Aerobatic pilot Fanny Viallard is riding her horse at the Roanne airport in France ahead of a Boeing Stearman flown by Julien Paire. When the French military in 1910 was trying to figure out which branch was best suited for flight training, they decided on the cavalry. " Maybe it's because in those days you'd climb a horse from the left because of the saber hanging on the left leg, and you'd also enter a biplane from the left, " Urlacher says. AOPA PILOT / January 2025 73