newt
Well Known Member
In Australia:
The Freedom to Fly Formation Display Team (aka "Freedom Formation") performed an 18 minute aerobatic formation handling display at the Pacific Airshow on the Gold Coast.
We made our debut last year, and the event organizers seemed to like what they saw, so they invited us back.
Across three days, we showed an estimated audience of a quarter of a million people what Vans amateur-built aircraft can do.
Our team is coached and choreographed by Jeremy Miller, one of Australia's most accomplished aerobatic display pilots. It's led by RV-14 builder Trent Stewart ("tasesq" on these forums) in Jeremy's Yak-55. The other 12 members are flying RV-6, RV-6A, RV-7, RV-7A and RV-8 airplanes with different engine and prop combinations, producing a fairly challenging display flying environment where we all have different performance profiles but have to fly closely together all the same.
Our routine starts with a 3-phase bomb-burst, where the 13 airplanes in tight formation break off into individual elements. After that, it's a slowly rising crescendo of controlled chaos, where the elements rejoin into different figures then break apart again. We divide the display into "high box" and "low box," with something happening in each one all the time.
After a simultaneous fan-break and 8-ship combat trail, we form-up into a 13-ship balbo for a final smoke-on orbit at crowd centre, filling the box with enough smoke to make the next act complain about IMC, before exiting stage left.
It's a tremendous amount of fun to fly, and if our audience's reactions are any guide, it's also a lot of fun to watch.
We've performed three times, Fri-Sun. During that time we've also generated national media focus for homebuilt airplanes (for example: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08...eturn-to-pacific-airshow-gold-coast/104235622)
Tomorrow we'll all fly home to our respective homes in three Australian states, and resume our careers as accountants, IT specialists, carpenters, etc. And hopefully next year we'll be invited back to get another go.
We can't do what we do without the support of our families (who were in the audience this weekend seeing the routine we've been working on for most of the last year for the first time), our corporate sponsors (which I don't think I can name here without flouting the rules) and the superb efforts of our support crew:
Matilda Mendham, Crew Chief.
Angela Stevenson, Commentator.
Dominic Hubert, Team Photographer.
Kiana Kosseris, UNICOM safety watch and air display musical director.
Lorenzo Hariman, Team videographer.
We are the Freedom to Fly Formation Display Team:
Trent Stewart
Angela Garvey
Gavin Nour
James Weightman
Don Harvie
Mark Newton
Martin Russell
Ollie Geherghty
Kevin White
Glenn Bridgland
Peter Grogan
Eddie Seve
Brayden Rowley
Instructed, coached, mentored, choreographed and supported by the extraordinary Jeremy Miller.
Back next year.
- mark
The Freedom to Fly Formation Display Team (aka "Freedom Formation") performed an 18 minute aerobatic formation handling display at the Pacific Airshow on the Gold Coast.
We made our debut last year, and the event organizers seemed to like what they saw, so they invited us back.
Across three days, we showed an estimated audience of a quarter of a million people what Vans amateur-built aircraft can do.
Our team is coached and choreographed by Jeremy Miller, one of Australia's most accomplished aerobatic display pilots. It's led by RV-14 builder Trent Stewart ("tasesq" on these forums) in Jeremy's Yak-55. The other 12 members are flying RV-6, RV-6A, RV-7, RV-7A and RV-8 airplanes with different engine and prop combinations, producing a fairly challenging display flying environment where we all have different performance profiles but have to fly closely together all the same.
Our routine starts with a 3-phase bomb-burst, where the 13 airplanes in tight formation break off into individual elements. After that, it's a slowly rising crescendo of controlled chaos, where the elements rejoin into different figures then break apart again. We divide the display into "high box" and "low box," with something happening in each one all the time.
After a simultaneous fan-break and 8-ship combat trail, we form-up into a 13-ship balbo for a final smoke-on orbit at crowd centre, filling the box with enough smoke to make the next act complain about IMC, before exiting stage left.
It's a tremendous amount of fun to fly, and if our audience's reactions are any guide, it's also a lot of fun to watch.
We've performed three times, Fri-Sun. During that time we've also generated national media focus for homebuilt airplanes (for example: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08...eturn-to-pacific-airshow-gold-coast/104235622)
Tomorrow we'll all fly home to our respective homes in three Australian states, and resume our careers as accountants, IT specialists, carpenters, etc. And hopefully next year we'll be invited back to get another go.
We can't do what we do without the support of our families (who were in the audience this weekend seeing the routine we've been working on for most of the last year for the first time), our corporate sponsors (which I don't think I can name here without flouting the rules) and the superb efforts of our support crew:
Matilda Mendham, Crew Chief.
Angela Stevenson, Commentator.
Dominic Hubert, Team Photographer.
Kiana Kosseris, UNICOM safety watch and air display musical director.
Lorenzo Hariman, Team videographer.
We are the Freedom to Fly Formation Display Team:
Trent Stewart
Angela Garvey
Gavin Nour
James Weightman
Don Harvie
Mark Newton
Martin Russell
Ollie Geherghty
Kevin White
Glenn Bridgland
Peter Grogan
Eddie Seve
Brayden Rowley
Instructed, coached, mentored, choreographed and supported by the extraordinary Jeremy Miller.
Back next year.
- mark
