Presentation of the L39 fighter jet and the Sparflex aerobatic patrol

Video from the channel Xavier Tytelman about Aero L-39 Albatros, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 18:54. Language: French. Video type: Onboard.

The video is a guided tour of one of the Aero L-39 Albatros aircraft of the French civilian aerobatic display team Sparflex, before a training flight. A pilot from the team, a former French Navy fighter pilot with around 6,000 flight hours and 500 carrier landings, shows the aircraft from the outside, the mechanics' inspection and the cockpit.

The supports under the wings are shown, which used to carry bombs and today carry external tanks, in addition to the main fuel tank in the fuselage and the wingtip tanks, which are not filled for aerobatics. The weapons were removed when the aircraft was demilitarised. The engine is Ukrainian-made, from the company Motor Sich. The ejection seats remain active by the team's decision.

In the cockpit, an autopilot, GPS and Western instruments were added in place of the original Cyrillic, metric-unit ones. The aircraft flies up to about 30,000 feet with a pressurised cockpit, oxygen and a connection for an anti-G suit; it has no afterburner and tops out around 900 km/h. The video shows the mechanical gear and flap indicator, the emergency turbine that deploys on its own if the generator fails, the controls without hydraulic assistance, the two airbrakes under the fuselage and the auxiliary power unit, which allows starting without ground support equipment.

The team's three L-39s served in the air forces of Eastern Bloc countries and now fly as civilian aircraft. The team performs air shows, introductory flights and L-39 type ratings as a flying school supervised by the French aviation authority. The pilot describes the L-39 as a tandem two-seat trainer from the 1960s, designed to train Warsaw Pact pilots, comparable in concept to the Alpha Jet.