Axalp 2007

Introduction

The Swiss F5 Tiger is getting older, its numbers are dwindling and their appearance now quite rare. The much more costly and sophisticated F18 Hornet has replaced them as the front line fighter, so this flying demonstration today is not the same as in 2007. I wrote this article for the British Airline Pilots Association magazine so that its members could see what some of their fellow professionals sometimes get up to.

A Unique Public Demo. No Special Effects

I’ve been to a few airshows in my time, and had always thought that the best one was put on by the Swiss Air Force at Buochs in 1994. The endless succession of brand new looking Hunter pairs taking off at the end of the show as we enjoyed the hospitality of the VIP tent was entertaining enough, but the perfect 36 ship solid diamond formation that followed was a ‘grown men wept’ moment. This was the Hunter’s goodbye, and a celebration of the country’s knife-edge referendum decision to buy the F18. But I’ve just seen an airshow act to top it all.

The Walk To The Viewing Area (targets 1 & 2 on the right)

Actually it was called a demonstration, not an airshow – entry is free and available to all. Every October during the two month ‘Flyershooting’ open season the Swiss Air Force put on a hearts-and-minds event to show the people their boys in action. The Axalp air-to-ground firing range sits at 7,000ft in a high east-west alpine valley. The cows have just gone down and the autumn weather is usually perfect. This site has been in use since 1944 and the obvious target area sits near the top of a ‘Scheidegg’ – one of those saddles left running across a valley when the ice retreated in both directions. We’re standing on top of a ridge that defines the north side of this high valley, and half a mile away on the other side is a steep mountain wall running up another 3,000ft above us, that’s 10,000ft. This is extremely scenic flying territory. Behind us, five and a half thousand feet below is Lake Brienz and Meiringen airfield. Down there it’s a hazy, sunny autumn afternoon, but we’re just above the inversion so the top of the haze looks like stratus from above. After a last underslung Alouette top up of bratwurst and beer and a convoy of Puma helicopters ferrying the VIPs from below the time has come.

Helicopter Fireworks

The proceedings are traditionally opened by a large helicopter firing all its 128 missile decoy flares at once, then doing its stall turning, flying backwards and steep turning routine. Next we get some rescuing from REGA, the national helicopter rescue service, while we hear jets taking off below – all good stuff. (The amphitheatre layout means that the display action takes place close by at eye level.) The major announces that the local F5 Tiger squadron will show us their standard training routine. It will be loud, he tells us, and they will approach from the west. I’ve had a ride in a weapons school Hawk so know what to expect - a bit of a wingover to dive at the target, a burst when it looks right in the gunsight then a pull up to the left around the circuit for another go. Should be something similar.

The F5 Northrop Tiger first flew in 1959. It’s reliable, easy to maintain, has two Learjet engines (with significant reheat) and is small, in fact it looks like a 3/4 scale fighter replica; but it’s well supersonic (good for 900kts), will climb at 30,000 fpm, has straight wings, is easy to fly and makes tons of noise. The fuselage is just wide enough for the pilot who sits on the floor (more or less) behind two automatic five-chamber Colt revolvers in the nose. They do everything in pairs

The first two are running in, slightly downhill of level, looking tiny and fast, difficult to pick up at first. As the leader draws abeam us a trail of brown smoke streams past the cockpit for a split second.

© Peter Steehouwer

Then we hear the crackle and brrrpp at the same time as maximum aeroplane noise. The major was right – it’s a serious sensory event. Immediately the dinky fighter throws on rather more than ninety degrees of bank and pulls hard to closely follow the contours of our ridge; around, down, and out of sight through a dip.

The number two man is a couple of seconds behind him and does the same things. An immediate question springs to mind – how can we be sure that the second one never shoots the first one? There are some simple answers to this but accurate flying and a high order of CRM are fundamental requirements – it’s a close thing by airline standards.

