NO(^78) THE MAGAZINE 01 79
SCANDINAVIAN
AVIATION MAGAZINE
Restrictions from FAA
It turns out that Americans are less flexible than
one might think, when it comes to flying on their
territory. Administrative requests had to be made
beforehand and the team could participate in
all the airshows, or fly over certain symbolic
sites, such as the Statue of Liberty. The requests
therefore concerned display flying authorizations
for pilots and airworthiness reconnaissance, as
well as authorization for air operations in the
United States.
Moreover, the pilots could not fly with their
additional tanks, FAA regulations oblige. These
regulations constrained the French airmen to
multiply the stages to shuttle the L-39Cs from the
east coast to the west coast, and from north to
south.
For a team such as the BJT, it is necessary to
have qualities of negotiator. Each country has its
own regulations that differ from one another on
several points, and surprises can happen at any
time: “When getting started, we were told standby
and three days later, we were still there because
a document was missing, or a country found it
unsuitable. We have been blocked in Egypt by
going to Abu Dhabi, because Saudi Arabia did not
want us to pass because we were military, and it
was not possible for us to be civil (at the controls
of the L-39)” explained the leader, and Patrick
Marchand added: “Likewise in Mauritania and
Vietnam, they refused us to fly over and we turned
around to return to Thailand”.
The airmen also have been forced to modify
and adapt their program in relation to the US
regulations, which differ from Europe on many
points concerning safety and trajectory: “Our aim
was to try to preserve as much as we could, our
habit, our routine but adapting our display, to still
be acceptable to the Americans, but without doing
an American show. We wanted to try to keep as
much as possible our know-how” indicated the
team leader.
On the other hand, US airport infrastructures
are irreproachable. The air traffic control is very
efficient and standardized: “You do not compare
the US Business Aircraft Services FBOs (Fixed
Base Operator) and the Russian offices where
we were on the corner of the wood... We were
not in the same world, and it was much more
comfortable in the United States” judged Jacques
Bothelin.
Here we are!
For its first American tour, the team was training
with a slightly updated display, two to three flights
a day, four days a week.
The first show took place in Lakeland, then
the many stages followed one another. Like
the Dragon Tour, the displays were done in a
supervised context. The main challenge remained
shuttle, as emphasized “Charbo”, the Right inside
wingman: “The big challenge was still to take
the team, the equipment, the planes, the whole
caravan, from France to the other side of the
world, whether in Asia or the United States, and
to set up and be ready. When we start to take
part in airshows, we stay in a little more familiar
setting. But the main thing is to go there, but
also come back! We had to bring everyone back
afterwards, whether it be in flight for Asia, passing
by a different route, or the containers with eleven
planes and 20 tons of equipment”.
For two seasons, the BJT crisscrossed, to say the
least, all over the United States, the opportunity
to once again discover grandiose landscapes,
especially since the team had very few weather
problems during the period it flew: “The first
year we started in Florida and we went up step
by step to Boston. We crossed Vancouver in
Canada, Texas... everywhere!” described Patrick
Marchand, and Christophe Deketelaere, the First
slot added: “The United States is a fantastic
country to fly over, everything is wide, varied, it is
Extraordinary!”
In the second year, the pilots made a new
appearance on some events like in 2015, such as
the Sun International Fly-In & Expo in Lakeland,
the Bethpage Air Show in Jones Beach, Toronto
for the Canadian International Air Show. But the
team also made new displays in 2016, among
others, at the McGuire Air Force Base Air Show in
Burlington County, New Jersey, and at the Beach
Air Show in Huntington, California. All in all, fifteen
airshows for that year.