All language subtitles for The Secret Lives Of Big Cats Series 1 3of7 The Secret Lives of Pumars 1080p

They are the elite.

Daring combat veterans...flying
on the edge of what's possible.

They're called the best aerobatic
display team in the world.

On reflection, what we're doing
is extraordinary.

But it just feels absolutely normal
now.

For the first time, they've allowed
cameras to follow them

for an entire year...

...as a new leader takes charge in
one of the most challenging periods

in the squadron's history.

It's a year of triumphs...

...of tragedy...

On Tuesday, one of the squadron's
aircraft crashed at RAF Valley.

...and of courage.

We have to move on,
and the best way to do that

is to get on with our jobs.

But ultimately, it's a year
of breathtaking...

...awe-inspiring...

"flying-

These are the Red Arrows.

7.30am, early January.

The Red Arrows are returning
to work

after a two-week Christmas break.

All right, fella? How's it going?

They've four months of training left
before their landmark 2018 display

season, when they'll be spearheading
the RAF Centenary celebrations.

Officer Commanding Andrew Keith,
known as Boomer,

takes the first briefing
of the year.

All right. Morning all.
Welcome back.

Our first real week of 2018
training, so it's going to be a busy

month and a busy week, so we'll make
the most out of it when we can.

During their winter training,
the pilots aim for three

practice flights a day, five clays a
week.

But the Lincolnshire
weather rarely co-operates.

This time of year can be
frustrating.

I mean, this morning we may have
some issues with some ice.

It was quite cold last night,
so surfaces might be a bit icy.

And then later on, we've got a front
moving up from the south,

so that's going to give a layer of
cloud for this afternoon's flying.

That's the joys of January for you.

First snow and ice...

...then fog ground the aircraft
clays on end.

You fly three times a day, five days
a week before Christmas, then you go

away and do nothing for ten
days, because the skills

we have need to be repeated so often
it just takes that little bit longer

to get back into the swing
of things, so that combined

with the weather in January, it
is always quite a tricky month.

Skill fade is definitely an issue
for the pilots.

The longer we sit on the ground, the
more we just sort of tread water.

And the longer they sit on the
ground, the more that skill fade

then creeps back in, and when we do
get a bout of good weather,

we're just clawing back to get to
where we were when we left off a
month ago.

Eventually, they manage
to get some jets airborne.

But only for the pilots to fly
to RAF Valley in Wales,

to train on their
Hawk jet simulator.

Is that your phone ringing?

Oh, is it mine?

But getting them back again proves
a headache for Operations Officer

Dave Putt.

Hello.

Aye, the weather's going, innit.

Right.

With TAF in red, as well,
so, same as Waddington,

they've gone down as well.

We've let them know
the situation,

so they might well stay at Valley.

OK, then.

Cheers. Bye.

The weather has deteriorated
quite quick

and a bit beyond what the forecast
was, so unfortunately,

our aircraft will be staying
at Valley.

It might allow some of them
with young children to get

a good night's sleep.

Put it that much!

The pilots finally make
it home the next day,

and, with clear weather,
resume training.

For most of the winter,
the Red Arrows train

as two sections.

The front five, called Enid,
concentrate on introducing

the new pilots
to formation aerobatics.

The most experienced pilots make
up the rear element, called Gypo,

after a previous team leader.

They perform the most dynamic
manoeuvres in the display.

Pitch and roll, go!

As a new member of the rear element,
Toby Keeley has to master

the advanced flying skills he'll

need for these heart-stopping
routines.

Six rolling in.

One of the most difficult is flying
upside down, above another jet,

much nearer to the ground
than he's ever flown before.

The bit challenge of inverted
formation flying certainly

would be the roll in.

So, you're in close formation.

And then you pitch up and roll
at exactly the same time as the guy

in front, so the same time as Simon,
so making that look symmetrical

is quite difficult, because if I do
a small pitch up

and he does a big
tweak up, that can get quite tasty.

