Of all the tools available to mankind, the airplane is undoubtedly the one that has most changed the way we perceive the world. The energy used to break away from gravity is at the very heart of the development of the ability to fly, from Clément Ader’s steam engine to rocket engines and the Concorde, contemporary with the first awareness of ecological issues. Today, flying is being questioned in the light of the various environmental challenges and climate change we are facing; it has even become something of a scapegoat, bearing “the sins of technology” beyond its actual impact on the environment. The aviation industry must therefore face up to the challenge of ensuring its long-term survival, and its essential transformation, particularly in terms of decarbonization. The aviation industry has already entered a period of innovation unprecedented since the advent of air transport, and many avenues are being explored. Can humanity reasonably envisage a future that ignores, or even denies, the benefits of aviation and space? Is aviation still useful for mobility, economic development, security, national defense and environmental management? In short, to ensure the “sustainable development” of our societies and our humanity.

7 minutes: that's the time taken for one of the 3 events that take place over a few days only once every 2 years... The difference between aerobatics and other high-level sports is that everything will be decided over a maximum of 3 7' events, and there are no multiple heats. In ski competitions, for example, or car speed races, there are opportunities to catch up. You don't lose everything in 10 seconds. In aerobatic competition, you do... So you have to be good at the right moment and devote several beats to it. Each of these times has its own stakes. This means building a team, listening, anticipating and preparing for every eventuality, so as to deal with the unexpected. How to win... 12 years later? How do you choose new paths? You can't be excellent without absolute humility, absolute learning, surrounded by the most talented people possible. Listening also enables us to seize new opportunities. And to dare! In everything I undertook, there were quite different relationships with the team, but listening and anticipation were equally important, and there was always a mentor.

Whether it's a recruitment meeting, a meeting with decision-makers or some personal issue, we need to be excellent in a short space of time. How do you prepare for a meeting of excellence? Passion and Patience go hand in hand and grow out of the same root, the Greek verb "to suffer" in the sense of "to experience". These words provide us with the keys to preparation and organization of time, which we're going to explore together. Passion is what makes you endure more than others, patience is what makes you endure slow progress towards excellence, improvements and mistakes, the elements of preparation that belong to long or medium times. How do you put patience into a passion to enable it to last, to organize itself, to become more complex, to be fulfilled? The passion into which we have plunged encounters constraints that we overcome by learning, building a team and acquiring the experience, mastery and skill to get around the constraints we encounter with inventiveness and confidence. To make the team perform, I have to listen. Free up the floor. "He who listens is listened to". Always trust... How much risk is acceptable? How far does trust go? We work through a succession of mistakes. "If you forbid error, you prevent victory".

Before the pleasure of taking off in an aerobatic plane, I always carry out a meticulous checklist: in aviation, nothing can or should be left to chance. Yet many aeronautical innovations are the fruit of such chance. Ever since the Montgolfier brothers' balloon, we've had to leave plenty of room for chance to discover and explore new territories, to enable the emergence and development of aviation. However, the concern to avoid failure and accidents, to control risks by leaving no room for chance, has always been at the heart of the preoccupations of those involved in aviation, from aircraft design to the organization of air navigation or knowledge of meteorology. To some, the simple act of flying still seems to be left to the chance of a god or a fairy godmother who will draw lots to decide who should survive a flight. We are well aware that this is not the case, but that zero risk does not exist in aviation, and that we must always be wary of events that may occur by chance, without it being possible to foresee or prevent them, in order to reduce as far as possible all sources of possible failure. So, does aerobatics leave room for chance? Sometimes, at least in competition, when drawing lots for the running order of competitors in a world championship! But once you've checked everything ... alea jacta est!

In the space of a century, the ancestral desire to fly has become a reality, and of all the tools available to man, the airplane is undoubtedly the one that has most changed his life. Environmental challenges call into question the future of air travel, which is often blamed for far more than its objective effect. The challenge of the 21st century is to accelerate the transition to total decarbonization, while preserving the indisputable benefits of aeronautical and space technologies for mankind. The aeronautics industry must and will rise to the challenge of ensuring its long-term survival and transforming itself, particularly in terms of decarbonization, in order to meet the environmental challenges and climate change we are facing. To do so, it has undeniable assets: a long track record of technical innovation; a culture of daring, enterprise and risk-taking that has always been driven since its pioneers by passion (which makes it endure anything) and patience (which makes it accept risks, mistakes and successes), progressing to the excellence we know today. Humanity cannot envisage a future in which it ignores the indisputable benefits of aviation and space, which ensure our mobility, our safety and the management of our environments. In short, to ensure the "sustainable development" of our societies.

The first loop in aviation history was performed by a machine, without the help of a pilot... and with reduced "intelligence"; that was in 1913. Subsequently, engineers invented autopilots and other intelligent systems capable of supporting pilots and facilitating their decision-making in the various missions and functions assigned to aviation. Aerobatic pilots have hardly benefited from these technological advances to develop their art. But what would it mean to have an aerobatic competition between intelligent aircraft, or an aerial event featuring AI-piloted aircraft? If flying is not a human trait, can humans do without the freedom offered by flight? Does the flying man's freedom begin where the AI ends?