The Transport Weapons Instructor Course (TWIC) 2019 is running at Leeuwarden airbase from May until November 2019 parallel to the Fighter Weapons Instructor Course. Participating units are 336 Squadron "Black Bulls" from the Royal Netherlands Airforce and 15 Squadron of the Belgian Airforce. The participating pilots will become masters in operating their aircraft in all mission profiles during the seven months long course. The course consists of three phases; air-to-air, air-to-ground and the integration phase, after which the pilots will graduate and receive the famous blue instructor patch on the left shoulder.
During the air-to air phase Northern Skies had the opportunity to fly on a number of missions.
The first one being an integrated mission with commandos assigned to extract downed helicopter pilots in a hostile environment. One C-130 acted as mission commander overflying the area, while the second one landed on the beach of Rømø, a Danish island. The landing zone was prepared in advance by the pathfinders of the 11th Air Assault Brigade. Under the watchful eye of many tourists a number of beach landings were made and the pilots were recovered succesfully.
The second mission was a so called Basic Fighter Manoeuvre Mission against a F-16 of the 322 Squadron. The F-16 tried to lock on the C-130 to fire a simulated missile or gunshot, while the C-130 tried to avoid this making sharp turns. After a number of runs the ramp door was opened for some aerial shots with the Belgian C-130 and Dutch F-16.
The results were spectacular!! The shots have been published so far in the official RNLAF magazine 'De Vliegende Hollander and will be published in Air International Magazine in the near future.
Northern Skies Aviation would like to thank all crew members involved and especially the TWIC supervisor for making our trips possible!
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