Few pictures and videos of the air meeting of Gap Tallard, in the Hautes-Alpes, which took place on Saturday, May 12, 2018. With the program the Patrouille de France, twirling between mountains and cumulus, but also all kinds of aircraft various and varied.
Gap Tallard airport
The last major air show on the grounds of Gap Tallard, The Air World took place several decades ago, in 1998 and 1999. The Gap Tallard airfield occupying an economically more and more important place in the department of the Hautes Alpes, it was normal for a major aeronautical event to take place again on the platform of the alpine department. In addition to leisure activities such as gliding, parachute jumping, Ulm, general aviation more and more companies related to the air sector have settled on site.
The attractiveness of the mountains and the fresh air of the Alps, but also the proximity by air or via the motorway of Marseille and the Rhone Valley probably explaining this craze, largely promoted by the department of 05. Companies aeronautical maintenance but also training center now occupy the premises, which vitalises the south of Gapençais.
Video 3 mn
The air show
The event gathered more than 30,000 people which made access to the airfield difficult enough by road. An hour and a half of bottling to do the last 10 kilometers, a little before noon this Saturday there.
Once on site the organization, impeccable, allowed a very good meeting. The association Agatha and the direction of the aerodrome (dependent of the department 05) having really thought about all the organizational aspects to make the visitors pleasant this day in the open air (safety, comfort, timing, restoration, spaces and layout of places etc ...).
The weather was also in the game with a nice blue sky in the morning dappled cumulus, turning congestus during the day. The sky, the day before and the day after the meeting, presented a face much darker and rainier! The thermally turbulent aerology on the day of the meeting made the accuracy of the maneuvers performed by the pilots in demonstration even more appreciable.
Static exposure
Several static exhibitions, on the ground therefore, attracted the curiosity of the visitors like this helicopter EC 665 "Tiger" of the Alat (Light Aviation of the Army), this Puma (Aerospatiale then Eurocopter / Airbus Helicopter) of white dressed or still all kinds of aircraft in which the curious could climb (Gliders, Pilatus, balloon nacelle etc ...)
Confratulate to the Air Detachment of the Gendarmerie (DAG) specially came from Briançon for the occasion. The crews, pilots, but also helpers of the high mountain gendarmerie platoon (PGHM) or the republican security company (CRS de Montagne) do not count their time and energy to answer visitors' questions, nor to explain to them how the twin engine Eurocopter EC145 (called Choucas 05) mountain rescue. We always admire the quality of their commitment to the service of the victims in the mountains, their modesty and discretion to any test. And this, always, without any other criterion than that to help!
Flight demonstrations
The Patrouille de France changes each year its program of air show, it was for this year 2018 the second representation after that of Salon de Provence (base of the Patrouille de France) a few days earlier. The audience, amazed by the figures of the Alphajets, warmly applauds at the end of the 30 minutes of the aerial performance. The airplanes, in tight formation, flew at over 600 km / h at a distance of 3 or 4 meters from each other during the most daring maneuvers! The alphajets could not land on the spot, because of a too short track in Tallard, landed on their base, in Salon de Provence. The pilots returned on board a small Cessna Caravan single-engine transport aircraft to present themselves to the public, sign autographs and respond to various requests, carrying out their mission of representation and promotion.
Franck Zapata, on his Flyboard Air made us all dream of the times, now closer and closer, where we will all fly in the air like birds (?!); one, two or three generations maximum? His "flying skateboard" powered by 4 small engines is just great. The man masters his machine to perfection, true showman, choreographer and dancer of the sky. Smile dazzled young and old among the public amazed, incredulous, having the impression to attend a sci-fi film. We say that the predictions of the book "Homo Deus: a brief history of the future" will be realized much faster than expected ...
Forgiveness to mention all too fast other demonstrations in flight: parachuting, wingsuit, paragliding, vintage military aircraft (Noratlas, Bronco, Skyraider etc ...), glider, light helicopter or water bomber, acrobatics (Nicolas Ivanoff world champion aerobatics and the aerobatic team of the air force) or still autogyro etc ... We propose to see or review, all these aerial demonstrations through videos and photos posted on the page of this blog. Note the presence of the journalist specialized (ex magazine "Pegase" on France 3) Bernard Chabbert, on the podium for comments always very encyclopedic, to highlight the aircraft and their pilots.
In the end we had a great time in the air like big children dazzled by all these flying machines. Thank you to the organizers for this very successful day.
Video long version 12 mn
Air show photos
Links
http://www.aeropole-gap-tallard.com
