Report & Pictures by Paolo
Zerlotto
On the 22nd and 23rd of June 2008, at the Aeroclub Gaspare Bolla – Parma –
Italy, was held the 2008 “Flying Days” edition, organized by “Incredible
Adventures”. Incredible Adventures periodically organizes flights with Fighters
in Italy and abroad, giving the opportunity to aviation enthusiasts to try the
emotion of jet aerobatic and formation flight. In collaboration with “Breitling
Jet Team”, this year the organizer succeeded on taking to Parma, to the
“Aviators” association, two L-39 Albatross of the famous private aerobatic jet
team, based in Dijon – France.
I have been an aviation enthusiast for many years so far. I’m a regular visitor
of the main AirShow in Italy and Europe and, as all the people who love
aeroplanes do, I admire and sigh when looking at the aerobatic teams performing
in the sky. You can take it for granted that, while watching those teams
performing, I feel really excited and my heart flies with them. And I was always
asking to me: what do the pilots feel, what emotions, what sensations, what
feeling of absolute freedom ? Needless to say, flying with them at least once in
a lifetime, flying with those extraordinary machines, doing evolutions freely,
has always been the greatest dream of my life.
In 2004 Incredible Adventures organized a similar event in Cuneo – Italy, but
when I tried to apply for flying with the Breitling Jet Team it was to late: all
the “seats” were already sold out. You can imagine my frustration. But life
teaches that you have never to give up and, when the association told me they
were going to organize a similar event in Parma this year, I applied “on the
flight”.
So, on Sunday the 22nd of June 2008 the dream of a life time was about to
become real, a reality that went beyond any greatest expectations. After an
accurate briefing regarding security measures, airplane specifications,
aerobatic manoeuvres expected to perform during the flight, in the early
afternoon, once having put on my flight suit and anti-g suit, I boarded the
aircraft #7 of the Breitling Jet Team, piloted by Olivier Boulay
We had to wait about 10 minutes under a burning sun and a hellish hot, and
eventually we received the authorization for take-off. By my side, on board of
Breitling Jet Team #5 aircraft, was pilot Patrick “Gaston” Marchand with a guy
as excited as me strapped on the back seat. The control tower didn’t allowed us
to take-off in pair, so we started separately and rejoined immediately after
take-off. Within a few minutes we reached the air space were we could do
aerobatics, so Oliver officially declared the beginning of the “dance”.
Patrick as the “leader” and Olivier as the “wingman”, in pair and with the
aircrafts flying side by side at a distance of 2 or 3 meters, we started to
dance: looping, barrel roll on the right, barrel roll on the left. Change of the
formation, with the “wingman” positioning immediately behind e slightly below
the “leader”. Looping again, various tonneau, hard banking right and left, steep
climbing followed by deep diving, 360° turns, and so on and on, performing all
kind of aerobatics manoeuvres, in a breath-taking “rollercoaster” across the
sky, taking accelerations of 3, 4, 5 Gs and beyond.
Through interphone I was always in contact with the pilot, to whom I was
conveying spontaneously my emotions and my great enthusiasm. Oliver, knowing
that a was well and having fun as never before, laughed and emphasized even
further the manoeuvres, until we reached 6,5 Gs (meaning that, for some
instants, my body was weighing 460 kg !!!). My anti-g suit was blowing up and
deflating without stop. After some minutes of such a flying, with my eyes wet
for the emotion, I told Oliver: “I still don’t believe what we are doing. This
was a lifetime dream. I’m having the time of my life !!!”. The first answer was:
”Paolo, you have to believe it: it’s real !!!!”. The second answer was a steep
climb culminated with the aircraft turned upside down, giving me the sensation
of soaring above the seat, even though I was strapped on it through four attack
points. I gave out a cry of joy, Oliver laughed again and, knowing I appreciated
it, repeated the manoeuvre for my (and his) great pleasure.
For about 15 minutes I lived on another dimension, the dimension of the
incredible, the dimension where everything is possible, the dimension of beauty,
the dimension of the absolute freedom. Two aircrafts, four people, thrown in an
unrestrained dance, beautiful, elegant, that you’d never want to stop !!! In
the second part of the flight, Oliver allowed me to catch some pictures
(photography is the other great passion of mine). I took them with the small
camera I stowed in the left sleeve pocket of my flight suit. In that very moment
I discovered that emotions weren’t finished: raising my arms and my little light
camera required a great effort during high-Gs manoeuvres, but the willingness to
immortalize at least some of those moments allowed me to overcome even this
difficulty.
The time was
getting over, so Olivier and Patrick resumed levelled fight towards the airport.
Always side by side, closer then never before, we headed for the runway,
skimming over it for the joy and fun of the people and the families waiting for
us to come back. Were
all the emotions over ? Not on your life !
Whilst the
leader continued straight over the runway, Olivier separated from him with a
hard bank on the right, making us to get the last 5 Gs of the flight, and
causing me to shout out the umpteenth cry of joy.
Then I heard a deaf sound, I sound I’ve heard many times on liner aircrafts, and
I asked Oliver: “Gear down ?”. “Gear down and flaps down: prepare for landing”,
was the answer. The
actual flight was over, but it took to me many days to land !!!
And perhaps I will never land
entirely.
In the past years I watched the Breitling Jet Team performing many times. I will
see them again this year at the Royal International Air Tattoo in U.K., and I
hope to see them again and again for a very long time. A piece of my heart will
always be there, seated on the #7 aircraft rear cockpit, to relive this
wonderful experience. But now I have all the answers: I know what is like to be
there and I will appreciate even more every single aerobatic manoeuvre.
Now my eyes are getting wet, so I’d better stop writing. Thanks, a sincere
thank to my family and to everybody who contributed to make my greatest dream
become true.
Paolo
Zerlotto
