The French aircraft carrier 'Charles de Gaulle' (R91) was on an exercise in the Mediterranean Sea, leaving the port of Toulon on Monday morning December 4th 2006. Soon after leaving port, 10 Super Etendard Modernisé (SEM), 1 E-2C Hawkeye and 2 Search-And-Rescue helicopters (the older Alouette 3 and the newer Dauphin) arrived onboard.

The French aircraft carrier 'Charles de Gaulle' (R91) was on an exercise in the Mediterranean Sea, leaving the port of Toulon on Monday morning December 4th 2006. Soon after leaving port, 10 Super Etendard Modernisé (SEM), 1 E-2C Hawkeye and 2 Search-And-Rescue helicopters (the older Alouette 3 and the newer Dauphin) arrived onboard.

Four days long, the 'Charles de Gaulle' would sail along the south coast of France, keeping the coastline in sight. From sunrise until after sunset missions were planned. Main target for this exercise were the first carrier landings and catapult take-off's, flown by the enhanced NorthropGrumman E-2C Hawkeye.

Before flight operations, one of the two SAR helicopters (callsign 'Pedro') would take-off and position itself near the left side of the aircraft carrier. Always prepared to act in case of problems with the aircraft.

After this short qualification-cruise in December 2006, the 'Charles de Gaulle' will prepare for a 3-month cruise into the Middle East region. And after mid 2007, the ship will go into a dock, for a 1.5 to 2 year maintenance period. Pilot qualifications will be performed on other aircraft-carriers, perhaps American aircraft-carriers for the Rafale’s and Brazilian aircraft-carriers for the Super Etendard’s. Previously, the French navy had 2 aircraft-carriers (Foch and Clemenceau), allowing a strategy of ‘at least 1 carrier at sea’. With only one aircraft-carrier, a foreign solution is needed during maintenance.

The Super Etendards were preparing for the Middle East cruise early 2007. During the one-week cruise, all pilots of 11 Fottille prepared for catapult take-off and cable recovery. Many short missions were flown. After the launch, a few circuits were flown and the aircraft landed again. Often the aircraft were back on deck within 30 minutes after the launch. Once a hot-refueling was rehearsed, while the pilot remained in the closed cockpit.

Last update : 13-09-2008 11:14

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