Twin-engine jet with high-site arrow wings and tandem two-seater, the AlphaJet is powered by two Larzac 04 bypass turbofans, each developing 1320 daN. 11.85 meters long and 4.19 meters high, the AlphaJet can weigh upon take-off 7250 kgs maximum. This small, high-performance twin engine, which has a take-off distance of 700 meters and reaches Mach 0.86 at 15,000 meters, is very representative of combat planes used by many air forces, where its flight qualities, manoeuvrability and safety are highly appreciated.

Such a performance leaves no room for improvisation
The positions of the eight planes are extremely precise. From the "leader", the formation's conductor, to the "vulture", which follows it, without forgetting the "insides", the "outsides" and the "solos", each knows perfectly its place and role. Before offering the public a smoothly run performance where everything seems so easy, hours and hours of work are necessary. Each year, six months of training allow them to organize the new show. Training that respects, day after day, the same programme, from 8am to 5:30pm: body building, briefing, first flight, debriefing and correction of mistakes, briefing, 2nd flight, lunch, debriefing, group sports. Discipline necessary to build and perfect the intricate, three-dimensional puzzle that is the performance.

Each figure, after being conceived and meticulously analyzed on the ground, is then carried out in flight in the basic, diamond formation. When it has been well assimilated by all, they add changes to the formation, then later, white or coloured smoke. Then they string the different figures together, slowly but surely, to give birth to the series. Piloting with the Patrouille de France is an extension of the skills acquired in operational units, to which thy must add the specificity of this particular profession : tight squadron flying at very low altitude. The planes move at speeds between 200 and 600 kms/hour and are approximately two meters apart during the flights, subjecting the pilots to accelerations between -3G et +7G, at a height between 30 and 1500 meters off the ground. It is very hard physically, and even more so psychologically.