Maintaining that perfect formation
inverted is pretty tricky.

The stick moves in the opposite
sense, so left stick input,

the jet goes right, as you would
normally expect it to go left,

the right way up, and vice versa.

So, getting used to that was
quite tricky.

I wouldn't say I've had much time
to appreciate it at the time

of flying because you are
so focused on the actual manoeuvre.

It's in hindsight you look back and
you think that was really good fun

and a real privilege
to be able to do that.

It's a steep learning curve.

But inverted flying with just Si,
is only the first step for Toby.

In the mirror flat manoeuvre,
the other two pilots must fly

directly beneath them,
merely feet away.

I think the main challenge
for that is I'm inverted on top of

Matt but then Matt is trying to
formate on me while trying to

contort his neck and look up at the
same time.

So, that's quite difficult,
obviously, in the fact he's not an
owl!

It's actually quite a difficult
position to be in for him.

Six rolling in.

It's quite an unnatural position to
be in because normally

I'm just trying to look forward for
the best view.

But in this particular move,
I'm looking straight up.

I've got to put my helmet over to
one side in order to be able

to look straight up at Simon.

And it's one of those if my neck
doesn't hurt,

I'm in the wrong position.

So, as long as I've got a bit
of an ache in my neck,

I know I'm looking and I'm generally
in the right place.

There's actually no smoke and
mirrors in that manoeuvre,

it is literally me
right on top of Matt.

There's about seven,
eight feet between us.

You always say you'll have a little
wave to the guy below you.

Unfortunately, I don't
have the capacity or the inkling

to look down at Matt.

I'd rather not, to be honest,
I'd rather just fly as stable

as I can and then it's
over pretty quickly.

Six rolling out.

One awesome piece of flying is
ticked off but on his next sortie,

Toby will attempt the most
physically brutal manoeuvre of all.

Corkscrew.

The four Red Arrows pilots who make
up the rear section perform

the team's most dynamic
and difficult manoeuvres.

And corkscrew is the most
physically brutal of them all.

Two pilots, Toby and Si, fly upside
down, while Matt and Bogeye

roll round and round their smoke.

We're looking for contour-rotating
manoeuvres, four times,

around six and seven smoke.

Eight and nine should be above
the smoke at the same time,

and then below the smoke at the same
time and contour rotating as we go

round, and doing that four times,
and finishing at the same time.

If you see it in the season,
then we're doing it right.

It feels like a washing
machine experience.

It's pretty much an assault.

It's the same as any job,
you just get used to it and

clearly you just need to give
it the respect it deserves.

Six rolling out.

Throughout training, the Red Arrows
use their famous smoke.

Turning it on and off with precision
is a skill they have to perfect.

And in head-to-head manoeuvres,
the smoke is vital for the pilots

to see one another.

For winter training,
they only use white smoke.

But after a long display season,
it doesn't always work perfectly.

Smoke system overhauls are
carried out by the dye team.

We are the team responsible
for creating smoke,

the red, white and blue you see
coming out the aircraft.

This is our smoke pods that we fit
to the bottom of the aeroplanes.

They come in, get stripped apart,
cleaned, put back together, valves,

O rings and stuff all get changed.

We put it back together.

Test it, and then they'll strap
it to the bottom of the aeroplane

again and that's when you'll see
it in the displays.

The diesel and dye mixture is pumped
through the aircraft

and then it's pointed out
into the jet efflux, essentially

the jet engine's exhaust,
which vaporises it

and that's what creates the puffy
red, white and blue smoke.

This front section here
between my hands,

that's actually the red tank.

You can see it's quite
small and this gives us

enough of a mixture to give us one
minute only of the red colour.

Then from here, all the way back
to here, that is the white tank.

As you can see, it's significantly
bigger than the red and

therefore it gives us five minutes
of white smoke during the display.

And moving back once more, from here
to here is actually the blue tank.

It's exactly the same size
at the red tank and also gives us

a minute of blue smoke
during the display.

