How Dangerous Is It To Be A Red Arrows Pilot?

The spectacular sights of a Red Arrow display are a feast for the eyes - but how much work goes into pulling off the death-defying stunts?

Pilots perform for crowds at breakneck speeds and while crowds enjoy the dazzling displays - like the one at Eastbourne last weekend - the danger for those behind the controls are only too real.

Eleven Red Arrow pilots have lost their life throughout their 51-year history, while 26 of their American counterparts in the Blue Angels have also been killed in training or air show accidents.

The displays may be a thrill to spectators but the sensations that those in the air feel are anything but a relaxing trip to the park.

Executing death-defying stunts at breakneck speeds; flying low to the ground and experiencing g-forces that makes their heads feel like 44-pound balls, pilots not only manage to control their aircraft, but also to work perfectly in a team, pushing themselves and their aircraft to the limit.

And if you thought the planes got close to each other while in the air, you’re not wrong - when conducting flight manoeuvres the Red Arrows get as close as 180cm - lower than the height of your average door frame (203cm).

And the Blue Angels pilots fly to as low as 15.24m above the ground - about the length of two double decker buses - in a risky manoeuvre that puts both themselves and the crowd at risk.

The 30-minute routines are updated every year, meaning intricate details for three separate displays have to be carefully planned and rehearsed.

One Blue Angel pilot, Mark Tedrow, explained to How It Works Magazine about one of the toughest manoeuvres he has to pull off.

He revealed: “It’s called the inverted tuck over roll which is where I’m trying to hide my plane behind Blue 6, so the crowd only see one aircraft.

“Last year we performed this upright, but this year we decided to make things harder and perform it inverted.”

Red Arrows pilot Mike Bowden also spoke of a tricky part of the display, that involves all nine aircraft moving as one.

He said: “There’s a perfect position to be in during all manoeuvres and to achieve this we aim to triangulate a position on the Team Leader’s aircraft.

“We use two reference points to put us in the right part of the sky, which helps us to ensure that we don’t get too close.

“Six feet [1.8 metres] apart is close enough when you’ve got nine aircraft in one vicinity.”

This may all sound like a tough ask for anyone - but some of these pilots pull off the moves in a ridiculous speeds.

The Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornet reaches a top speed of 2,253 km/h - at that speed you could fly from London to New York in little more than TWO HOURS.

Unsurprisingly, anyone hoping to get on either team have to have at least 1,250 flying hours for the Blue Angels and a minimum of 1,500 for the Red Arrows.
Candidates go through rigorous week-long interviews and are tested for their skills in the air.

Anyone hoping to join the Blue Angels in America must face a brutal interview in front of a 16-strong panel - and must secure a vote from every single person to get the position.

But when the job comes with added danger, these pilots need to be the best - and their displays make the effort worth the risk.