Frequently Asked Questions

This page is made up from the e-mails we have received over the time the site has been running and are the things that people most often ask about the Team. You can view the list of questions at the top of the page, and click on the one you are interested in to view the answer. To return to the list at the top of the page, just click on the return arrow on the right of the answer.

The Most Frequently Asked Questions
What is the real purpose of having The Red Arrows? When were The Red Arrows formed? Where are The Red Arrows based? What aircraft do The Red Arrows fly? How much does the Team cost to operate? Why is the Team called The Red Arrows? Is the Red Arrows’ flying dangerous? How low do the aircraft fly? Does the smoke serve any useful purpose or is it just decorative? How are the coloured vapour trails made? How much g do the Team pull during a display? Why do the pilots wear anti-g suits? Can The Red Arrows display in poor weather? Do the pilots fly lower when the weather is bad? What radio frequencies do the Team use? How many pilots are there? Why are there sometimes 10 Red Arrows flying? What qualifications are needed to join the Team as a pilot? How are the pilots selected? How long does each pilot stay with the Team? What happens to Red Arrows’ pilots when they have finished their tour of duty with the Team?		How is the Team Leader chosen? How are the Synchro Pair pilots chosen? What happens if one of the pilots is unable to fly? What happens if the Leader is unable to fly? Why are there no reserve pilots? Will there ever be any women pilots in The Red Arrows? How can I contact former Red Arrows? How do The Red Arrows decide where to give displays? How can I get an up-to-date list of where The Red Arrows will be flying? How many requests are there every year for displays? Can we book a Red Arrows display? Can I request a flypast by The Red Arrows? Is it true you will do flypasts for weddings? When are The Red Arrows coming back to ……? Do The Red Arrows ever receive any complaints? Where can I obtain Red Arrows souvenirs? Where can I obtain photographs/videos of The Red Arrows? Can I visit the Red Arrows at Scampton? Can I apply for a passenger flight with The Red Arrows? How can I join The Royal Air Force?

Acknowledged as one of the world’s premier aerobatic teams, The Red Arrows are the public face of the Royal Air Force. The Red Arrows exist to demonstrate the professional excellence of the RAF and promote recruitment to the RAF. Evidence shows that The Red Arrows have inspired a significant number of people to join the RAF, both as officers and airmen, and to all trades, not just aircrew.

The Team contributes to Defence Diplomacy, and supports wider British interests through the promotion of British industry overseas. The Hawk aircraft flown by the Team and most of its components are all British made. Thus during overseas tours The Red Arrows demonstrate both British skill and British technology to an enormous number of people each year.

The Red Arrows are but a small part of a large organization, much of which is currently engaged on operations overseas defending UK interests, making the world a safer place and acting as a force for good.

The Red Arrows began work in late 1964 to prepare for the 1965 Air Display Season. The squadron was officially constituted on 1 March 1965. The first official display was at RAF Little Rissington in the Cotswolds on 6 May 1965. This was a special display to introduce the Team to the media, and due to bad weather a flat show was flown. The first public display was three days later (9 May 1965) at Clermont Ferrand in France.

The Team have been based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire since 2001. In the past they have also been based at RAF Fairford, RAF Kemble, and RAF Cranwell.

The Red Arrows have always flown whichever aircraft is in service as the RAF’s advanced fast jet trainer; currently the BAE SYSTEMS Hawk T. Mk.1. From 1965 until 1979 The Red Arrows flew the Folland Gnat, the Hawk’s predecessor. The idea of utilising front line operational aircraft for formation aerobatic display teams was dropped in the early 1960s on the grounds of cost.

There is no meaningful answer to this question. The RAF already has the pilots and aircraft so they really cost nothing. The only real saving that could be made by not having the Red Arrows would be the cost of the fuel they use but that is insignificant when set against the advantages accruing from the Team’s appearances.

The additional costs of sending The Red Arrows on overseas tours such as the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia in the autumn of 1997 and 1999 and Canada in 2002 were entirely borne by British companies. The Ministry of Defence takes the view that British tax-payers should not bear the cost of these overseas tours. However it is happy for The Red Arrows to demonstrate the “Best of British” overseas when the companies that stand to benefit are willing to pay the bills.