The pilots carefully
plan their display

to have the most visual impact
that they can.

And they will use the red and blue
when they're directly

in front of the crowd, mainly,

and then when they're off doing
other things,

that's when you'll see
more of the white smoke.

Dye team is one of the best jobs
on the Red Arrows, in the fact

we're kind of our own bosses.

When we're on the road,
we have to make decisions

and it's quite good to sort
of solve your own problems,

and think on your feet a little bit.

Using smoke is a key skill
the team's new pilots,

Starky and Bondy, have to learn.

Now three months into their
training, they've been introduced

to all the aerobatic manoeuvres
they'll be flying, apart from one.

Today, they'll face perfectly
timing their smoke, while performing

by far their most difficult
and daunting manoeuvre.

Rollbacks.

Flying at 300 feet, pairs of jets
take turns to pull up,

roll around the aircraft
next to them,

then slot back into the rear
of the formation.

Get the technique wrong,

there's a risk of entering
an unrecoverable spin,

or of colliding with
the other aircraft.

Rollbacks is quite challenging.

It's the one that we leave
till the very end.

Yeah, the guys tend to put a bit
of self-induced pressure on

because of, you know, stories
of old.

So, yeah, it's...
It is a milestone for the guys.

Unfortunately there was a fatality
back in the '80s, but because

this story's grown over the years,
it's almost built this aura

of being the most difficult
manoeuvre in the Red Arrows.

In the '80s, the team suffered two
accidents in quick succession,

practising rollbacks.

In November 1987, two jets collided.

Both pilots successfully ejected.

One jet crashed into a field...

...but the other struck
a row of houses.

From a normally tranquil close,
the area was transformed as

fire tenders, ambulances

and an air-sea rescue helicopter
hovered overhead.

Incredibly, no-one on
the ground was hurt.

But just two months later, pilot
Neil MacLachlan was tragically

killed when his jet entered a spin
while he performed a rollback.

Like Bondy and Starky, it was Neil's
first year in the team.

Three, two, one, hack.

8.45, morning gents.

Rollbacks, OK. Let's not make
a massive thing out of these.

They are simple manoeuvres
that have built up this aura

of being the most difficult thing
we have in our quiver.

It is the most difficult thing
you have, but you'll learn

from these guys, the procedural
technique to get on with it,

and also, more importantly,
how to get out of it

if you're getting into any trouble.

For their first attempt
at rollbacks,

the new pilots will have experienced
Red Arrows Dan Lowes

and Matt Masters
in their back seats.

Eight is in two's back seat and five
is in three's back seat.

Rollbacks - probably the manoeuvre
that we're most anxious

about getting done,

and it'll be nice to get
those under the belt.

Three, roll, go.

Barrel rolling that close to another
aircraft is something we're simply

not used to doing,
we haven't done before.

So there is certainly
a healthy amount of nerves involved

before you do it for the first time.

Good stuff. Best of luck.

We'll check in at minute one-five,
please.

Enjoy. Thank you.

For safety, on this first sortie,
they'll be rolling one at a time,

rather than in pairs.

Officer Commanding Boomer has come
to keep an eye on his new recruits.

11 years ago, he was in their shoes.

I experienced it all,
so remember it well.

Same nerves before that first
sortie, to go up and see.

You have no idea how it's going
to turn out.

Matt, who is red eight,
was in my back seat,

experienced pilot on the rollbacks,
and he was there

for primarily safety reasons,
it's my first go.

So he demoed me the rollback first.

Next, Dan Lowes' demo for Starky.

The roll is far too big.

It's safe, but puts Lowesy
far below and behind the formation.

Yeah, my first demonstration,
it was not the best, I'd say.

I had to redemo it and that just
shows you how quick

and how difficult
that manoeuvre can be.

The tiniest change of input
and that had a huge effect

in the actual demo itself.

The second demo went well.

There's not much between success
and failure with rollbacks.

