Today at the Royal Norfolk show, visitors were lucky enough to see the RAF premier parachute display team, The Falcons, who performed their display manoeuvres.
These manoeuvres included the helix, where the group split into evens and odds, the odds turning 45 degrees to the left and the evens turning 45 degrees to the right, after this they turned 45 degrees towards each other, then repeating these turns repeatedly to form a helix pattern. After this they performed a manoeuvre called the heart, where the group once again split into even and odds before turning 230 degrees into the opposite direction before looking back to assess their relative position and flying their parachutes to get back to their correct position.
After the team get back into position, the coach calls the command “Odds left evens right”, Each member will either turn left or right, and on the command “Ready go” the team turn 90 degrees then flying opposite to each other, before turning again to form the criss cross carousel manoeuvre.
After the display ended and the team had landed, I was lucky enough to interview to Sargeant Luke Riddle, who answered a few questions I had about the Falcon display team as well as what its like to be part of a parachute display team. I asked him what its like to jump from the plane, he described it as very nervous at first, “It’s like putting your hand out the window of a car” is how he described the feeling of falling. I also asked him what its like doing a jump during a hot day like today, he said while the air is normally colder in the sky, heat does rise from the ground so at point you can hit some thermals, which are a bit hotter. Finally I asked him how you join the Falcon team, he told me that you need to join the RAF as a physical instructor and after 3-4 years, specialise as a parachute instructor and as you work as a parachute instructor, you could be selected to join the Falcons.
Blog piece and photography by Noah Freel of East Coast College.
