Patrouille de France loses two Alpha Jets in collision
March 26, 2025
The aircraft collided at about 1535 PM when two ‘trailing’ aircraft hit during the recovery from a six-aircraft loop. The two aircraft were pointing straight at the ground when they collided.
The two pilots and one passenger ejected immediately. All ejections were successful, and all three were subsequently found “safe and sound,” and conscious near Air Base 113 according to the mayor of Saint-Dizier. The three suffered only minor injuries. Of the abandoned aircraft, one crashed into a silo at a nearby industrial facility causing a fire, and the other reportedly ended up in a canal.
The Patrouille de France is the French Air & Space Force’s primary display team, and is broadly equivalent to the UK’s Red Arrows and the Italian Frecce Tricolori. The team officially commissioned and named as the Patrouille de France in 1953, but can trace its roots back to 1931. It has flown the Dassault Alpha Jet since 1981.
