for Adam

[davecana]

A nice clip, thanks.
The Roulettes are not a full time team either. The main role for CFS is to train instructors, and display flying is a secondary role.
The Roulettes won't have PC-9's for much longer. The replacement is suppose to be announced soon. It's a two horse race, PC-21's or Texan 2's.

[Adam the Akrodude]

Be interesting to see which way the RAAF goes - PC-21 or Texan 2. The PC-21 in particular is quite a jump up from the CT-4B. Does the contract include a new ab-initio trainer as well as a lead in? From purely a looks point of view, the PC-21 really looks the goods to me! Had a close look at one at Avalon - wow!

Another great reason that the PC-9 is such a good platform for formation aerobatics is it's stability being a trainer. That dihedral on those wings makes the PC-9 pretty stable ("truck like" I've been told by a ex-RAAF PC-9 FAC pilot). The fact that the Roulettes are not a full time team and that the PC-9 is not flying at the "speed of heat" does give them more margin for error. That horrible crash not that many years ago of a USN Blue Angels F-18 that slammed into the ground whilst attempting a re-join with the formation is a good case in point. The guy re-joining never saw the ground approaching I'm guessing, as he was looking at the vector he needed to fly to make the re-join happen. Could this happen in a PC-9? Yes of course. But if you are flying along at 250 knots say versus 350-400 knots, the pilot has a bit more time, thus more margin for error.

Troy, I wish I was better able to convey to you what the Roulettes do is really special. OK, they don't scream around and make a lot of noise (yes the Macchi's did have more presence!). I am biased I guess as I do have a interest and fascination with aerobatic trainers. With Australia's small defence budget, we will never be in the realm of the mighty "Red Arrows" or the "Blues" or "T-Birds" who are full time big budget teams. It will be interesting to see what NZ does with their Texan 2's and whether they will be used for display work with their "Red Checkers" team.

[tor lives]

Formation flying is all good and well, but its the RAAF for dog's sake. Do it in Hawks if you insist on using a trainer. PC-9 says to me, "Go get a beer from the bar before the entertainment starts, Troy"

Yeah...I would go one step further and dare the RAAF to form the world's first F/A-18F or F-35 display team . Can you imagine just how good a Super Hornet would look in Roulette colours....suck on that Blue Angels!!! I reckon that would get GTX's (over on AMI), WIF juices flowing.
Adam mentioned the Kiwis above......I was always super impressed with their Kiwi Red A-4 display team. How ballsy was it to do a formation loop while plugged into to a refuelling "buddy" pod...those crazy Kiwis
TOR

[Tony P]

We could go the way of the Kiwi "Red Checkers".

[Tony P]

I was always super impressed with their Kiwi Red A-4 display team. How ballsy was it to do a formation loop while plugged into to a refuelling "buddy" pod...those crazy Kiwis
TOR

And that didn't go to well in Feb 2001. They probably stopped after that. From memory the accident happened the day of the Friday night Avalon International Airshow which they were to attend. They were meant to do a night attack sequence with the F-111 dump & burn the last act. Remember explosions (fireworks) with no aircraft and then the F-111 turned up.

[tor lives]

I was always super impressed with their Kiwi Red A-4 display team. How ballsy was it to do a formation loop while plugged into to a refuelling "buddy" pod...those crazy Kiwis
TOR

And that didn't go to well in Feb 2001. They probably stopped after that. From memory the accident happened the day of the Friday night Avalon International Airshow which they were to attend.

Yeah....it sure did end in tears for the poor ol Kiwis, but I am sure Kiwi Red will always be fondly remembered. Their Bicentennial Richmond Airshow display was just awesome!!, (along with a very agile AN-124).
TOR

[Tony P]

[Tony P]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AubU5FeUIs

[hrtpaul]

Me and Adam are gonna disagree yet again but IMHO if you don't have jets, don't bother having an aerobatics team OMFG I said it. I find the Roulettes boring as bat shit. Yes I know that the pilots are awesome at what they do yadda yadda yadda. If you wanna attract peeps to the RAAF then you need to make a big noise about. Not just belt around the sky in what sounds as quiet as a supped up mosquito. For the record I actually think the PC-9 is one of the best sounding turbines out there. It just ain't loud enough. I too, am an aerosexual but if they can't keep the likes of me engaged and paying attention, what hope do they have with your average Joe Public PS4/Xbox/Wii playing teenager they target to join the RAAF? Anyways that's my opinion, take it or leave it

[Tony P]

If you wanna attract peeps to the RAAF then you need to make a big noise about.

Nailed it right there Paul. The main reason for having a display team is to recruit.