Air Wolf Hunting 2019 - 6th-11th October 2019 - Pipis-hegy
6th October 2019 - (Sunday, Vasárnap)
Support crew day: arrival of 1 Fire Tender, 2 Fuel bowsers, 1 military ambulance, and several large trucks of equipment. Personnel were also setting up large tents for overnight accommodation, and a small tent was erected at the entrance barrier to house the gate guards. I spoke to the gate guards with my 'not too good' Hungarian, and was told that no private vehicles will be allowed near the airfield for the whole of next week. In fact, there will be a barrier much farther down the airfield road. After leaving the airfield I explored the adjacent area and found that an area to the west of the airfield road had been mown and cleared, and had also been marked-out with old tyres and white tape. Maybe some helicopters will land 'in the rough' instead of just the airfeld itself.
7th October 2019 - (Monday, Hétfő)
The day started off sunny, but then large sheets of cloud kept drifting slowly across the sky. This meant that it was one of those coat on/coat off days. At 0950 102 AS350 Squirrel helicopter arrived, and it seemed that the heli invasion had started. This was not the case, however, as 102 was the only 'bird' to arrive from Szolnok all day. At 1024 it took off again, not returning until 1125. It set down quite close to the line of vehicles making one think that it had left space for more helicopters to set down ... but, no.
102 soon took off, making a low level flight over Mátrafüred valley before touching down again at 1154. After taking on board another group of passengers, the low level flight was repeated, touching down at 1200. At 1202 it took to the air again for the last time today, presumably heading back to Szolnok base. An unexpected visitor at 1228 was a Zlin Z242L trainer (or Zlin Z143L9). As it flew directly over the top of me I couldn't see the registration. As the aircraft flew over the field, heading eastwards, the pilot 'waggled' the wings to say 'hello' to his/her colleagues on the ground. That was the final flight activity for the day, although the land vehicles were very active.
102 soon took off, making a low level flight over Mátrafüred valley before touching down again at 1154. After taking on board another group of passengers, the low level flight was repeated, touching down at 1200. At 1202 it took to the air again for the last time today, presumably heading back to Szolnok base. An unexpected visitor at 1228 was a Zlin Z242L trainer (or Zlin Z143L9). As it flew directly over the top of me I couldn't see the registration. As the aircraft flew over the field, heading eastwards, the pilot 'waggled' the wings to say 'hello' to his/her colleagues on the ground. That was the final flight activity for the day, although the land vehicles were very active.
8th October 2019 - (Tuesday, Kedd)
I was surprised to find that, despite two landings yesterday evening, there were NO helicopters on the ground at Pipis this morning! In fact, no helicopters appeared all day. The only excitement was provided by the Antonov An-26 (No. 406) which appeared at 1050 and circled the airfield five times at about 10,000 feet, dropping six or seven paratroopers on each of the last 4 circuits. Finally, it came round at low level to blast through the airfield. Despite it not being a jet, it still provided an exhilarating display of speed and sound. I left the airfield just after 1530 as the only activity for many hours had been the training of the truck drivers as they negotiated the hilly terrain to the west.
9th October 2019 - (Wednesday, Szerda)
The day started with the arrival of two fire engines from Gyöngyös Fire Station. The crews had obviously come to learn about dealing with helicopter fires and/or crashes. The first helicopter to arrive was 102 Mokus, followed a while later by Mi-24P 336, with its side-mounted guns. It signalled its arrival with some dramatic moves. At 1152, Mi-17 705 arrived. At 1219 the Gyöngyös fire crews left the airfield. At 1252 Mi-24 336 left the site, returning at 1318. Various flights were made by 102 and 705, before the latter took its load of paratroopers on board at 1357. At 1404 it was dropping wind-indicating streamers, and then dropping its paratroops at 1406. They were using the traditional round parachutes that are not as control-friendly as the parafoils. All of them landed within the designated target area, apart from one. I was rather concerned about him as it looked as if he had come down amongst trees, but it seems he had landed on the rough grassy area behind the trees. The remaining troops all landed safely using their parafoils, and the Mi-17 landed at 1421. Immediately, 705 took on its next batch of paras and took off with them at 1427. Soon after, 336 took to the air, turned sharply, and made a dramatic low pass through the airfield before heading back to Szolnok. At 1434 the paras were on their way down. 102 made a few circuits, and a new Mi-24P came out to play! This was numbered 334 and arrived at 1447. At 1515, 102 took off and gave an exciting display before heading for home. At 1541, 334 and 705 lifted off and headed back to Szolnok.
