The combined Swiss Hornet Display Team and PC-7 Team displaying together for the first time at RAF Fairford, on the Saturday of The Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) 2022.
The Swiss Air Force F/A-18C Hornet is flown by Captain Yannick Zanata, callsign 'Fönsi', from Fliegerstaffel 17 (Fighter Squadron 17) 'Falcons' based at Payerne.
He has been the Swiss Air Force's Hornet Display Team pilot since 2021. He has already logged more than 2,000 flight hours, of which 900 were with the F/A-18 Hornet. Captain Zanata has been part of No 17 Squadron since 2014. He is also a flight instructor on F/A-18s and PC-7s.
The Boeing (formerly McDonnel Douglas) F/A-18C Hornet is a twin-engined, supersonic multi-role combat jet that is designed to carry out air-to-air missions and attack ground targets (the F/A designation stands for fighter/attack). The aircraft, which entered service with the Swiss Air Force in 1997, has proved itself well suited to operations in Switzerland's mountainous regions and narrow valleys as well as from the relatively short runways of its military airfields.
It is currently flown by three Swiss squadrons, which operate out of Meiringen and Payerne. They use the F/A-18C - which has been given significant upgrades to its capabilities since coming into use with the air arm - for the air policing role as their primary function. In Swiss hands, the Hornet first appeared at an Air Tattoo in 1997.
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