Flying the Ultimate F-86 Sabre Mk.6 | Canadair Cold War Jet Power

Video from the channel Skytrain Media about North American F-86 Sabre, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 8:39. Language: English. Video type: Air show.

French pilot Frédéric Akary talks about his display with an F-86 Sabre at the Battle of Britain Air Show. He had planned to fly in formation with a Vampire, but it suffered a technical problem just before the flight, so Akary performed a 15-minute solo. He also reviews his career. He started flying at 19 and was an air ambulance pilot in Polynesia. At Air France he flew the A320, was a 747-400 co-pilot, a 737 captain and instructor, and has spent 18 years on the 777. Before that he had been an aerobatics instructor, with around 1,000 hours on the Cap 10, and a member of the French unlimited aerobatics team. Once into warbirds, he had a Sea Fury and the P-51 Mustang "Moonbeam McSwine," which he eventually traded for the Sabre.

Akary describes the preparation: arriving at the aircraft an hour beforehand for a long, thorough pre-flight inspection, preparing the paperwork, and mentally rehearsing the display before start-up and taxi procedures. In the UK, following the Shoreham accident, aerobatics over land are not permitted, only over the sea. That was why this was his first year there with a non-aerobatic display, built around turns and wingovers, for which a display authorization is required — a system the pilot considers solid.

It is a Mk 6 Sabre built by Canadair, one of the last ones made and, according to the pilot, the most powerful Sabre. Canada started from the F-86E model and modified it to fit Avro Canada engines; with the last of these, the Mk 6 has roughly 50% more thrust than the F-86A that fought in Korea.