Ten seconds behind them the next pair do the same thing – similarly followed by a third and fourth. What a feast of dynamic action, eight aeroplanes whizzing past shooting and making lots of noise – fantastic. We wait for the second pass and can hear the jets somewhere over the lake but can’t see them; they must be close, but where are they? The first one appears from close behind our shoulders as he levels his wings – then fires a second later – 200 feet in front of our faces. The line is different this time, thirty degrees across the valley, with limited prior sight of the second target (a couple of red plastic sheets, by the way), and slants towards the mountainside.

This is getting very bold for a public show, one might think – then the unthinkable happens: he makes a mistake and pulls towards the mountain instead of left as before. A climbing jink back to the left (whew) avoids disaster and he scoots up the side of the 3,000 ft of mountainside at a forty five degree angle to roll over the top and disappear down the other side, quick as a flash. The others do the same: so it’s part of the routine – amazing!

As we watch the last of the eight vanish over the top the lead pair reappear from behind us, at left ear height, back through the first exit dip in our ridge, heading directly towards a vertical rock face, something of a surprise. Immediately they fire at the plastic strips hanging on this unlikely place, leaving a cloud of limestone dust in the air, then pull straight up towards the cliff, but not enough! As disaster seems inevitable a last minute tweak has them hugging the masonry (that was close!).

The two of them scamper vertically up the rock face like two kittens running up the curtains. A half roll and a tight pull over the top and they’ve gone. Suddenly I’ve got it. They’re low flying up the seventy degree mountain side as if it were level ground. This is what they meant to do.

I caught the last aeroplane quarter rolling to the west just before he vanished down the back. Ahah! They’re going to fly round the back of the Axalphorn, down the Axalp valley to our right and out to the lake, maybe to come back again from behind. But no - they come back over the 10,000 ft ridge and down the mountain the way they went up, this time pulling out in front of us and firing at another target on the hillside alongside us, then half rolling and pulling down over the edge and disappearing into the haze below. The mind is reeling by now.

Photo © Henk Tito

This is all done from the general-purpose reasonable 6-mile-a-minute basic easy manoeuvring and navigating speed for jets. The coordination of the different runs to the different targets, from easy to full-on up-or-down mountain attacks, always with surprise approaches and ground-hugging escapes, is achieved by flying the right radii. From beginning to end the whole thing was seamless and breathtaking, and, with the speed, noise, closeness of the action and the scenery gave a bewildering impression of non-stop action continuously coming at you from all directions – terrifying if you were to be on the receiving end, but totally exhilarating to witness as a spectator. This was a bravura performance flown with brio, dash, teamwork, great discipline and, yes, safety. Absolutely fantastic in anyone’s book. I’ve never seen anything like it.

They finished the shooting with one pair firing a long burst of sparkly shells at the vertical cliff target. Yes, they really do hit it – and could seriously damage your cowshed with one pass.

Photo © Peter Steehouwer

Then the team made a serene flypast in a double box, to show their 8 Squadron number, rather charming and quaint.

8 Sqn. Flypast - © Peter Steerhouwer

Of course we saw some other things, and the much bigger Hornet showing its Gatling gun firepower and remarkable computerised handling, but, somehow, it didn’t look as comfortable even attacking just the easy target. It’s very much a multi-role machine and is flown and taught by the Swiss Air Force pros.

F18 Pulling Some G In The Valley

Pros? So who are these F5 mountain virtuosi? Actually they’re airline and GA pilots on their days off.

Old fighter pilots – go to Axalp and be reminded how good you were. Wannabe Balpa Biggleses – go, see, and weep for what might have been.

F/A-18 Hornet Cockpit View - Axalp 2017

F/A-18 Hornet Cockpit View - Video Notes

This YouTube video was made ten years after the Axalp 2007 live firing demonstration by the 8 F5s of 8 Militz Squadron (equivalent to the British Royal Auxiliary Air force Squadrons of the 1950s). Claude Nicollier, celebrated Swiss astronaut and very experienced air force and Militz pilot, considered the Hunter to have been in a class of its own - the King of Axalp. Of the F5 he said “It was just another aeroplane.”

