Sunsets and mirages

They captured its soul a hundred times…

Text: Tamás Kovács | Photo: by the author | 13:07 June 1, 2026

Hungarian poet Endre Ady summarized the feelings he had experienced along the River Tisza and on the infinite grassland in beautiful poetic tropes of his poem entitled “The poet of Hortobágy”. The soldiers of the Hungarian Defence Forces 2nd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Regiment gained similarly moving experiences during their training jumps performed above the airport of Hajdúszoboszló.

On the occasion of static line jumps, the canopies opened at altitudes of 400-600 meters, and those equipped with tactical ram-air parachutes jumped from an altitude of 3000 meters, drawing the well-known, curved canopy shapes in the sky after nearly 30 seconds of free fall. The 20 army scouts participating in the exercise had the opportunity to practice jumps with and without gears under various circumstances. Thanks to the late afternoon start, they were able to marvel at one of Hungary’s most beautiful landscapes in broad daylight, sunset, at dusk and by moonlight. The interested ones gathering at the civilian airport had a chance to watch the descending paratroops in breathtaking light conditions.