It is a great first in the Menton Heaven. This Sunday afternoon, the aerobatic team and the Patrol of France-prestigious ambassadors of the Air Force and Espace (AAE), which celebrated its 90th anniversary last year-will evolve between sea and mountains, above the city of lemons, to offer spectators unprecedented air demonstrations.
Corganized by the Menton Tourist Office Riviera Merveilles et Bleuciel Airshow, the “French Flyair” creates the wonder of the public wherever it occurs.
Present all weekend in Menton on the occasion of the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Liberation, this high-flying event is the illustration of a perfect synergy between the actors of the territory, the city of Menton and its neighbor Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, with the Italian, Monegasque and French authorities, and the precious help of Nice airport. Months of preparation were necessary to come and admire these pilots today to the firmament of their demanding discipline.
A close and synchronized patrol show
Captain Florent Oddon will be in one of the two aerobatic planes, which will start first from Cannes, in the sky of Menton, with Captain Victor Lalloué, commander of the French aerobatic team of the air force and space. Both constitute the pilots of this unit, selected in the France team. Together, they will offer a breathtaking show of fifteen minutes of tight, then synchronized patrol.
“We are in planes distant from around ten meters and we will offer symmetrical figures. We try to show a range of atypical techniques, and even an air combat simulation …”, announces the captain, “With two aircraft, the type of flight is simpler, but you have to watch over anti-ability to do not hang on”. And he details: “We will evolve on aerobatics with extra 330 SC propeller which can reach 400km/h, they are small, very agile and allow us to maneuver better than with a fighter plane. It is very interesting for aerobatics, because we can also land on small budding terrains, on the Champs-Élysées, at the Bourget fair … as on the smallest aerodromes as in Courchevel. Menton, we should have another dimension, with the sea and the Alps in the background … “
With a high-level track record-double world champion in the team and individual in 2022 and 2024, European champion in 2023, champion of France “elite”, as well as “freestyle” in 2024-and having just won a new national title in early July in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, Captain Florent Oddon, from Vaison-la-Romaine, cumulates the podiums by work and patience.
The know-how of French military aviation
Since Friday, an aeronautical village has been installed on the Francis-Palmero esplanade, with an Alpha Jet, a flight simulator, ejectable seat … and the Patrol de France store. photo cYRIL Dodergny.
Passionate about aeronautics from an early age – “I grew up in an aeroclub in Orange, where my father was a pilot” – He starts to pilot from the age of 15 and starts aerobatics at 16! He entered the air force and space in 2009 to be a fighter pilot. He is first assigned to transport, where he performs freight, dropping and health evacuations missions, etc., for four years aboard a Casa CN 235 (light tactical transport aircraft) … but he concretizes his childhood dream by integrating the aerobatic team in 2017, “A dedicated team which aims to defend France in official international competitions”.
These are not tactical, but technical demonstrations to present the know-how of French military aviation and do performance. “It is a discipline certainly dangerous, but you have to work with prudence and rigor and learn to manage risk”, specifies the specialist. “We have a seasonal job, in winter, I train at the rate of two flights per twenty-minute day with my teammates on the 701 airliner of Salon-de-Provence and summer, we do internships, competitions and meetings”, explains the seasoned outfall. “We can participate up to a hundred air meetings during the summer season throughout France!”
He admits that these demonstrations aim above all to make people dream, but also to promote aeronautics, “They are a tool for recruiting young people, so that they engage in the Air Force and integrate the school of Salon-de-Provence officers”.
After this tandem ballet, will follow the eight alpha jets of the famous Patrol of France, which will take off from Nice, for an equally intense aerobatic show, – because these air acrobats, all hunting pilots, perform the equidistence figures of 2 meters of each other – punctuated by the tricolor unavoidables that will be drawn in the Menton Under the eyes full of pride and admiration of the thousands of spectators expected.
How to come?
Air demonstrations will take place today Between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. (Indicative schedule subject to the weather, to be checked in the morning). The Menton Sun promenade will be closed to traffic at 11 a.m., between the Bastion roundabout and the Elisha-Reclus garden (parking will be prohibited from 9 a.m.). From 2:30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m., ban on swimming, diving, anchorage and navigation in the Baie du Soleil (swimming remains possible in the 100m area). An aeronautical village has been installed since Friday on the Francis-Palmero esplanade, with an alpha jet demilitarized on scale 1, a flight simulator … and the boutique de la Patrouille de France (open from 3.30 p.m. to 10 p.m.).
It is advisable to come to Menton by the train (a train every quarter of an hour) or by the bus line 600 Menton – Monaco – Nice (every 20 to 30 minutes on Sunday). Shuttles will be set up at the exit of the A8, at the parking lot of the Intermarché du Careï, from 1:30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m.
