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First time is always special! This time we had a lot of "firsts" in our weekend. But step by step! Getting the invitation to display at the Aerofestival Poznan presented us the opportunity to fly in Poland for the first time. After figuring out a plan how to get to and from the show with all personnel, airplane and support van, Judith and Willem drove the support van via Germany to Poznan, starting on Thursday. The Bronco took off from Wevelgem on Friday, landing after a one hour flight in Paderborn. After a nice hangar visit with Quax Flieger group and Hangar 2 - where our crew chief Markus is restoring a Dornier Do27 – and combined with lunch, our Bronco took of with Tony, Edith and Markus, heading to Poznan. |
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On our way to Poznan we made a nice fly by at Ithwiesen, Markus homebase, much to the delight of all who saw us on the ground. After an uneventful flight of 1,5 hours we reached Poznan but were asked for a short holding because of a thunderstorm. Taxiing in together with the AH1 Cobra from Red Bull. Thomas arrived by car from Lübeck in good time too. We were welcomed by Justyna, our host for the next days. She organised transport, hotel, flying schedule as a perfect connection between us and the airshow organisers. She did a great job and we felt in good care.The first spotter pictures of our arrival were already posted on the internet the next day. Next morning the bus pick up at the hotel was at 7 am, due to the pilots briefing at 8 am. We were scheduled to fly Saturday evening and had plenty of time to set up the BDT tent and merchandising. The interest in our team as well as our patches and other items was great! Sadly our display on Saturday was cancelled just after Thomas and Markus prepared the aircraft for display and Tony was ready to get strapped in. Thunderstorns over Berlin were the reason with Poznan serving as an alternate. The airshow shared the airport with normal airline traffic which has inevitably an impact on the display schedule. |
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| This improved a lot on Sunday, which was packed
with many flying displays and the show was much longer than planned. We
got priority on Sunday to display in the morning and received many nice
comments afterwards; the public really loved the Bronco! In the evening we taxied to the other side of the airport for refuel and had the great opportunity to follow the airshow in great light with the teams from Red Bull, Vampire Team from Norway and the Iskra Jet Team from Poland. As a special happening, Felix Baumgartner, the man who became famous as basejumper, skydiver and world famous for his balloon jump from the edge of space, joined us to try out our Bronco cockpit for fit. It was a pleasure meeting you as well as all other pilots, fans, old friends and new ones! |
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In the evening, Judith took a commercial flight to the UK, Thomas drove back home to Lübeck, while Tony, Edith and Willem flew the Bronco home to Wevelgem on Monday. Markus drove the support van 8 hours back to his homebase Ithwiesen, where it remained till the trip to Roudnice in Czech Republic two weeks later. A wonderful weekend coming to a close but a smile remained with good memories. Thanks to every one that made this memorable weekend possible! This was the first big show in Poznan in years and it has a real potential to find its place and we already look forward to a next edition! With special thanks to Aeropakt, Sebastian Golus, the whole organizing commitee, Monika Hryniewicz and Justyna Gnatek for being such perfect hosts. |
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