Do note that Aviation PhotoCrew does NOT offer passengerflights or pleasure rides! You have to be an aviation photographer in order to fly with us under the part SPO regulations ( PAS OM-A 8.3.1.5.5 Task Specialist for Aerial Photography ). In UK airspace we fly under UK Air Ops Regulation.

You will receive multiple mandatory briefings and a specific tasking for the photoflight. You have to strictly comply with the responsabilities as described for the task specialist in the preparation briefings. It is important that you act and behave like a responsible crewmember on any photoflight!

In addition, you will have to follow strictly the guidelines of the ‘flight operations manual’ from the photoship. No matter how much experience you have, these guidelines will be explained before every single photomission again, and it is mandatory to attend this briefing.

It is equally important that you confirm by email that you have received the detailed task specialist briefings ( part 1 and part 2 ) and that you understand the content. You will receive additional training/recurrent training if any of the guidelines and information is not fully understood.

Our team brought the Skyvan photoship to Florida with the plan to fly with several of the airshow participants and hoping for a nice mix between vintage, aerobatic, civilian jets, military and warbirds. Verdict: Sun = 70% , FUN = 100%

The last project of the 2023 season brought us back to the place where we had our first test flights in the USA... Arizona!

With the phenomenal desert scenery and blue sky forecast, we started these few days of fun with something we haven't actually done in 15 years of photoflying, a real sunrise photomission! We could have not asked for a better subject as the classic T-33 from the Arizona Aviation Historical Group, flown by Tim Brown. The light on that desert mountains is just so awesome, waking up at 4am was never so worthwhile!!

October was an exciting month for the team, as we would fly the Skyvan photoship for our very first big American airshow! Pacific Airshow well-known for its huge crowds at Huntington Beach was our destination. Being close to Hollywood they have for sure a lot of flamboyance added to the airshow experience.

As it is a seaside show there is no static aircraft, but for American standards the flying program is pretty big. To get enough aircraft in our air to air basket, we decided to split up the 4 days of flying the Skyvan photoship: 2 days for Pacific Airshow and 2 days for our warbird friends at Camarillo.

Once a year we fly the Skyvan photoship in Belgium, the country of origin of the Aviation PhotoCrew. Normally that is for the famous Sanicole International Airshow, but this year it was time again for the bi-annual airshow of the Belgian Air Force, the Belgian Air Force Days 2023.

They always have a great line-up with plenty of foreign military participation. As it was the first airshow after the covid-era, the expectations of the photographers were skyhigh and we managed to blow everyone away.

Greece….the Walhalla for the die-hard aviation photographer looking for the ultimate vintage hardware. Photographers joined us inside the Skyvan photoship, not only with the high hopes to get their number 1 target, the F-4 Phantom, but also counting on a chance to see the Mirage 2000 and for this year…our very final chances for the T-2 Buckeye.

We had a little celebration, as it was the 5th time we took the Skyvan to Greece, and so also the 5th time we enjoyed a superb corporation with Athens Flying Week and the Hellenic Air Force.

If you ask most aviation photographers eager to fly for air-to-air photos "what would be your favorite jet?" the chance is very high that several will say...a Harrier!

After half a year of trying and paperwork we already knew the Italian Navy had granted us permission to organize a photomission with the Harriers in August. This season, there would be the unique logistic opportunity to stop in Italy, on our way to Athens Flying Week. As Grottaglie Aeroporto is home to the Harriers, that would be a pretty efficient plan as the airfield also has a small civilian apron.

2023 Is the year the Aviation PhotoCrew crossed the ocean and started doing projects in the US and Canada. In August, 6 of our crewmembers went to the Abbotsford International Airshow for the first Canadian project. Abbotsford is located to the South-East of Vancouver in a truly beautiful scenery. It is an airshow with legendary status, so our expectations were pretty high!

Shall we start about the weather….? Ooh the absolute horror RIAT this year had to endure, and it was the same for the photoflights. We managed to fly between showers, for real!! Navigating through the downpour was a new challenge for us, but it was all done in a very safe way. Of course the weather did prevent us from flying the full planning, as many aircraft had a rescheduled arrival time, or had to use the fuel for the photo join-up as additional holding time.

However, long story short, is that despite all these challenges we had another epic edition of RIAT photoflights!! No other project in the entire world will offer so much military variety, and we were truly blessed again to welcome so many friends behind the Skyvan photoship.

We have had friends at Lakenheath airbase for a long time, resulting in many join-ups with USAF assets in previous years. For this season, in great corporation with the Liberty Wing, we organized a 1-day project that was all about American airpower. Our host 'Evil' had made it sure that the Skyvan photoship could land and operate out of Lakenheath itself, a true priviledge!

In the month of July we celebrate one of our fine traditions. The week before we start with the aerial photomissions for the world-famous RIAT airshow, we focus on the most precious aircraft of all….warbirds. In just one weekend, we flew with 16 incredible aircraft and it’s always a fantastic thrill!! The stars need to align in a pretty nice way to make it all happen as very often there is just, well 1 of each. The slightest mechanical issue or questionable weather will see a photomission cancelled. The other challenge is pilot availability, as only a rather small selected group of aviators are qualified to fly the genuine warbirds.

The Finnish Air Force had chosen the city of Turku to host the airshow, and being a coastal place it could only mean our ‘photo join-up area’ would bring the Skyvan over an amazing scenery with a thousand lakes. And the weather forecast was the best scenario you could wish for as well, with only a few fluffy white clouds missing but full sunshine all day.

As always, the aerial photomissions were fully supported by the Finnish Air Force providing us with an incredible line-up of assets.

In June we planned to head out to Anchorage to fly a few days with our Austrian friend Dietmar Schreiber, as he is definately the ‘master of Alaska’ when it comes to chasing all that fantastic old metal that is still flying there.And it certainly was a great roadtrip with a lot of interesting stops to indulge ourselves into the floatplanes and Beavers…Alaska style.

However, this report is about our unexpected but brilliant encounter with the jetfighter power of Eielson airbase. It’s great to have friends in aviation all around the world.

Our crewmember Geert had the chance to hop on the Belgian Air Force A400M for an aerial photoshoot with the F-16 demo jet, 'Dream Viper'. Piloted by 'Vrieske', they took the formation over the Ardennes and coastline to have some nice backdrops. Of course there are a few ingredients present if you talk about an F-16 join-up when it's in the hands of a pilot with 5000+ flight hours on the jet…very dynamic maneuvers, smoke and flares! The grand finale will always come with the famous inverted pose!

In March 2023,we were super excited to fly out to Arizona for two days of testflights with Skydive Arizona providing the Skyvan photoship. Main purpose is not to have a ton of aircraft joining up on us, but to see how procedures work and if they are comparable to our concept in Europe. We had great support in advance from the FAA, and would focus on two days of flying.