The F18 has moved things on a stage further. Fly-by-wire has put an extra device between pilot and flying controls. It allows otherwise radical, virtually unflyable designs to be conveniently guided by the pilot, but some element of natural directness of control will be lost, whether for fighter or airliner.

This video does not show the intricate Axalp tactics of yesteryear: It celebrates the fun and exhilaration of manoeuvring flight with tons of performance against and within the grandeur of a splendid mountain playground.

The notes below refer to the headcam video footage made by the Meiringen display pilot. It points out features that will add detail to the Axalp 2007 report and the F5 routine by 4 pairs. The comments refer to paused video pictures at the film timeline counts below. The positions of the four targets of 2007 will be pointed out where possible. For those who wish to rebuild the 2007 routine in detail the listed pause positions should be noted in advance. The detail of this virtual Tiger flight of history can then be read and unravelled at leisure. Enjoy the ride.

0:05 seconds. We are heading east, towards the basic targets 1. and 2. as shown in the Axalp 2007 article. These targets, not yet visible in this video, are near the top of the saddle, somewhere above the green numbers on the pilot’s head up display (HUD). On the top of the first hill on the left is the white range control tower, and the spectators stand on the grass in front of and to the west of it. The walk up on the two controlled show days goes up the ridge on the left, sometimes amongst the rocks, to the two white ‘tents’ visible. A run from the opposite direction, close to the grass, likes to make a right turn over the path and behind this ridge. Target 2. (same place, different line) is approached on a track about 30⁰ to the right (clockwise) of the heading shown. This passes close past the edge of the hill on the left, therefore cannot be seen by spectators until the aircraft are quite close to the target. The F5s then pull right and scoot up the ridge at the last second

We are at 7000 feet. The mountains immediately on the right go to 10’ 000 feet, behind them is Grindelwald, beyond which is the main alpine ridge, 14,000 ft - Wetterhorn, Eiger etc.. To the left the ground falls away to the north, down to Lake Brienz and Meiringen airfield (1,500ft). Interlaken is at the other end of this lake.

0:29 The Hornet has pulled up to the right, done some loopy/rolly stuff over the 10,000 ft hills and is shaping up for another gesture at the basic targets, but approaching them in a descending right turn. Note the rate of descent and short (too short) line up. The Hornets do not do the routine described for the F5s. This larger and much more electric aircraft appears to be more suited to large scale manoeuvring without so much hugging the scenery.

0:39 Now you can see targets 1&2 through the HUD. Above the right hand end of the pilot’s top mirror is the vertical rock face F5 target 3. (sparkly shells).

0:51 The pilot has pulled to the right and skirted over the 10,000ft ridge, done some sort of turn around and is heading back towards the tower, above left hand corner of HUD. Through the HUD glass is the position of F5 target 4 (in the quarry?). This is attacked S to N (left to right) after the F5s have reappeared coming down the mountainside on the left and pulling out level with the tower and viewers. Then they half roll and pull down towards the lake (vanishing).

0:59 The top end of the walk up. Are these people or cows? Axalp village coming into sight at 1 o ‘clock.

1:05 After a circuit round the back of the hill we have another pass for the frenzied Swiss crowd.

1:29 Now a bit of a square loop (fly-by-wire protected corners).

2:03 After zapping right round the tower and wingovering left we get another west to east run with Derry turn and a disappear down the F5 escape valley after target 1. The town of Brienz can be seen top left by the lake.

3:11 After some airshow aerobatics we get a big looping turn round manoeuvre to the east, with a good view of the airfield. Very short transit time required . .

3:34 . . . followed by a surprise pass, quiet?

Is that as much fun as a double Belfast? Reckless and dangerous? Absolutely not: but if the heights and speeds don’t tie up DON’T DO IT!

Have fun in your Airbus.