the ones on the dam and will thus only fly from west to east.
In the afternoon there will be flying displays..

last year the Hornets also used all targets for the firts time.

to prevent muscular pain; take the longer route back to Axalp (so near the targets staight down) it really helps a lot !
don,t forget a "vuilniszak" to sit on

Leonard (6st time Axalp !)

[Hans Rolink]

last year the Hornets also used all targets for the firts time.

That gives you the chance to shoot Hornets firing their M-61 gun with the sun in your back. Walk towards Brau (the westernmost tip) during the afternoon as the Hornets fly between the Tschingel and the Ebenfluh coming from the south.

Hans.

[leonard van T]

http://bildersammlung.ch/brienz-axalp-b ... webcam.php

looks like first snow has fallen !

Leonard

[USAFE]

Axalp 2011 cancelled!!!

11.10.2011 - Aufgrund der möglichen Armeeeinsätze im Zusammenhang mit den schweren Niederschlägen hat die Armeeführung in Absprache mit dem Chef VBS entschieden, auf das für Mittwoch und Donnerstag geplante Fliegerschiessen auf der Axalp im Berner Oberland zu verzichten. Es ist in der momentanen Situation entscheidend, im Fall von weiteren Niederschlägen oder Murgängen die notwendigen Mittel für Lufttransporte zugunsten der Bevölkerung einsetzen zu können.

http://www.lw.admin.ch/internet/luftwaf ... tnews.html

[Copter]

A question on behalve of one of my friends which is in Switserland at the moment:

Does anyone know if there is no flying at all or are there just not enough transport helicopters to transport the VIP's ?

Years ago the event was also cancelled because the weather. Later that day they did fly .....

[frank kramer]

According to the message on the website of the Swiss AF (quoted above) it is completely CANCELLED for oct 12 and 13, ("darauf verzichten": to abstain from) because of the possibility of having to deploy army resources to help the civilian population in case of more flooding or mudslides due to the terrible weather in Switzerland. In other words: if the helo's are not available for Axalp, there'll be no vips up there, so there's little point in giving firepower demonstrations. However, the statement does not mention whether "normal" use of the range is also affected... The question remains: will you climb all the way up the mountain for a gamble in bad or marginal weather? Good luck with that one to everyone who is there at the moment and was looking forward to taking the beautiful shots that I was looking forward to seeing !

[VinFlyer]

I'm just back from the trainingday at Axalp. There they said (the announcer) that there will be no flying at Axalp at all, so also no target practice runs in the morning...