I played white-collar hooky yesterday (read: I used some PTO) and we headed to Le Bourget Airport for the 51st salon international de l’aéronautique et de l’espace.
I took quite a number of pictures.
The new Rafale.
The salon is more of a trade show than an actual airshow (the public is only allowed access on the final three days), so it stands to reason that if you’re buying a new military toy, you’re going to want to buy something to hang off of said toy.
Business man. Business jet.
It’s an Italian reincarnation of the Beechcraft Starship; gorgeous lines on this one.
Rockets fly (in the course of blowing shit up, anyway).
We saw a large number of drones. We also saw a number of large drones.
More drones.
The birds seemed to be inspired by the aerobatics.
Weird “loitering” solutions abounded; I wonder if they actually sell any of this shit.
Lord of War is a pretty damn cool movie.
A carbon fiber cub. I want this.
Mandatory holyshitpeople shot.
I was expressly forbidden from even looking at these. (To be fair, yeah, I probably would have chuked)
Philae, who woke up this week.
Le Bourget is also home to the French air and space museum. You can walk through their 747 and their Concordes for a supplementary fee.
…you can not, unfortunately, walk around on that top deck.
It’s amazing how much more comfortable economy class used to be.
Vorenus Nam-catted when we showed him this picture.
An attack helicopter in the process of busting a move.
Synchronized, dancing, consumer-level drones.
The inside of the preproduction Concorde.
The retired Air France Concorde.
Kind of a tight fit, but 3.5 hours from NY to Paris was probably worth it.
Exterior shot.
One of the aerobatic planes being returned to its display area.
The A350.
This thing screamed down the runway, popped up into the air, and then proceeded to fly in tight circles around the airport.
Watching an A350 jump up into the air is one thing. Watching an A380 do it results in audible exclamations of “holy shit.”
One forgets that commercial airliners wallow around for passenger comfort, and not because they’re incapable of maneuvering.
Like the A350, the A380 flew in tight circles around the airport. The dramatic music playing over the speakers added to the effect (and also made us snicker when they overplayed their hand).
It’s a big damn plane.
It can also climb like hell. As the Purrito noted, “Can you imagine the tears if there were passengers on board?”
Even the landing was aggressive.
I like the legacy control tower.
One of the hurricane hunters’ planes.
The motherplane from the Bastille day post, as seen on the ground.
The Rafale was maneuverable. And, on afterburners, quite loud.
Anyone have any interest in procuring some Russian-made parts? Yeah, me neither.
The cheap seats.
Fezzik In Paris 