By 1965, RAF training aircraft were predominantly red in colour. The ‘arrows’ part of the title was in recognition of the Black Arrows, a very popular squadron aerobatic team in the late 50s and early 60s.

There is, of course, an element of danger in any form of flying but the type of flying carried out by the Red Arrows is not dangerous in itself. The pilots are amongst the most highly qualified and experienced within the RAF. They have been selected for their above average flying skills and are all proficient at formation flying before they are considered for selection for the Team. All pilots are subject to rigorous annual examination by the RAF Central Flying School, a standards organisation, and all pilots fly regular sorties in Hawk flight simulators to test emergency handling and procedures. The Red Arrows adhere strictly to flying and engineering regulations, and every sortie flown by RAFAT is videoed by the Team’s safety cameraman for flight safety/debriefing purposes.

All pilots undergo a rigorous winter training programme. In the early part of the training season the pilots fly in small groups of four, five or six aircraft. As the months pass and they gain experience, the number of aircraft in the formation is gradually increased and the base height lowered. Usually by mid-January, British weather permitting, the Team will be practising with nine aircraft at display heights.

The maintenance of the Hawk aircraft is subject to extremely strict controls and set procedures, and all work carried out is thoroughly supervised and independently checked. Furthermore, the Hawk aircraft is designed with comprehensive backup systems which can be employed if the primary system ceases to function

The Red Arrows do not fly directly over the crowd. Manoeuvres in front of and parallel to the crowd can be flown down to 300 feet. The Synchro Pair are allowed down to 100 feet in straight and level flight in front of and parallel to the crowd line. Inverted flight by the Synchro pilots is not below 150 feet above the ground.

The ‘smoke’ produced during displays is actually vapour. The primary reason that the Team use visible vapour trails is that of flight safety. The trails allow the Team Leader to judge the wind speed and direction far more accurately than by any other means. They also allow the Team Leader and Synchro Leader to keep sight of each other when two, and often three sections are often several miles apart. The vapour trails also add impact to the display sequence when viewed by the audience, who are of course watching from the ground.

The vapour trails begin life as diesel fuel, contained in an extra fuel tank bolted on the underside of the Hawk fuselage. At the back of the aircraft, immediately above the jet exhaust pipe, there are three small tubes through which the pilot can pump small quantities of this diesel. When the diesel meets the extremely high temperatures found in the jet exhaust (over 500 degrees Celsius), the diesel immediately vaporises creating an intense white cloud. With separate switches on his control column, the pilot can add red or blue dye to the diesel and produce the other two colours. During a 30-minute sortie each aircraft can produce vapour for a maximum duration of 7 minutes. Depending on wind direction it is sometimes possible to smell these coloured vapour trails. All independent checks carried out since the Team first started using vapour trails in 1965 have indicated that there is no discernible hazard to health, that only microscopic particles of residue reach the ground and that the emissions are insignificant in terms of local pollutants.

Gravity is measured in terms of the amount of acceleration that the force gives to an object on the earth. The Red Arrows’ main section uses up to 5 times the force of gravity (5g) in their manoeuvres but up to 7g in the Vixen Break. The Synchro Pair use 7g quite frequently and can go up to 8g, the aircraft limit, if needed. At 8g everything weighs 8 times its normal weight, arms, legs, bags under the eyes, and so on. Cameramen have to remember that the weight of their equipment increases with increasing g and it can be difficult to keep the camera up to eye level. The heart sinks and blood tends to pool towards the legs and away from the brain. If insufficient blood reaches the eyes then the pilots gradually lose vision and this is known as ‘blacking out’.

The g-suit is an elasticised garment which fits tightly over the lower abdomen and legs and fastens with laces and zips. Attached to the suit is a hose-pipe which feeds pressurised air into a large number of tubes within the suit. When an aircraft pulls ‘g’, the pilot’s blood is forced downwards away from the heart and towards the feet so starving the brain. All pilots learn how to control this by tensing the stomach muscles but it is a physically tiring procedure. If the pilot relaxed his stomach muscles under high g conditions, all his blood would rapidly rush away from his brain and he would black-out. When the pilot is wearing an anti-g suit, pressurised air proportional to the g force rushes into the tubes and compresses the pilots abdomen and legs, thus saving the pilot considerable physical effort. Without the help of an anti-g suit the pilots would rapidly get fatigued and might even black out.