10th October 2019 - (Thursday, Csütörtök)
Today, 5 helicopters were in operation: 102 AS350 701 Mi-17 705 Mi-17 334 Mi-24P 336 Mi-24P
When I arrived at 0955, flying was already in progress with Mi-24 336 and Mi-17 705. Then, there was a lull in proceedings until 1120, when AS350 102 arrived. At 1136, 705 took to the air, making a low-level launch over my head. From then on, 102 made several circuits of the field, each one followed by a landing to the left of the track to the buildings. At 1257, 705 touched down, and after its passengers had exited, the aircraft was refuelled. 102 continued its circuit and landing programme, and at 1337, two more fire tenders from Gyöngyös Fire Station arrived for crew joint-training. At 1342, a 'new' bird approached: Mi-17 701. It made its landing at a location indicated by smoke, and its 'injured soldier on a stretcher' was evacuated from the heli and transferred to the waiting military ambulance. At 1355, the crew returned the empty stretcher to the craft, and 701 departed at 1355. At 1406, 705 took to the air, and 102 continued its circuits. At 1450, a second Mi-24 arrived: 334. It was nice to get some shots of both 24s together! At 1455, 705 returned to the field to take part in a series of winching exercises. While hovering just above treetop level, it firstly winched a single soldier aboard, and later, a soldier (or dummy) secured to a stretcher. Whilst all this activity was going on, Mi-24 334 made numerous circuits, including short-duration landings, and, of course, 102 joined in the fun ! After the winch training, 705 lifted at 1512, returning at 1540. This landing signalled the end of my operation at the airfield as the light was fading, due to cloud sheets.
11th October 2019 - (Friday, Péntek)
When I arrived at 0938 Mi-17 705 was already airborne and getting ready to drop a group of paratroops. To my left, some army trucks were still taking part in the hill-driving training. As I neared the gate barrier, the paratroops were making their descent, with the final landing being made by a cargo package slung from its own special green parachute. The tent of the gate guards had been packed away, along with the rest of their equipment, although they were still in attendance. Even their barrier had been dismantled! Over the other side of the airfield, all of the tents had been collapsed and packed. At 0958 the 17 took off again with another group of paras. By 1010, they had all landed safely and could start to pack their chutes. From then on, the attention was very much on ground operations, with the arrival of two military police motorcycles, followed, an hour later, by three military police cars. At 1018 a fuel bowser moved round to refuel 705 prior to its return flight to Szolnok. 705 eventually became airborne at 1100, making a sharp left turn after take-off followed by a low flight through the airfield. While it was being refuelled, I was surprised to see a civilian aircraft make a circuit over the airfield (HOAC CV20 Katana - HA-DAL). I would have thought that there would have been a NOTAM for the whole of this week, forbidding civilian traffic to enter this area. Anyway, while all this was happening, a queue of five Jeeps had formed at the gate, and were soon joined by a vast array of other vehicles: large trucks, a bus containing troops, breakdown truck, the bowser containing diesel fuel, the radio truck, and, in their own little group, the Szolnok fire tender and the two bowsers containing aircraft fuel. It was quite a convoy, and they were headed by the military police contingent, who made their presence known with a few bips on their sirens! After they had all gone, there was a strange silence about the place, and I walked across the airfield to take some images showing the 'new' emptiness. I then walked up the hill, searching for the hill-driving course. I found it, and it was certainly steep and arduous to climb .... much better in a large army truck! Descending, I walked through the truck maneuvering area, and back to the car.
An excellent photographic summary of the week has been compiled by Levente Benedek in his 'Combatant Blog': combatant.blog.hu/2019/10/12/air_wolf_hunting_182