1Wing 1946-1996

All courses are performed by the instructors of the F-16 MTU. The unit is located outside the operational zone, in the “camp”, and is placed under the orders of Lieutenant-Colonel Goeminne. 

At the end of 1979, my fellow graduating students and I were part of the first French speaking class that received the conversion course on F-16 at 1Wing.
For our instructor, warrant Officer Jan Knaepen, it was his first course on the Pratt&Whitney F 100-PW-200 engine. A few weeks later, on the 4th of January 1980 we successfully pass our written and spoken tests. We duly receive our qualification as F-16 engine specialists.

A month later, I join the F-16 Line & Armament Squadron (L&A), more exactly the intervention hangar (H2). 

Then starts a period during which I will discover one by one the different aspects of the work as an aircraft engine technician.
The replacement of an engine component requires a functional test to insure it’s working properly. In some cases, an engine run is required, and that is performed by the technician himself.
That’s how I ran my first engine test one week after joining the squadron.
The senior technicians where there to enhance my self-confidence, to teach me the good reactions and the best ways to work on an aircraft. Some are uncompromising on the quality of the work done, on the way to us the tools and on the cleanliness of the tools and the work environment.

I will not only learn to replace one failing component but also to identify the one that causes the malfunction of the engine or one of its associated systems. That’s how I will step by step increase my experience and make my way in the squadron. I will have the opportunity to participate to many movements abroad, during operational exercises of both flying squadrons (349 and 350 SQN) or during repair on aircraft on ground on foreign bases for technical reasons. 

I will also have the opportunity to go more deeply into the study of the working and the different settings of the F 100 engine during a period of instruction of a few weeks at the base’s engine shop. My two colleagues and I can from then are qualified to perform full engine trimming whenever necessary. 

The experience I gathered brought me to perform a engine conversion course at Technical Training School (Saffraanberg) for the scholar year 1986-87.
From November 4 1986 until January 1987, I give the first engine conversion course to a class of engine technicians from Florennes Air Base. Afterwards these technicians will receive their practical instruction in Beauvechain before joining Florennes. Florennes will receive their first F-16 on November 14 1988.

I spend my last years in Beauvechains mainly working at the trim facility (Trimpad). The 1Wing is then fully operational and has a heavy flying program. The engines are pushed to the limit and sometimes, under certain flight conditions, suffer small functional issues. The most frequent issue being the afterburner extinction when airspeed goes below critical speed. That’s called a A/B blow-out (After-Burner blow out). A full engine trim is then required to adapt the engine performance.

• 840500-01 F-16A Trim-Pad North 840500-01 F-16A Trim-Pad North
• 840500-02 F-16A Trim-Pad North 840500-02 F-16A Trim-Pad North
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But the years go by and priorities in live change with the age…. At the end of 1988, at the age of 29, I decide to leave the one that taught me so much and to join a civilian airline, which I will work till my retirement in May 2015.

Thirty years passed by and I feel that the moment has come to a review the past.
I propose that you share with me, during the few chapters that follow, the various moments I have been able to fix on film.
I will start with the enrolling in the Belgian Air Force, via the selection examination at “Petit Château” in 1978, then comes the essential part, live in squadron from February 1980 until I left December 31 1988.

I wish you again a pleasant visit.

Next : Joining AF