As long as the weather is in limits for a formation of nine aircraft, there are three types of display the Leader can fly: the Full Display; the Rolling Display; and the Flat Display. To carry out a full looping display the base of the cloud must be above 4,500 feet to avoid the aircraft entering the cloud at the top of a loop. If the cloud base is less than 4,500 ft but more than 2,500 ft the Team will perform the Rolling Display substituting wing-overs and rolls for the loops. If the cloud base is less than 2,500 ft the Team will fly the Flat Display, which consists of a series of fly-pasts and steep turns. People often ask why two, three or four aircraft do not give a display when the weather is too bad for all nine. The answer is that the Team has practised a nine-aircraft display all winter. Any variations from that routine could be dangerous due to lack of planning and practice.

No, the base height of the display is the same irrespective of the weather conditions. There are three types of display the Leader can fly depending on the weather conditions: the Full Display; the Rolling Display; and the Flat Display. However, due to optical and audio illusions, when the weather is bad people on the ground sometimes get the impression that the aircraft are flying lower than normal. Low cloud reflects the aircraft noise downwards and, by adding to the noise coming directly to your ears, makes the display seem noisier than usual. Similarly, a low cloud base acting as a near backdrop to the display, rather than the limitless blue sky, gives the visual impression that they are lower than normal.

We get a lot of mail and phone calls, asking for the Red Arrows’ air-to-air frequencies so that they can listen in. Unfortunately, a few people think it is great fun to transmit on our frequencies during air displays, offering advice. Obviously, such interruptions are extremely dangerous. To try and minimise such illegal acts, we never publicise our radio frequencies although we are, of course, aware that it is very easy for anyone with a scanner to find them. The Team Leader can change his pilots to a new frequency at short notice if necessary.

Since mid-1966 there have been 9 display pilots each year, including the Team Leader.

Red 10 is a fully-qualified Hawk pilot of Flight Lieutenant rank who flies the 10th aircraft when the Red Arrows deploy to an airfield site away from base. This gives the Team a reserve aircraft at the display site. Also known as the Road Manager, Red 10’s main duties include display co-ordination and acting as the Team’s dedicated Ground Safety Officer during the display season. In constant radio contact with the Team Leader, he attends every display on the ground to fulfil his primary duty of ensuring that conditions are suitable. The Red Arrows will not display until he is certain that the crowd and the pilots are in a totally safe environment. Red 10 is also the Team Commentator and flies TV cameramen and photographers authorised by MOD to take air-to-air shots of the Red Arrows. It requires a highly skilled pilot to fly a cameraman: not only has he to position the camera aircraft in such a way as to provide the best possible platform for pictures, but he has to be able to follow the nine display aircraft safely and smoothly around all the complicated manoeuvres.

All Red Arrows pilots are, and always have been, volunteers. Most will tell you that it is a job they had always wanted to do, sometimes from a very early age. In January of each year the RAF asks for volunteers from suitably qualified pilots. To be eligible, anyone considering applying must have completed at least one operational tour on a fast jet such as the Tornado, Harrier and Jaguar. Pilots must have been assessed in their annual reports as being above average in their operational role. Helicopter pilots and fixed-wing pilots who currently fly large aircraft such as the Hercules, whilst they may well be assessed as above average in their particular role, can not apply as they are most unlikely to be skilled in close formation and aerobatic flying. These provisos mean that the volunteers are usually Flight Lieutenants in their late twenties or early thirties.

There are always far more volunteers than places available and so a paper pre-selection board reduces the number to a short list of about nine. These nine pilots are then attached to The Red Arrows for a week to meet the present Team, to fly in the back seat of the Hawks during display practices, and to be interviewed. By this stage, it goes without saying that the short-listed pilots are deemed to be professionally capable of flying to the required standard; the volunteers are being assessed on their personal qualities and motivation. It is vitally important that the nine display pilots not only trust each other’s skills but that they all get on well together. The current pilots make the final choices at a closed meeting. Unsuccessful candidates can apply again, if they still meet the selection criteria. The whole process is, therefore, very democratic and there is no other selection procedure like it in the RAF.