There can be such a minor change
to change the whole manoeuvre,

so you can lose it very easily,
by just a small margin,

so it's a tough one for them.

Demos over,
it's the new pilots' turn.

First up, Bondy.

Yeah, the adrenaline was flowing
on that first rollback.

Once I'd had the first practice
and didn't scare myself

or Matt too much, then, then
excitement gradually,

gradually won over the nerves.

Next up, Sta rky.

Well, I think we're still talking
so, yeah, it was...

It's a tricky manoeuvre to get
right all the time,

but it was thoroughly enjoyable,

and I don't think we have to change
our underwear just quite yet!

It was really a joy,
but the difficult part actually

is following the rollbacks and then
doing the normal formation flying,

because you're still on a
come-down from the rollbacks.

So, that will take some getting used
to as well, I think.

Right, welcome back,
rollbacks put to bed.

It's self-induced pressure
that builds up the rollbacks.

As you saw, it's actually
quite procedural.

For their first rollbacks,
that was a great effort by the guys.

The guys are going to critique
themselves like crazy

but they were exactly what I asked
them to be - safe, consistent,

flown every time, and that is all
I need at the moment.

Good effort all round, I thought,
for our first go at rollbacks.

Yeah, absolutely.

There's some really solid rollbacks
in there, that's good to see.

What I want you do is go
and do the same again, though.
Well clone.

100 miles away, other members
of the Red Arrows team are training

for the 2018 display season.

Each year, ten engineers are
selected to fly in the back seats

of the jets, to service
them when they land away.

Known as Circus, the new members
have come to RAF Henlow's

Centre of Aviation Medicine.

It's where aircrew learn
to recognise one of the most

deadly threats they face.

Hypoxia - oxygen starvation.

All right, ladies and gents, if you
want to grab a helmet from here.

Supposedly one-size-fits-all,
we'll find out in a minute.

Above 10,000 feet, the air
is so thin that aircraft must either

have pressurised cabins or the
aircrew must wear oxygen masks.

So, if you want to try and put
those on for us, please.

If anybody struggles,
just let us know.

Thank you. If you just
look at that wall for me.

If the oxygen fails,
the result is hypoxia.

OK, just hold that up to your face
for me.

If the engineers can recognise
the symptoms quickly enough,

they can take action.

And the best way for them to learn
is to experience hypoxia themselves.

They take turns in a rig,

where their oxygen
is gradually reduced.

Everyone reacts differently.

Starting off at 10,000 feet.

Let's do the colour ball activity
now.

Matching the shape.

Some struggle with a toddler's toy.

There's two pentagons, and they...

One was slightly bigger, so I was
trying to put it in the same one

for ages, then realised
there was another one.

Take a moment just to reflect
on how you're feeling now.

And others become befuddled.

It was OK, it was just like being
a little bit drunk, really.

Quite nice feeling, then?

Yeah, normally pay for it!

Before the symptoms
become too severe...

We'll put you back on oxygen now.

...they're returned to full oxygen.

Just give a clear thumbs
up when you feel back to normal.

Recovery is nearly instant.

OK, we'll get you out of the rig.

The flight simulator is used
to teach pilots how quickly

they become disorientated
during oxygen starvation.

How are you feeling now?

Circus Sergeant Will Allen
wants to give it a go.

In less than a minute,
he's upside down.

You're rolling the aircraft now.

Then crashes.

But doesn't even notice.

Oxygen now.

At the time, I thought it
was quite good

because obviously I didn't feel
any effects.

Didn't notice it whatsoever,
sort of lack of oxygen.

Just nothing.
Absolutely no symptoms at all.

From what I've seen from the plane
footage of me actually flying it,

I was suffering
the effects quite badly.

I suppose at the end of the day,
I'm an engineer and not a pilot,

and that's what it boils down to -
that and the lack of oxygen!

Hypoxia training complete,
they're now one step closer

to the back seat of a Red Arrow jet.

The Red Arrows are due
to spearhead

the RAF's 2018 Centenary
celebrations.

