Saudi Eagles at BA102 Dijon-Longvic,  6 October 2009

After a good night rest we got up around seven o'clock the next morning. The sky was far from clear, many clouds came in during the night, which was very disappointing. When we arrived at the airfield around nine o'clock, the weather was the same as yesterday. We found a nice place halfway the runway to take some take off shots.

Just like yesterday, the first aircraft already departed a few minutes past nine. When the second flight of two Eagles and two Mirage 2000s taxied to the runway, the sun suddenly broke through the clouds. Only five minutes later the sun disappeared behind the clouds again. But this very short sunny moment really made our day.

When the first wave was airborne we were visited by the Gendarmes again. Just like yesterday, they were very friendly and it was no problem at all to take shots along the fence. For me it was the first time in France the Gendarmes didn't mind taking pictures of buildings and infrastructure. Well done guys!

After the first wave landed we had two choices: 1) Stay at Dijon to see the second wave of the day; 2) Drive to Reims-Champagne to see the landings of the afternoon wave. As the weather in Northern France was worse, we decided to stay and waited for the second wave. Unfortunately again the same Eagles and Mirages flew during the afternoon.

When all the aircraft of the second wave were airborne we decided to find us a nice spot in the landing area. Close to a roundabout we found a small parking spot, from here you have a nice view on the landing area, however some of the aircraft are still pretty high here. Just before the last flight of Eagles came in it started to rain. Despite that it was very nice to take some landing shots of the Eagles.

After the landing of the last Saudi Eagle, we decided to pack our gear and drive back to the Netherlands. Around 21.30h we arrived at home after driving 1415 kms in two days.