Normally each of the display pilots stays with the Team for a three-year tour of duty. The reason for this is that by changing three pilots each year the experience level within the Team is optimised: three first year pilots; three second year pilots; and three in their final year. New pilots usually join in September so that they can fly in the back seats with Team for the last few displays of the Season.

Usually they go back to the "front-line" squadrons to resume their main-stream career. Some of the pilots reach a natural break in their RAF engagement as they leave The Red Arrows and opt to leave the RAF.

The Team Leader (of Squadron Leader rank) will always have completed a three-year tour as a Red Arrows’ team pilot earlier in his career. The number of officers qualified for the position of Leader is, therefore, quite limited. The RAF Personnel Department will offer the job to the officer they would like to see appointed. He has the opportunity to refuse the job if he wants: it is not on record whether or not anyone has refused the post!

The Synchro Leader (Red 6) is a third year pilot (Flight Lieutenant Jim Turner in 2007) and he is allowed to choose his own Number 2. The Synchro 2 (Red 7) one year will become Synchro Leader the following year. Thus, Synchro 2 in 2007, Flight Lieutenant Pablo O’Grady, will become Synchro Leader for 2008 and he will be able to choose his Number 2 for 2008 from one of the three first year pilots in 2007 who want the job.

If one of the pilots goes sick during the display season, or for any other reason is not able to fly, the Team is able to fly an 8-ship formation. There are no reserve pilots for safety reasons; one spare pilot could not possibly learn all nine positions to the standard required. The pilots always fly in the same position within the formation and it takes an intensive six-month training programme for each pilot to become thoroughly proficient at flying in his position. If the Team fly with one aircraft missing, the Team Leader will adjust the positions of the other pilots to achieve the most pleasing visual effect. Various ‘missing men’ formations are routinely practised during the winter training season.

If the Leader is unable to fly then the Red Arrows do not fly at all. There is no reserve Leader for flying displays.

The Team spends the six months from October through to April practising for the coming Display Season. The pilots always fly in the same position within the formation and it takes all those months for each pilot to become thoroughly proficient at flying in his own position. It is simply not practicable to ask a spare pilot, or even two, to learn all nine positions.

One of the prerequisites for selection for The Red Arrows is that the pilot must have completed at least one operational tour on a fast combat jet such as Tornado, Jaguar or Harrier, but few female pilots have yet done so and are therefore in a position to be eligible for selection. However, as more and more female Royal Air Force pilots reach the stage in their flying career that they can apply for The Red Arrows it is increasingly likely that we will see our first female Red Arrows pilot in the near future.

To give out addresses of private individuals would be an infringement of that person’s privacy. However, if you have a really good reason for wanting to contact a former member of the Team, we will forward messages to their last-known address. If you do this, your letter must be unsealed for security reasons. Please bear in mind that we cannot guarantee that the person addressed will reply. Many ex-Team pilots do not wish to receive correspondence about their time with The Red Arrows.

The Red Arrows do not decide where they are going to display. This is fortunate, as the members of the Team would rather not get involved in deciding who to say yes to and who to turn down. An organisation known as the RAF Events Team decides where The Red Arrows and all the other RAF display assets will perform.

The most up-to-date list of Red Arrows displays available can always be found on this site. For more information on other Royal Air Force displays and events in your area please go to www.raf4u.com

The number varies from year to year as you might expect. There are always far more requests than available dates and for some of the most popular dates, for example the weekends in summer, there are usually several conflicting requests.

Anyone can make a bid for The Red Arrows (or any other RAF display aircraft for that matter). You need to make your bid in writing before the end of September for the following year. The MOD Participation Committee collates all the many hundreds of requests and considers them on their merits. Initial requests for a display by the Red Arrows should be sent to:

RAF Events Team,
Adastral Hall,
PO Box 1000,
RAF College Cranwell,
Sleaford,
Lincs,
NG34 9GZ.

When submitting requests for displays, please bear in mind that our display season normally starts at the end of May and finishes mid-September each year. We cannot generally display outside this period.

