The Blades to "go global" & upgrade to GameBird GB1
Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 4:41 pm
Now, if you're in North America, bear with me - this is kind of relevant on your side of the Atlantic, too.
Here in the UK we have an aerobatic team called The Blades, formed mostly of ex-Red Arrows pilots, flying four Extra 300LPs. In terms of their status over here, they're kind of like the British equivalent of AeroShell or the GEICO Skytypers - a very common sight at UK airshows, and probably the best-known civilian team in the country. They also offer passenger experience flights and are involved in the Red Bull Air Race. Oh, and did I mention? Their displays are very, very good.
Today, the team's commentator announced this would be their last year flying the Extra, which came as a bit of a surprise to me, so I did some digging online. I found an article by the Royal Aeronautical Society from May this year, and it says that the team have been planning to upgrade to the GameBird GB1 - today's comments would seem to suggest that's now going to happen at the end of this season. The article points out that the GB1 has double the range of the Extra, allowing the team to self-deploy further and display in more remote locations, all at a reduced cost.
But here's something else the article threw up:
"While The Blades are now a regular sight on the UK air show display circuit and their passenger flights a major success for corporate and private ‘experience’ flight - the team are now setting their sights on conquering a bigger goal – the world. The aim is to bring the team's professionalism, skill and passion and conduct passenger flights outside of the UK’s spring/summer flying season – potentially tying into international air shows and other public events around the world – especially in the Middle East and even the US."
As if the prospect of a world-class aerobatic team going on a world tour for six months a year isn't interesting enough, I also wonder whether the procurement of the GameBird fleet will tie in to this. I'm not sure if the old Extras are going to be sold off when the GB1s arrive, but if not, it leaves open the tantelising opportunity of having a "home" fleet and and "away" fleet. They wouldn't be the first UK civilian team to employ such a model.
So, keep an eye out for The Blades coming to an event near you in the future - they're one of the best civilian teams around, and it certainly appears that they have the status, money and ambition to make this global growth work.
Source: https://www.aerosociety.com/news/carvin ... go-global/
Here in the UK we have an aerobatic team called The Blades, formed mostly of ex-Red Arrows pilots, flying four Extra 300LPs. In terms of their status over here, they're kind of like the British equivalent of AeroShell or the GEICO Skytypers - a very common sight at UK airshows, and probably the best-known civilian team in the country. They also offer passenger experience flights and are involved in the Red Bull Air Race. Oh, and did I mention? Their displays are very, very good.
Today, the team's commentator announced this would be their last year flying the Extra, which came as a bit of a surprise to me, so I did some digging online. I found an article by the Royal Aeronautical Society from May this year, and it says that the team have been planning to upgrade to the GameBird GB1 - today's comments would seem to suggest that's now going to happen at the end of this season. The article points out that the GB1 has double the range of the Extra, allowing the team to self-deploy further and display in more remote locations, all at a reduced cost.
But here's something else the article threw up:
"While The Blades are now a regular sight on the UK air show display circuit and their passenger flights a major success for corporate and private ‘experience’ flight - the team are now setting their sights on conquering a bigger goal – the world. The aim is to bring the team's professionalism, skill and passion and conduct passenger flights outside of the UK’s spring/summer flying season – potentially tying into international air shows and other public events around the world – especially in the Middle East and even the US."
As if the prospect of a world-class aerobatic team going on a world tour for six months a year isn't interesting enough, I also wonder whether the procurement of the GameBird fleet will tie in to this. I'm not sure if the old Extras are going to be sold off when the GB1s arrive, but if not, it leaves open the tantelising opportunity of having a "home" fleet and and "away" fleet. They wouldn't be the first UK civilian team to employ such a model.
So, keep an eye out for The Blades coming to an event near you in the future - they're one of the best civilian teams around, and it certainly appears that they have the status, money and ambition to make this global growth work.
Source: https://www.aerosociety.com/news/carvin ... go-global/