Lechfeld - Even for the soldiers and civilian workers at the Lechfeld air base, it is unusually loud these days. This is not only due to the fact that there are regular two-hour flights in the mornings and afternoons, but also because of the aircraft: the Eurofighter has a completely different background noise than the helicopters or propeller planes, which otherwise frequently fly to NATO airfield Lechfeld .
As reported in KREISBOTEN, the Tactical Air Force Squadron 74 relocated 14 Eurofighters to the Lechfeld at the beginning of September due to regular renovation work on the runway at the Neuburg Air Base. After initial teething problems, flight operations are now running smoothly. After a four-year break, the Neuburger used their permanent alternate airfield for routine flight operations again. 300 posts from Neuburg had been moved to the Lechfeld to support the 50 men and women of the airfield squadron who are stationed here all year round anyway.
"The relocation means we have almost half more flight operations on the Lechfeld," estimates Colonel Gordon Schnitger, commodore of the Tactical Air Force Wing 74. At peak times, eight of the 14 aircraft are on the move - in various German training air spaces (one of which is directly above the field) or in the Czech Republic, Belgium or Switzerland.
"The main difference to the home base on the Danube is that everything on the Lechfeld is much larger," said Colonel Schnitger at the press conference recently.
"Last but not least, the runway here on the Lechfeld is 240 meters longer", the Commodore knows from experience, after all, he has already started at the Lechfeld himself.
Nevertheless, it is part of the QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) practice operation, which is responsible for securing the airspace in southern Germany, to occasionally start the afterburner.
This mostly took place in a southerly direction via the Landsberg district;
this avoided flying over Königsbrunn and Friedberg.
The QRA standby time ends on Monday, the relocation of all Bavarian Eurofighters to Neuburg should be completed by next Wednesday at the latest.
The relocation of some tornado fighter planes of the 6º Stormo (squadron) from the Italian Ghedi (Lombardy), initially announced for the end of September, has been postponed to November. The exact date is not yet known, it was said on the Lechfeld.
