The sequence brought back painful memories, on this day of commemoration of the 20 years of the attacks of September 11. On Saturday, in the middle of the afternoon, residents of the Vélizy-Villacoublay air base (Yvelines) saw an airliner escorted by an Air Force Rafale, flying at low altitude. Witnesses to this scene, some of whom filmed it, could not help but think of a hijacking. “
We heard like an explosion. Today, it is September 11, we do not know if it is crashed ... Obviously we think about that,
"testified a resident of Hauts-de-Seine at the microphone of BFMTV.
The continuous news channel was quickly able to reassure the worried, through the voice of one of its columnists. "
It is in fact an Airbus A330 MRTT Phoenix, which we know because it is the one which provided the evacuation links from Afghanistan
", explained the journalist. Contacted by the channel, the spokesperson for the air force and space immediately confirmed to him that it was simply a “
training of“ sky police ”
”. "
We made take off pilots on call to 'intercept' a plane,
" he then detailed. A simple exercise, the date of which leaves you wondering.
Read also September 11: the little-known story of the two American fighter pilots in charge of a suicide mission
And what the witnesses on the ground could not know is that the military Airbus welcomed two prestigious guests: Prime Minister Jean Castex and Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly. Matignon justified the presence on board of the head of government by "
his responsibilities in matters of national defense
", but referred to an exercise of "
supply
" and not of "
interception
". The two members of the government were accompanied by the new chief of staff of the air force and space, General Stéphane Mille, specifies
La Dépêche du Midi
. All three had taken off from the military base in Istres, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, and were indeed escorted by a Rafale to Villacoublay airport.
