Patrick @Paris 2011

A few items you’re going to need if you plan on attending the Paris Air Show: Comfortable shoes, a good expense account and an umbrella! I picked up a nice one the other day in front of the Louvre… driving a hard bargain I paid 4 Euro for something worth 2 at best, but it’ll be worth 5 if it get’s me through the morning.

It seems to always rain on the first day of the show.

Paris Air Show News and Aviation Week’s Show News are both chock full of stories (and adverts), extolling the virtues of UAS that will be on display at the show. On the lighter side, this years show is green, so green that one Honeywell exec was quoted as saying “you’ll need a machete to get into their chalet.” Also worth noting is a couple of other ex-Yumans who’ll be at the show-Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 747-8.

Competition comes through again and looks like something positive came out of last year’s Farnborough Air Show and no it’s not that Gary got to fly his sUAS at the show, but almost as historically significant.

It directly benefits bus riders as they now offer free rides from the RER B station out to the airfield. Not that I’m such a cheap Charlie that I don’t want to shell out 5 Euros for a ride, but cueing up in the rain to first pay and then again to get on the bus makes for a wet day.

First stop is the Israeli pavilion to give the wares a good going over and price out some systems in the 20 kg range.