The "Patrouille Suisse" are the premiere Swiss Air Force aerobatic display team who fly six Northrop F-5E Tiger II fighters, painted in a national color white and red color scheme.
The team basically consists of six demonstration pilots, one spare pilot, two narrators and about 35 technicians, but the precise number has been variable over the years. Every candidate for a demonstration pilot must have a perfect flying record and once selected, they begin training in pairs before graduating to full formation aerobatics. After 30 further hours of practice formation flying, a rookie pilot is ready for team performances.
The team's home base is Emmen Air Base.
The team's display typically lasts approximately 18 minutes and all Patrouille Suisse F-5E aircraft are equipped with white smoke generators.