Can I just take
a minute of your time?

Is that all right?
Yes, boss. You got five minutes?

So Team Leader Perty is designing
a new centenary-theme manoeuvre

for the display.

Grab a seat.

He's briefing his senior pilots,
Mike Bowden and Matt Masters.

So, the start of the second
half is a new manoeuvre,

which we're going to call
the centennial split.

So, just to explain to you what's
going to happen, we're all gonna

pull up in a loop as a nine ship and
then Enid are going to split first,

OK, and it's going to be
in the colours of probably whites,

whites, and then blues in the
middle.

Gypo are going to fly all the way
over the top of the loop,

and then, as they effectively point
towards the ground,

they'll then split out, all right.

So, you get this kind of flourish
of colours in front of you.

So, that's my take on
the traditional hundredth.

But did you guys
have any good thoughts?

We've had a think.

Being the RAF Centenary, we thought
wouldn't it be great to try

and generate a way of displaying
100 in the sky.

Yeah, OK.

So, I put something on paper. Yeah.

I don't know if you'd like to take a
look. Let's have a look.

So, the idea being we rejoin
the formation lined up here

to generate the one,
then the zero, then the zero.

Now clearly, the smoke plan
would be smoke on, smoke off,

smoke on, smoke off, smoke on, smoke
off, smoke on, smoke off,

smoke on, smoke off.

How many button presses
does number three have?

So, you've got five smoke events,
ten button pushes,

that need to be timed perfectly
as a formation.

My worry would be as our smoke,
as you know,

it never really crisply ends.

There's always a little bit
of a trail.

My worry is we'lljust end up...

That this will just be a bit of a
mess, and sort of a blob of white.

One small mistake or one drag
of smoke and we could make it look

like 108 or 188, very easily.

Yeah.
It's good consideration, though.

Good to see you put something
together.

\Thanks!I

Perty has a slightly simpler idea.

The obvious options of two
aircraft, line astern,

probably slightly offset for width.

They both pull up into a loop and
then somebody just to pull up

in a vertical and that could be
a really easy way to do it.

It would be nice to do something
an extra bit special if we can.

Yeah.

The 100 manoeuvre would be performed
by the senior pilots

of the rear section,
led by Si Taylor.

HE KNOCKS

Got a minute?
All right, boss.

We have just been talking
through some of the options

for the 100th year.

Matt had a pretty harebrained idea

but having not been all for trying
to get a 100th in the sky,

I think we probably could do it.

Whoever the rear two are, just fly
a normal loop of some sort.

You know, it might not
be a perfect circle. Two zeroes...

Two zeroes and then you have
someone go straight up.

So, let's have a think about it.

So, six running down the line.
Yeah.

Then you have someone off crowd.
Yeah.

Then someone on crowd potentially.
So I would give them enough room.

Yeah, potentially, yeah.

So if six, let's say this is either
going to be seven or eight probably.

Whoever's going to be least...

Whoever's got the best
amount of smoke left. Yeah.

So, one loop there. Yeah.

One loop there. Yeah.

Then you've got the person here who
just pulls up into there. Yeah.

I think it's doable. All right.

If we've got the weather
this afternoon, we'll go for it.

Some blue sky out there.
Great, thanks very much.

Cheers, boss. Cheers.

Blue, cloudless sky is perfect
to test the manoeuvre,

because the 100 will be
5,000 feet tall.

We're going to try
and give the 100 a go.

We've got the weather for it.

We might need to tinker
with it a little bit but we'll give

it a go and see what it looks like.

The big boss, Boomer,
joins the sortie

to see if the idea's going to fly.

We're just sort of experimenting
at the moment

and see if it will work
for the season.

Red ten, the team supervisor,
Adam Collins,

will watch from the ground,
getting an audience's perspective.

The three jets approach the airfield
at 100 feet and 350mph.

And climbing up.

Two pull into huge loops.

As they reach the top,

Bogeye in the third jet pulls into
a vertical climb.

