Attended a Fly-in event in Belgium to check out classic planes & cars

A fly-in is an event where aeroplanes fly into a specific airport!

BHPian Jeroen recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Last Sunday I attended a so-called Fly-in at Malle Airport. A fly-in is an event where airplanes fly into a specific airport! Duh!

But there is usually a bit more to it. Fly-ins can be anything from very low-key to massive events. When we lived in the USA and I was still an active pilot I attended quite a number of these.Sometimes you would find yourself flying for several hours, to land have a cup of coffee with a couple of other pilots, and return home again. Other times, you would find yourself in between hundreds of planes. From little Cessna's to classic war birds, such as the B29, and modern military kit, such as the B2.

The Fly-in in Malle was fairly low-key, but it still brought in some very interesting planes and helicopters as you will see. The Belgians are very good at organisation these events. It is a real family event, with lots to see and do for the kids as well. And very often, they combine it with oldtimer cars. Bring your oldtimer and park for free at the event!

Malle is an old Belgium airforce/NATO airbase. The military moved out several decades ago. The surrounding area is now a nature reserve and the airfield caters to small airplanes. It also has some glider operations.

So I started up my 42-year-old Mercedes W123 at 08.30 and headed south. I always stop at the Shell Petrol station on the Dutch-Belgium border for a coffee and a quick bite (banana bread). It took me less than an hour and a half to reach the venue. The organisation had put up lots of signs to find the airport and the special oldtimer entrance—quite a surprise. In my experience, Belgium and clear signposts are rarely, if ever, mentioned in the same sentence!

Initially, the day started a bit grey, but soon the weather improved and it would be a lovely day. Ideal temperature and sunny!

Parked the W123 in an interesting lineup of other classic cars.

The Belgium Air Force has its own display and aerobatic team. From the Belgium Airforce webpage

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Source: https://www.belgianairforcedays.be/e...eng?i=img-0520

Look at the layout of the cockpit dash. The primary flight instruments are on the right and the radios are on the left. I thought it was a bit of an odd configuration. Anybody flying solo in a two-person side-by-side cockpit plane would always fly the plane from the left seat! Not sure why they have this configuration. During the demonstration later that day, I noticed some pilots were flying from the right and some from the left seat!

This little plane is a Cessna C-150. It brings back many fond memories. I learned to fly on a C150 and did my first-ever check ride in it for my Private Pilot License.

The C-150 is a tiny two-seater plane. Very easy to fly and very cheap to fly too. I seem to recall I used to rent it for about $ 35 per hour! There is also a C-152 which is marginally more powerful.

This here is the best-known Cessna of all time. The C-172 Skyhawk. Notice the registration? A registration starting with PH is always a Dutch plane. It seats four, has a maximum speed of about 115 knots, and a range of 690 Nm. 9 out of 10 pilots all over the world will have gotten into flying and did their first check ride in a C-172! Funnily enough, I only have 1-2 hours of flight time on C-172

Interesting "follow me" vehicle

You could get yourself a seat on either the C-150 or the C-172 for a short introduction flight.

The Malle Glider Club brought one of its gliders out. Kids could sit in it.

Let's have a look at some more cars before continuing with the planes and helicopters.

I spotted this nice-looking Citroen DS driving to its parking spot

A very diverse lineup of classic cars. Anything goes at these events

You might not think of a Hummer as a classic car. But the civilian version starts selling in the early 90s! So some of these are getting close to thirty years old!

The Belgiums seem to like the old classic American cars a lot. I always see a lot of American cars at these sorts of events in Belgium

I am not sure if the series "Knight Rider" was ever shown in India?

From Wikipedia:

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Well, would you know, the famous Kit was here at Malle!! Very cool!!

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You would be forgiven to think this is some old-school double-decker oldtimer plane. It is definitely not new, but it is a Pitt special. One of the best aerobatic planes on the market

See how many of the planes and helicopters you can identify. I was awestruck!

A real family outing. Very relaxed atmosphere, lots to see and do. Lots to eat and drink!

Some more classic cars

The local Belgium police were out in force too. Not for crowd control or anything like that. They just participate in these sorts of events with a stall of their own. They show their cars, bicycles, and bikes and talk to the public about their work, prevention, and so on.

Quite many market stalls selling all kinds of stuff. A lot of it aviation aviation-related

There was also quite a bit of military hardware on display!

Here is one of the helicopters you might have spotted in an earlier image. This is an Airbus Gazelle built in 1984. It is a former French military helicopter. It was bought and fully restored by a Belgium guy some years ago. As of 2022, it is fully airworthy again.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.