Air France has released images and a video of a recent air display which it undertook with the Patrouille de France aerobatics unit.
The event took place at the end of September as part of Air France’s 90th anniversary celebrations, as well as marking the 70th anniversary of the Patrouille de France.
The flight involved a total of 11 aircraft, including an Air France A350-900 (named ‘Les Sables-d’Olonne’) which was being delivered from Airbus’ assembly site in Toulouse to Paris CDG.
The display flight – dubbed ‘Athos A350’ – was filmed at over 2,500 metres above the Camargue by aerial footage specialist Eric Magnan of Airborne Films, using a French TBM 700 DAHER camera-mounted aircraft “incorporating a leading-edge gyro-stabilized camera system”.
The video was also set to music by composer Augustin Saldjian, performed by the Prague philharmonic orchestra.
Air France has been celebrating its 90th anniversary with a number of events and intiatives, including an exhibition at the Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann of “iconic dresses embodying the company’s legendary history”.
In October the carrier also reassigned flights AF015 (from New York JFK to Paris CDG) and AF022 (CDG to JFK) as AF001 and AF002 respectively.
The iconic flight numbers were previously assigned to Concorde services until the supersonic aircraft was retired in 2003.
Commenting on the news Eric Prévot, event manager and Athos A350 mission leader, said:
“A month of preparation and thorough cooperation was required to plan this 45-minute flight down to the smallest detail, guaranteeing the highest level of safety.
“This groundwork prepared jointly by the Patrouille de France team, the Air France crew and the pilot of the camera-mounted aircraft was carried out in line with the highest standards.”
In 2019 British Airways performed a fly-past with the Red Arrows as part of the carrier’s centenary celebrations, using one of its BOAC retro-liveried aircraft.
The big picture: British Airways BOAC-liveried jumbo joins Red Arrows fly-past