In addition to the ninety-plus full displays that The Red Arrows give each year, the Team flies quite a few straight flypasts at fetes, garden shows, sponsored events, etc when they can be fitted in whilst in transit to or from a full display and when there is no significant deviation from the planned course. When the Team is transiting between two airfields they always fly in a tidy formation at a reasonably low height, typically about 1,000 feet above the ground, weather and air traffic control restrictions permitting. This is a deliberate policy to allow as many people as possible to see the Team. It also avoids the aircraft having to climb up into controlled airspace where delays might occur.

Flypasts, with very rare exceptions, are permitted only when the Team is already in
transit close to where the flypast is required. For example, when the Red Arrows are
returning to base at Scampton from a display or a detached base they can often be
programmed to make a straight flypast at a local event somewhere close to the
planned route. They would not be programmed to do any flypast that involved a
considerable deviation from the planned route because that would incur extra fuel
and aircraft operating costs. Flypasts are always subject to cancellation at short
notice for operational reasons such as weather conditions, Air Traffic Control
restrictions, aircraft unserviceabilities.

To apply for a flypast by The Red Arrows, please click here to access further advice
and an application form.

We are not permitted to carry out flypasts for personal occasions such as weddings and funerals. Sometimes we do so inadvertently but these are never planned.

Much as we would like to return to the USA, Africa or Australia, or travel to South America, Japan, Korea, China and a whole raft of countries we have never visited, we cannot answer this question. It may be that we have not been officially invited by the Government of that particular country, it may be because there is no organisation willing to pay the cost. One country we cannot go to with the Hawk is New Zealand – the aircraft cannot carry enough fuel to get us there!

In the execution of our training and operations we take safety very seriously and make every effort to minimize inconvenience to the general public. However we are not arrogant enough to believe that everyone likes The Red Arrows. We do not receive many complaints, but those which are directed against the Team are dealt with by the Public Relations Officer in the first instance. The Public Relations Officer will always then check out the circumstances with the Team Leader and reply in writing to the person making the complaint. All paperwork is then forwarded to the Ministry of Defence.

The Red Arrows Merchandise Company, an officially licensed source of Red Arrows souvenirs can be found at www.redarrowsshop.com or telephone 01252 377 675. The Red Arrows Merchandise Company also run the official Red Arrows Fan Club. For more information visit www.redarrowsclub.com.

Many people ask how they can obtain photographs, videos and films of the Red Arrows. UK tax-payers will be relieved to learn that we do not supply photographs ourselves, but we do endeavour to give the most up-to-date information of where these items can be sourced. UK enthusiasts can often find Red Arrows’ footage included in aviation videos on sale at shops such as W H Smith (and, of course, specialist video shops). Photographs of the Team which regularly appear in aviation magazines are generally the copyright of the photographer. The photographers are often willing to sell prints; write to the photographer c/o the magazine. There is a collection of beautiful Red Arrows’ photographs on a CD produced by a Dutch friend of the Team, E J van Koningsveld. These are available from UGA Media (http://www.sky-flash.com/reds.htm).

Sadly, no. The Red Arrows are an operational squadron and that the environment we work in (on the ground as well as in the air) can be a dangerous place. The flight line is extremely busy particularly during the winter months when the pilots are flying six training slots each day and there is much activity. Likewise, there is always a lot going on inside the hangar where routine and major servicing is carried out on the aircraft. As a relatively small squadron and the only RAF unit at Scampton, we just do not have the dedicated manpower to host groups of visitors safely.

Several hundred members of the public write in each year asking for passenger flights with The Red Arrows, but unfortunately all have to be rejected. In the past we have rejected an offer of £100,000 to a charity of our choice in exchange for a flight. The main reason for this is that if we set a precedent and gave a flight to one person we would have to fly everyone who asked and there simply would not be enough sorties in the year. On very rare occasions we will fly high profile journalists and personalities when doing so will further the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team Mission of keeping the Royal Air Force in the public eye.

For details of how to join the Royal Air Force please visit www.rafcareers.com, or alternatively step into your local Armed Forces Careers Office.

These answers were amended in September 2005.

If you have a question that you would like answered, please email us at [email protected]. Please remove the no spam from the address when you send an e-mail, as it is to protect the address against abuse. We cannot promise to answer your question personally, however if it is interesting enough, we shall consider it for inclusion on this page.

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