Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/739629
A history of the "ramp" photo shoots during which photographers take photos from the open cargo ramp of an aircraft has not had a long history in Poland – in particular, if photographed subject is a fighter jet. Over years the crews has had the other priorities and there has been no consent to organize such a flight. A situation changed in 2015, when BGen Mirosław Róźański for the first time approved an idea of conducting an air-to-air photoshoot (A2A in short) from the board of F-16 fighter (throughout nine years of service photos were tak- en almost exclusively from another aircraft or tanker aircraft during training). Everything has gone perfectly what has constituted a good standing point for the further ventures. 2016 was a round anniver- sary of first Polish F-16 deliveries, what was an impulse to begin planning a flight which has functioned in the photographers' minds for years – to meet in the air with the MiG-29 Fulcrums, Su-22 Fitters and F-16 Fighting Falcons. The three fighters used by Polish Air Forces would for the first time pose in the front of the cameras. This case only apparently seems to be easy and to require only a logistic coordination. In fact, each of these aircraft has different operational range, and the pilots fly from the other locations (staged flights has been out of question – a photo shoot has been supposed to be conducted during the "normal" training flights) and what is the most important – they have a vari- ous minimum speed what in the case of a cooperation with a mili- tary transport aircraft is of a key importance. From a very beginning we have assumed that a "carrier" aircraft will be a C-295M or C-130, which – apart from the obvious economic reasons – generates a much more larger trace of combustion gases, what during the air- to-air photo shoots is an important parameter (it can be perfectly noticed while taking photos from a CH-47 Chinook helicopter when a ramp is just flooded with exhaust gases). So, an issue of the C-295M and Su-22 Fitter different speeds is open (MiG-29 and F-16 are high maneuverability aircraft with fantastic aerodynamic properties for which low speeds are not any challenge) because they have never cooperated with each other in the air. If the pilots are not able to determine appropriate (and allowable) speed limits for both parties, a back-up idea would be passing by a C-295M by an entire formation with a higher speed. An obvious disadvantage would be then a short- er time for taking a photo and a necessity of a long "repositioning" to a subsequent flight. Thankfully, the experienced airmen have worked out a "balance" during a briefing that allowed the Su-22 for taking a position behind the opened ramp of the C-295M. www.fragoutmag.com