Paris Air and Space Show

Paris Air and Space Show

June in odd-numbered yearsThe biennial Salons Internationaux de l'AÉronautique et de l'Espace is held at Le Bourget Airport just outside of Paris—the airfield where Charles Lindbergh landed after his historic nonstop flight from New York in 1927. It attracts more than half a million visitors who come to see exhibits of aircraft, launching and ground equipment, missile propulsion units, navigational aids, anti-aircraft detection devices, and other aeronautic equipment.
On the last day of the 11-day event there is a special flying demonstration that has occasionally been marred by spectacular crashes. In 1989, for example, a Soviet MiG-29 flying only 580 feet above the ground in a maneuver designed to display its slow-speed handling suddenly plummeted earthward, burying its needle-shaped nose eight feet into the rain-softened turf before bursting into flames. The pilot was fortunate enough to have ejected in time and sustained only minor injuries.
The 39th biennial Paris Air Show was held in 1991, just a few months after the Persian Gulf War, and a worldwide recession had threatened to scuttle the event. But the role played by high technology aircraft in the Allied victory over Saddam Hussein attracted a record number of exhibitors—approximately 1,700 from 38 countries—and spectators. The 1999 show hosted 1,895 exhibitors from 41 countries and more than 250,000 visitors.
CONTACTS:
Salons Internationaux de l'Aeronautique et de l'Espace
4 rue Galilee
Paris, 75116 France
33-1-5323-3341
SOURCES:
GdWrldFest-1985, p. 81