Royal Jordanian Falcon's Potential 2018 North American Tour

[Bretten Bailey]

This is something to keep an eye on as things progress, but it appears the Royal Jordanian Falcons may be doing a North American Tour in 2018.

Members of the team were at the ICAS Convention in December and, according to this news release from Salinas Airshow, they'll be performing there:
http://www.montereyherald.com/article/N ... /171219963

Flightline UK also has a post up regarding a potential tour, but notes the spring time frame. https://www.air-shows.org.uk/2017/12/ai ... n-falcons/

Will keep an eye on this as everything moves forward, but expect news to continue to come in.

[Dan Gagnon]

Pretty interesting stuff! I wonder if Airshow London would be a stop for a potential tour, as they currently don't have an aerobatic team. Given their track record of getting great line-ups, it wouldn't surprise me if this occurred. Will definitely keep my eyes open on this potential tour!

[RyanS]

Not sure how exciting they'd be to watch but it's at least something different! Fingers crossed that they get around a bit in the fall instead of spring.

[Adam]

Not sure how exciting they'd be to watch

They're rather unfairly referred to as the the "toilet break" or "lunch break" every time they appear at RIAT, but as four-ship prop teams go I've always thought them to be pretty decent. You'll probably get their first appearance with their new fleet of Extras and new colour scheme.

[Chris Smallenberg]

Not sure how exciting they'd be to watch but it's at least something different! Fingers crossed that they get around a bit in the fall instead of spring.

Think something along the lines of the Chilean Halcones or the old Northern Lights civilian team that flew Extras, if you were fortunate enough to see either of them...it has been along time, I think, since the Halcones have performed in North America and the Northern Lights made it until around 2000 I think. Hard to believe that is approaching 20 years ago!

For those interested in a little history, there is an Abbotsford Airshow link to the Royal Jordanian Falcons. King Hussein from Jordan visited the Abbotsford Airshow in 1974. After his visit to Abbotsford, he approved the formation of an aerobatic team in Jordan that would be called the Royal Jordanian Falcons. It was originally a two ship Pitts team in 1976 and the pilots were Dave Rahm and Steve Wolf, both from the US (King Hussein and Dave Rahm first met in Abbotsford). The Royal Jordanian Falcons flew at Abbotsford in 1977.

[RyanS]

This is the 2016 display sequence that is posted on their website. I'm sure it won't be anything shocking but at least it's something new. After watching the 4ce like 500 times I don't even look up any more.

Four ship formation take off proceeding to right of spectator centre and head on to Display Line (DL) in ‘Box formation’ (BF).

¼’Clover leaf’ in (BF) to parallel (DL) towards centre (C).
‘Barrel roll’ in BF parallel to DL.
‘Loop’ in T formation parallel to DL.
½ ‘Cuban 8’ to inverted flight in BF parallel to DL.
BF Inverted pass and push 45* up for split S.
4 ship individual 360* rolls in T formation parallel to DL.
3 ship ‘Stall Turn’ in ‘Line abreast’ formation parallel to DL - Slot/Solo separates.
Right wing mirror formation under ‘inverted’ Leader parallel to DL moving left.
Left wing ‘Barrel Rolls’ around mirror formation - 3ship exit left of C.
Solo enters from left of C for ‘Lumcovak’ blended into 1&1/2 flat spin then exits.
3 Ship enters left of C parallel to DL for ¼ ‘Clover leaf’ into DLC .
3 Ship enters from C head on for ‘Hashemite Break’:
Wing men turn towards each other and separate - Leader pulls up for ‘Tail- slide’. Wing men pull up for ‘Tumbles’ in vertical and return crossing each other for ‘Knife Edge’ Pass parallel to DL followed by 45* climb and 1&1/2 ‘Tumble’ then 3 ship exit away from C.
Slot/solo enters C high for:
10 Consecutive ‘Snap Rolls’ into DLC
Pull up for ‘Lumcovak, blended into 1&1/2 turns ‘Knife edge spin’.
Pull up for ‘Tail Slide’.
Pull up for ‘Torque Roll’ blended into 1&1/2 turns ‘flat spin’
Pull up for ‘Tumbles’ in the vertical
45* climb for ‘tumbles’
90* Inside ‘Rolling circles’ followed by wing over back towards DLC
3 Ship enter from Left in ‘Line Abreast’ Formation for crossing ‘Knife Edge’ pass from Solo.
3 Ship ‘Loop’ in ‘Line Abreast’ formation parallel and C on DL.
Slot/Solo rejoins for BF out of 1&1/2 ‘Tumble’.
From R of DLC 4Ship approach in BF for ‘Slow Roll’ parallel to DL.
4 ship adjust head on into DLC for ‘Concord Formation’.
‘Concord-Fan Break’ away from DLC.
4 Ship adjusts downwind in ‘Trail’ for landing in sequence.

Display time form take off to Runway clear is approximately 15 minutes maximum.

[Bretten Bailey]

Something new is always fun. And 4-ship aerobatic prop driven are rather rare! The 4CE is the only that comes to mind.

The Aerostars are switching out of Yak-52TWs and into Extras for 2018. I think they'll really have a Northern Lights feel to their performance (now a 4-ship and a designated solo).

The Falcons would be something different and fun to see.

[RyanS]

Much ado about nothing, I'm afraid. I reached out to the team directly for comment on any tour and was told that they weren't able to work it out this year and are instead hoping for 2019 or 2020. We'll have to remember them in future years!

Our Team had initially intended to perform our next summer Airshow Tour 2018 in the USA. However due to several challenges confronting us this year it has been decided to postpone this plan to 2019 or 2020.