Important exercises in New Orleans

February and March were very busy for the Alouettes and Ti- Pics, whose squadrons took part in two major exercises in New Orleans from February 9th to March 30th.

In all, nearly 150 soldiers from Bagotville participated in the Ti- Pic Sauvage and Alouette Mobile exercises.

The main objective of these exercises, which were nearly a month long each, was to allow the members of the two fighter squadrons of Bagotville to refine their preparation for missions abroad and to devote themselves entirely to their mission, as would be the case during a real mission abroad.

Thanks to the support provided by the US Air Force, the other important advantage of such a deployment is the presence of a large number of different types of aircrafts.

The Royal Canadian Air Force also took advantage of these exercises to complete the training of three of its Fighter Weapons Instructor Course ( FWIC) pilots, the highest level of training a fighter pilot can achieve in Canada. This course is often compared to the "Top Gun" training of American fighter pilots.

The last members taking part in these exercises returned home on Easter weekend after a full seven- week deployment.