Page 80 - AirForces - Monthly (February 2020)

Rafale solo display
Above: ‘Babouc’ reefs the demonstration Rafale C into overbank, demonstrating the
impressive roll rate of the Dassault fighter. Right: The 2019 display scheme paid tribute
to ten years of the French Air Force Rafale demonstration team.
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76-79 Rafale AFM Feb2020.indd
76-79 Rafale AFM Feb2020.indd
descent until touchdown. The demonstration
was supposed to be ten to 11 minutes and I did
not have any constraints on its construction.
I talked a lot about the sequence with Duch
to get his opinion and make corrections.”
Once Ruet was ready, he made his first public
display in the United Arab Emirates on the
occasion of the inauguration of the French
air base at Al Dhafra. “I’ll never forget this
presentation to the Emir [of Abu Dhabi] and
President Sarkozy,” he recalls. “The outside
temperature was 45° C [113° F] and the display
axis [was marked] on the ground in the sand,
and I had to fly in a yellowish haze without
much visibility.” He added that the pressure
wasn’t from the VIPs present, as much as
Eric Gérard also being in the audience.
An enduring mission
After two years in the hot seat, Ruet passed the
baton to Capt Michael Brocard, who had come
from the Mirage 2000Ds in Nancy and was
ideally placed for the Rafale having developed
his skills in both air-to-air and air-to-ground
missions. “I volunteered in 2001 to join EC 1/5
‘Vendée’ flying the Mirage 2000C in the air-to-air
mission,” Brocard says. “In March 2005, I joined
the CEAM [Centre d’Expertise Aérienne Militaire]
at Mont-de-Marsan in anticipation of the arrival
of the first Rafale, then joined EC 1/7 ‘Provence’
when the first aircraft arrived,
before moving to the ‘Aquitaine’
training unit from 2012. This is where
the solo display came in for me.”
With Ruet as his coach, Brocard
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