Red Arrows 60th Display Season
November 2024 saw the Red Arrows complete their 60th display season, culminating in a Canadian tour.
Having been fortunate enough to be part of the Reds a few years ago, I’m always interested in what they are up to.
It is not the technicality of each manoeuvre or the excellence the Red Arrows display but more about what it takes to get twelve jets to another continent, or in this case, the other side of the world.
Working with the Red Arrows
In 2016, I was the Reds' Senior Operator. My job was to fly with the team during practices and public displays, review their operational processes and procedures, conduct internal audits and support any external audits (e.g., by the Military Aviation Authority), and assure my boss, Fin Monahan, that the team was fit to do what they did.
Also, in 2016, the team took twelve jets (nine to display plus three spares) to the Zhuhai Airshow in China as part of the Far East tour.
China is quite a distance in a small single-engine jet that can’t carry much fuel, cannot air-to-air refuel, and has limited space for survival equipment.
In addition to the team's massive effort and the wider Royal Air Force, part of making this tour happen was to risk assess the various aspects of what we would do.
For example:
Flying across the South China Sea with limited search and rescue cover,
displaying in locations where the visibility was routinely less than we were used to and
displaying in places that were high up and hot.
All of these needed risk assessing.
We were very fortunate to be supported by Mark Townend from Baines Simmons, who helped us enormously with the bowtie risk analysis and made my job much easier.
It was great to have the services of a professional, specialist aviation safety company to help us really understand the risks and, more importantly, what barriers we had to prevent that catastrophic outcome.
Needless to say, the education I received undoubtedly influenced my thinking when I set up Astral Aviation Consulting, as having that specialist knowledge and advice on hand proved invaluable.
UK Royal Air Force Red Arrows Debuts in Zhuhai Airshow
Red Arrows Far East Tour Success
So, the 2016 tour went ahead and was a huge success. The team displayed in ten countries over a two month period. Armed with my shiny new ‘Red 12’ Callsign, I played a small part in helping them get all twelve jets to Zhuhai.
In fact, the Red Arrows arriving in China in a 12-ship formation was one of the most memorable flights of my RAF career. Nine jets in battle formation (a big V) with ten, eleven, and twelve in a smaller V shape in the stem, all streaming red smoke; it was amazing.
The only issue was that - despite Red 10’s highly animated hand signals (which I didn’t see as I was maxed out trying to stay in formation) and this incredible picture, a signed copy now hanging in my hallway - I forgot to turn off the smoke.
But that’s a story for another day...