http://lowpassage.com Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:58:42 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en On Sept. 25, Decimomannu airbase in Sardinia, Italy, hosted the 50th Anniversary of the AWTI (Air Weapons Training Installation) that was established the NATO partnership of Italy, Germany, Great Britain and Canada. The AWTI exploits an ACMI (Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation) range where air-to-air missions and DACT (Dissimilar Air Combat ... http://lowpassage.com/2009/10/08/50th-anniversary-awti/ From a few years, Dutch military helicopters have been deploying to Frosinone, Italy, homebase of the 72° Stormo of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force, ItAF) to conduct training activities in the mountainous areas located around the Italian airport. Tactical low level flights are needed to keep the currencies required ... http://lowpassage.com/2009/09/11/frosinone-110609/ The SF-260EA of the Latina-based 70° Stormo of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force, ItAF) will soon receive a high-visibility colour scheme since the previous grey one made rejoin and formation flight a little too difficult for student pilots. On Aug. 28, the first aircraft in the new colour scheme (MM55119 ... http://lowpassage.com/2009/09/09/first-italian-air-force-sf-260ea-in-new-colour-scheme-latina-280809/ The mini-airshow held in Trapani on Jun. 8, 2009 to celebrate the first 1.000 flight hours of Maj. Salvatore Ferrara and Maj. Maurizio De Angelis  provided the opportunity to take some pictures of the Gioia del Colle F-2000s temporary deployed to Trapani to perform firing activities in the Sardinian range ... http://lowpassage.com/2009/09/09/f-2000s-tdy-trapani-080609/ On Jun. 8, the 37° Stormo of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force, ItAF) presented two F-16 ADF (MM7240 and MM7249) painted in special colour schemes to celebrate the 1000 Flight Hours achieved by both commanders of the 10° and 18° Gruppo, Maj. Salvatore “Cheero” Ferrara and Maj. Maurizio “Masa” ... http://lowpassage.com/2009/09/09/trapani-080609/ Here are the pictures I took on 30.05.09 (rehearsals) and on 31.05.09 during the Rome International Air Show held in Ostia. For more information about the airshow, click here or here. ... http://lowpassage.com/2009/06/01/rome-international-air-show-ostia-air-show-30-310509/ In November 2008, I had the opportunity to visit Damascus, in Syria, one of the most wonderful and interesting towns of the Middle East. Damascus is an ancient town (for some historical sources, it is the oldest of the World), absolutely safe for a foreign visitor (in spite of the ... http://lowpassage.com/2009/05/15/tishreen-war-panorama-museum-damascus-syria-november-2008/ Many visitors of my site and photo gallery ask me questions about aviation photography and especially about shooting air-to-air from a chase plane. I've already written about the difficulties of taking nice pictures when strapped on an ejection seat inside a small jet cockpit and provided a few explainations and ... http://lowpassage.com/2009/05/11/f-104-air-to-air-pictures-by-katsuhiko-tokunaga-grosseto-2004/ “Mix 153, Grosseto Tower, line up and wait runway 03”. It is November 27th 2000, I’m strapped in the backseat of the TF-104G-M MM54558 “4-48” of the 20th Gruppo piloted by Capt. Andrea Truppo, an Instructor pilot (IP) of the 4th Stormo. I tighten my oxygen mask, lower the dark ... http://lowpassage.com/2009/04/11/flying-with-the-tf-104g-m-november-2000/ On Apr. 6, 2009, at 03.33AM LT, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit the Abruzzo region, in central Italy, killing more than 200 people, causing entire buildings to collapse and leaving 17.000 people homeless. Reconnaissance missions were performed by an AMX of the 51° Stormo from Istrana and by one of the ... http://lowpassage.com/2009/04/07/20000-hours-on-the-p166dl3/ A few days ago I've published a dramatic picture of a Tornado ECR perfoming a low level passage after take off from Cameri at the following address: http://cencio4.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/low-level-tornado-ecr/. Those who commented the picture have different opinions: some believe that maneuver was suicidal or at least too risky; others thinks that ... http://lowpassage.com/2009/04/03/f-4-low-passage-after-take-off-october-2004/ In May 2003, I had the opportunity to fly a mission on board an MB-339A of the locally based 609^ Squadriglia Collegamenti to take some air-to-air pictures of the F-104 Starfighter belonging to the 10° Gruppo of the 9° Stormo and to the 18° Gruppo of the 37° Stormo, that ... http://lowpassage.com/2009/04/02/air-to-air-with-the-f-104s-of-the-9-stormo-130503/ The following pictures were taken at Gioia del Colle in Sept. 2004 during a 2 day visit I made to prepare an article that was published on Rivista Aeronautica (that you can read here in Italian). They are interesting because in that period, the local based 36° Stormo was made ... http://lowpassage.com/2009/03/30/36-stormo-gioia-del-colle-sept-2004/ A few months ago, I published a photostory, named "A day in the life of the 9° Stormo of Grazzanise", an article to provide a snapshot about the 9° Stormo and Grazzanise airbase in a day of 2003. The story contained almost all the pics I shot on that day, ... http://lowpassage.com/2009/03/28/5-stormo-cervia/ In Jan. 2006 I went to Rivolto airbase to visit the Frecce Tricolori and to report about the Winter Season and the training activities performed by the pilots of the display team. Here's the full article (in Italian) that I wrote for Rivista Aeronautica: Alla scoperta delle Frecce Tricolori. During ... http://lowpassage.com/2009/03/21/flying-with-the-frecce-tricolori/