IN FOCUS RED ARROWS PILOT
Antony ‘Parky’ Parkinson describes his time flying with the world-famous Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows
I guess we all have moments in our lives we can remember vividly, as if it happened just seconds before. For me, it was April 2000 and the Officer Commanding the Tornado F.3 Operational Conversion Unit was holding out his hand and congratulating me. I look at him incredulously until the realisation dawns that I’ve been selected to fly with The Red Arrows. I’m utterly gobsmacked and, for those few seconds, reckon I was the happiest person on the planet.
First impressions
Two weeks before, nine hopeful pilots from across the RAF’s fastjet force had arrived in a hot and dusty RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. Three positions were up for grabs and I genuinely didn’t think I stood a chance, as Sqn Ldr Andy Offer (Red 1) ran through what our ‘short-list’ (the nine pilots selected from that year’s applicants) could expect. The team were flying three nine-ship displays a day, polishing the 2000 routine as they worked up for Public Display Approval (PDA). That meant 15 back-seat flights (utterly brilliant), a flying test of formation loops and rolls in the back seat with Red 9 on…
