In July 2009, the Eurocopter Group invited the Féderation Aéronautique Luxembourgeoise to visit their facilities in Margnane near Marseille. Eurocopter, a division of EADS (European Aeronautics, Defense and Space Company) is one of the leading helicopter manufactures, founded in 1992 from the merger of the German Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG and the helicopter divisions of French Aérospatiale.
The flyout was scheduled for the 10th July 2009, but since we had to make sure to be on the general aviation parking in Aix-en-Provence at precisely 12 o’clock, most crews decided to leave already one day earlier.
On the 9th of July, the weather reports showed excellent conditions on the entire route. Early in the morning we were ready for departure and began our trip to the south. From Luxembourg we headed towards Luxeuil and continued east of Dijon heading torwards Lyon. Immediately after Lyon is the huge military zone of Orange. From there we had to follow a very precise flight path to get to our destination: Avignon.
In July begins the Festival d’Avignon, an annual arts festival, held since 1947. It is one of the oldest festivals in France. Here are some photos I took of the different artists, advertising for their shows in the streets.
I was astonished how many people from all over the world travel to this city just because of the festival and I highly recommend to everybody who has the possibility to come to Avignon to take that opportunity and visit this extraordinary event.
Later that day, I visited the Palais des Papes, a World Heritage Site of the UNESCO, which became the residence of the Popes from 1309 to 1377.
Of cause I visited the famous Pont d’Avignon, too.
The next day we were all up early and drove back to the airport of Avignon for a short 20 minutes flight to Aix-en-Provence to meet the other flight crews.
At 12 o’clock our bus arrived to take us to our hotel to drop the luggage. Then we immediately drove to the regional air traffic control center (Centre en Route de la Navigation Aérienne Sud-Est) which handles all IFR and VFR flights transiting the south of France.
