RAF Cancels Traditional Red Arrows Show at Farnborough

Although Britain’s famed jet aerobatics team, the Red Arrows, will attend all three days of the Farnborough International Airshow next month, the Royal Air Force last week said the team will not perform its standard high-speed display. The RAF said the dynamic aerobatic display using the BAE Hawk T-1 is no longer appropriate due to the large number of buildings, businesses and major transport links sitting beneath the planned flight display area.

The change to RAF aerobatics display policy followed last August’s crash of a classic Hawker Hunter at the Shoreham show in Sussex, south of London. The pilot survived, but 11 people on the ground perished. Air Vice-Marshal Andy Turner, the RAF’s air officer commanding and chief of staff for training, said the team decided to “recalculate what we think is a safe, sensible … display of the Red Arrows in the region.”

In lieu of the traditional aerobatics display, the Red Arrows will participate in a July 11 fly-by at Farnborough with the RAF’s latest fighter, the F35 Lightning II. The new flight restrictions are not expected to affect other Red Arrows events scheduled for the remainder of the year.