At exactly 4pm on a sunny Friday, it took nine Red Arrows to stop a restless baby from crying; nine Red Arrows to make an Australian tourist to forget all about his hot dog; it took nine Red Arrows to send people clambering up the stairs of the Philippines pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai to catch a glimpse of the aerobatic group of pilots who painted the skies red, blue and white….
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#UAEnews #Expo2020Dubai #RedArrows
Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/1.1633863147046
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
#UAEnews #Expo2020Dubai #RedArrows
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NewsTranscript
00:00I was inspired to be a pilot when I flew with my family to South America.
00:05My mother is from the UK and my father is from Colombia.
00:09And we flew from London Heathrow to Bogota and then from Bogota to Pasto.
00:15And on that flight, that domestic flight, it was quite an interesting journey.
00:20We flew through thunderstorms and all sorts of terrible weather.
00:25My parents were so nervous and yet I was so excited.
00:28And I realised that I think this is a job I want to go and do.
00:31And that was really the turning point for me when I was quite young.
00:37And then as I grew older, I couldn't decide whether I wanted to fly
00:42as a commercial airline pilot or become a military pilot.
00:46But as I got to university, I joined an organisation called the University Air Squadron
00:51in the UK and that gave me my first taste of service life.
00:55Not just the flying but everything else that is wrapped up with the camaraderie,
01:00adventurous training and I was sold from there on.
01:03So I was really focused on a military career.
01:06I luckily, on my third attempt, got into the RAF
01:11and I flew on my frontline aircraft, the Tornado F3, so the fighter variant.
01:17I flew in the UK, flew a squadron in Scotland and travelled around the world in that capacity.
01:24But I was very lucky at the end of my first seven or eight years as a fighter pilot
01:28that I applied and volunteered to join the Red Arrows and got into this wonderful team.
01:34And I've been very lucky to do three tours on the team
01:38and now in my present role as the commanding officer.
01:41The Red Arrows fly the Hawk aircraft.
01:44The Hawk is produced by British Aerospace
01:47and is the most successful export training aircraft in the world.
01:51I used to be an instructor on the Hawk.
01:53I've been very privileged to teach UK, Indian,
01:58Saudi Arabian students that have come through to go into fighter training world
02:03and it's a perfect aircraft to teach the final stages of training as a fighter pilot
02:09before you get onto your frontline aircraft.
02:12It cruises at around 400 miles per hour, seven miles a minute is how we navigate.
02:18It's a very manoeuvrable aircraft but it's quite forgiving
02:21which is good when you're learning how to fly a fast jet for the first time.
02:25Now in the Red Arrows we change the aircraft very slightly.
02:28We turn it to a red colour.
02:31They're traditionally black or dark blue in the UK.
02:35We add a smoke modification so that we can give you the colours
02:38that Dubai Expo would have seen over the last couple of hours.
02:42And it's perfect for us as a display aircraft
02:46because not only is it very manoeuvrable but it's got really good range.
02:49We can get across the world.
02:51The furthest west we've been is the west coast of America.
02:55We've made it into southern China
02:57and in the mid-90s we got all the way down to south of Australia.
03:02So it allows us to be a kind of global presence as a display team
03:06and it's a wonderful aircraft to fly.
03:09Joining the Red Arrows is something that I hadn't focused on.
03:11I just wanted to become a frontline pilot.
03:13That was my ambition.
03:15But after my second tour on the Tornado
03:17my boss actually suggested it was somewhere I should go.
03:21And I didn't think I was ever going to make it.
03:25I threw my paperwork in.
03:28Amazingly I got shortlisted and then amazingly I got selected.
03:32So I felt very fortunate.
03:35But I think often a story where your seniors or your parents
03:40or whoever it is is probably seeking more in you than you believe in yourself.
03:43And I'm really grateful for that steer from my squadron boss.