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In the Eure, the practice of aerobatics is a historical tradition

2021-07-12T10:46:16.512Z


The Bernay flying club, which has been practicing aerobatics since the 1960s, is a factory for champions. One of them, Grégory Fromont


Competitive aviation is certainly a very confidential environment, but one that refuses to be elitist.

Many world champions are French and come from small flying clubs.

This is the case of that of Bernay (Eure), founded in 1934 "at the time of popular aviation which allowed a large number of young people to fly", explains Anne Le Flohic, its president.

And that hasn't changed.

On its grass runway 1,200 meters long and 80 m wide, 170 pilots regularly come to take off nine planes - three training planes, two for travelers, two aerobatic and two vintage - which belong to the association.

“Here, we train pilots for flat flight.

They prepare for the private pilot license thanks to all our instructors who have received a special eight-week training.

They are very experienced.

We do a lot for young people.

They can take the handle from the age of 14, be released at 15 and pass their license at 17.

After 30 hours of solo flight, they can start competing, ”adds the manager.

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Several of them have become aerobatic aces, which makes the Eurois flying club the second in Normandy after Caen Normandie Voltige. Under the control of four instructors, the voltigeurs can come every week to train or improve themselves during courses. Invented during the First World War to escape or take by surprise the enemy, aerobatics appeared in Bernay in the 1960s with the establishment of the factory of the aircraft manufacturer Auguste Mudry in neighboring hangars. He was the designer of the famous CAP 10 and then of the CAP 20, two-seaters which are still the benchmark in the middle forty years after their first flights. “They are light and powerful planes which allow evolutions in the sky. Their structure is resistant to accelerations and tricks, ”explains Anne Le Flohic.

Already a good track record for the voltigeurs

The most prestigious of the awards won by a flying club member was obtained in 2010 by the pilot Baptiste Vignes.

After several titles of Champion France, Le Havrais climbed on the highest step in the world in the Advance category.

He will even become coach of the France team.

More recently, in 2018 exactly, Alexandre Thorel became Champion of France in Promotion Tandem, followed in 2020 by Louis Lemaire.

Today, all hopes are in the hands of Grégory Fromont. Originally from Île-de-France, he learned to fly at the flying club: “I started with model making at the age of 8. Five years later, I started here on a training plane. I passed my license at 17 to be the youngest pilot in France that day. When I was 20, I became an instructor in Bernay ”. At 25, Grégory Frémont became an airline pilot with Air France on a Boeing 777 and for 4 years on long haul. In 2018, he decided to indulge his passion for aviation with rolls, loops and twists.

Despite his profession, the ace started out in two-seater before moving on to Advance category single-seater: “aerobatics is doing figures in a volume of one square kilometer.

In competition, you are judged on a known program of 14 figures and an unknown of 10 figures.

What I like is that we learn all the time.

We always have to do the best we can.

Approaching perfection ”.

Towards electric aerobatics

And in this game, Grégory Fromont quickly becomes an expert.

By dint of training, he quickly reached the high level, until he won 3rd place at the 2021 French Advance Championships. It allows him to qualify for the World Championships which will take place between July 29 and August 8 in Poland.

Then, for the captain, the objectives are simple: “At the next French Open, on September 19 in Castres, compete in the Excellence category to get a score of at least 7/10 in order to climb to Elite”.

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To do this, he relies on his faithful mount, a CAP 232 called Kif, “because that's what I really feel during each flight! ". Anne Le Flohic “believes in him. In addition to being a good pilot, he is an excellent instructor. During this time, we will organize in Bernay a National Tandem competition from July 19 to 23. Then, in the longer term, we would like to start competing with an electric plane. We are watching this closely ”.

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2021-07-12

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