SiKo 2023

As every year, the Security Conference took place in Munich in mid-February. Due to the Ukraine war, many guests were expected. The US delegation was this year particularly large, and the Chinese top diplomat Wang was eagerly awaited .
Lukas , Emil and Maxi traveled to Munich to catch the arrivals and depature of the SiKo 2023.Emil had been in Munich since Thursday evening. Lukas arrived on Friday morning and Maxi arrived on Friday evening, after he had previously photographed the E4 at NUE.

Friday, February 17: It was a special day as civilian traffic was prohibited from landing and departing at Munich airport due to a strike by the ground service. Only government and private jet traffic were allowed. The first movement of the day was a Gulfstream 4 of the Koninklijke Luchtmacht from Amsterdam, followed by several small government planes. The German Air Force arrived around 10:00 AM with the 15+10, and the Albanian Government A319 arrived shortly after. French President Emmanuel Macron arrived at around 11:00 AM with 2 Falcon 7X planes, and the German Air Force A21N departed back to Berlin. The Serbian Government ERJ135 touched down at Munich shortly after the German Air Force A21N departure. The highlight of the day arrived around 12:00 PM, a C-32A from the USAF with registration number 98-0001. The Kuwait B739 that arrived on Thursday departed back to Kuwait 30 minutes later. After this, several other government and buzzer planes arrived and departed. At around 4:30 PM, 2 Uh-60 Blackhawks arrived from Grafenwöhr with the callsign DUKE21 (15-20745) and DUKE45 (10-02311). Max finally arrived at Munich and checked in at the hotel with Lukas. After dinner at a nearby restaurant, they went back to the airport for some night shots of the USAF lineup with 3 C40s and one C32A before returning to the hotel.

Saturday, February 18: Normal traffic resumed, and the day started at 7:00 AM when they went to the south hill at Runway 26L. The weather was cloudy in the morning, but it cleared up later. The first government traffic was a Clipper of the USAF, followed by the Danish Air Force Challenger with registration number C-215 at 9:00 AM. After the Danish Air Force Challenger, the light improved, and some civilian heavies and normal traffic departed with better lighting. The Italian Falcon 900 arrived from Rome, followed by the Swiss Challenger with registration number T-751 from Zurich and the Polish Government's E175 (SP-LIG). Many buzzer planes arrived and departed for the SiKo. The Spanish Air Force Falcon 900 arrived shortly after, and the Albanian Government A319 departed back to Tirana. Max and some other spotter friends ordered pizza around noon before the Swiss Challenger departed back to Zurich. There was a longer brake until the Bulgarian Government Falcon 2000 departed, followed by the Kuwait A319, which arrived with nice lighting. The German Air Force's 15+04 A321 that arrived on Friday departed back to Berlin around 3:00 PM. Nothing special happened for about an hour and a half until the 3 B738s of the Polish Air Force taxied to the runway and took off back to Warsaw. The last military movement in daylight was a Charleston C17 of the USAF. Three C17s arrived as support, with two of them landing on the north runway and the last one touching down in the dark on the south runway. They returned to the same restaurant as on Friday and ended the day with a nice beer.

Sunday 19.02: The Sunday started off a little fast as we woke up around 6:30 AM and went directly to the south hill to catch a rare Il76 of Silkway Airlines. The weather was the worst at the SiKo weekend, but the traffic was good. After the Il76, the Algerian government arrived with a Gulfstream 450, and shortly after that, the highlight of the SiKo departed back to Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijan A340-600. Ten minutes later, the USAF was inbound with a Learjet 35 and a Dover C17. Then the next USAF aircraft departed back to ADW, a Clipper. The Buhta Airways E190 departed back to Azerbaijan, and also the Il76 departed. The Dover C17 that arrived already in the morning departed at 11 o'clock with some nice light. After the C17, the next C-37A of the USAF departed back to ADW. Around 12 o'clock, a RARE A342 from Sky Prime Airlines with the reg HZ-SKY1 departed back home, which also arrived already on Thursday from Brussels. 20 minutes later, the Kuwait A319 departed back home, and the SiKo traffic slowly came to an end. The last two departures of the SiKo for us were the Republic Armenia A319 and the DeerJet A319 with the Chinese diplomat Wang on board. Then the last SiKo landing that we caught was the Learjet 45 of the North Macedonian government. After this, we ended the evening at the Airbräu restaurant at the airport and said goodbye to those who left for Innsbruck in the morning to catch the Chinese Y-20.

Monday 20.02: Maxi left Munich in the morning in the direction of Innsbruck to catch the Y-20 of the Chinese. Lukas and Emil stayed in Munich and started the day relaxed around 8 AM. Not much SiKo traffic was expected, but the weather was beautiful. Our first spot of the day was a banking spot for the 26L to catch a B788 from Qatar Airways in a beautiful banking. Then we moved to the north runway to catch some heavy airliners like LH 789, UA B763, or AA B773. After approximately one hour, we drove back to the banking spot at 26L to catch an Etihad B789 in banking. After this, Emil and Lukas went to the final spot for the last hour, the South Hill. Emil said goodbye and went back home with a quick stop in Oberschleißheim. Lukas stayed around 1:30 hours on the South Hill and caught some heavies with good light. Then Lukas traveled back home as well.

Facit:Overall, the SiKo wasn't the best SiKo ever, but it was okay. The traffic on Friday was a little bit boring, but that was because of the strike. The weather was better than expected, but the best thing about SiKo was simply seeing everyone again. 

Written by: Lukas(@planespotter_lukas)