It's a mixture of looking
at the instruments, looking outside,

checking my height, that I've put
the smoke on and off at the right

time, and then just trying to hold
it as steady as I can,

so it doesn't look like a worm
going up the sky and it's actually

a straight number one.

The problem is, conditions
like today are almost ideal

and it's still coming out
as a misshapen zero.

So, I think standing it off a bit,
further away from the crowd,

and the right conditions,
it could look good.

I think we're just going
to have to tweak it and get it

to look as good as it can do,
and hopefully we can do it as many

places as possible if the weather
allows and the sites

where we display allow.

So, fingers crossed, I think it will
look good,

it's just a case of fine tuning it,
like everything with the display.

A bit of tweaking,
I think we will be there.

I think the fact you can see it
being drawn

means your eye kind of draws to it.
Yeah.

The new Circus engineers have now
come to RAF St Mawgan in Cornwall...

importantly, just with a cardboard
sheath, you've got a razor blade.

...where fighter pilots are trained
to survive following an ejection.

Stand by, go.

Squeeze, rotate
the arms and the legs.

Legs together.
Better.

Because they will be flying back
seat, Circus engineers also need

training in parachuting
and sea survival.

So you're flying along, low level
over water, you have a problem,

eject, eject, eject.
Simulate ejection.

The jets carry small
rafts in their PSP -

personal survival pack.

Nice and tight.

Feet make contact with
the water, now big spread.

Make sure that PSP is between
your legs, chin on your chests.

It dangles behind the aircrews'
legs as they parachute down

after an ejection.

That's it, good.

Drop that down round to the back,
OK, release the PSP.

Good, from there round
to the front, locate your QRF.

Quarter turn to the left.

That's it.
Then drop...

The engineers now need to learn
how to get out of their parachute...

...in water.

Dan, in particular, Dan
was really excited by it.

\ Are you, Dan? I

\ Er, yeah. I

Parachute position.

Feet make contact
with the water, now.

They're pulled across the pool
to simulate being dragged along

by their billowing parachute.

Yeah, move on.

Press it, wriggle free
out of the harness, wriggle free.

Turn left.

Once out of their harness, they need
to get into their life raft...

...which isn't as easy as it sounds.

Because I'm obviously quite a big
lad, and the life rafts are quite
small,

that was a struggle
getting in and out.

My boat's too small, it's broken.

I couldn't get my valve to work
to bail out, and I couldn't get

myself underneath the cover,

because it's quite small.

And I'm not.

But we got there in the end.

It's hard work, isn't it?

The pool was tough enough,
but tomorrow they'll do it

all again, in the sea.

200 miles north at RAF Valley
in Anglesey, the Red Arrows pilots

also undergo their annual
sea survival training.

You'd think if anyone
was immune to motion sickness

it would be the Red Arrows,
but you'd be wrong.

I would say none of us have
sea legs, so it's definitely

in our interest to take a
seasickness tablet before we go.

I certainly have. Have you? Yeah.

Down in Cornwall, it's
the engineers' first-ever

sea survival exercise, so there's
significantly more nerves.

Fry-up this morning.
Fry-up and a coffee.

You'll probably see in a couple
of hours what I had for breakfast.

Not helped by the weather.

We're about to go in the sea,
put the drills to the test now.

Absolutely dreading it,
not going to lie.

Sea state's 5, which is, I think,
1.5, two-metre waves.

And 40 knots of wind.

40 knots, yeah.

Have been pushing to just stay
in the harbour and do it there,

but I don't think that's happening,

we are actually going
out to sea.

Because it's rough today,

it's going to feel
realistic, for sure.

Team Sergeant Will
volunteers to go first.

A little reluctantly.

Actually pretty nervous.

Everybody on here looks petrified!

Please make contact with the water.

This time, they're pulled
behind the boat, to simulate

being dragged by their parachute.

Now!

Once in their rafts, with everything
correctly inflated, the engineers

are collected by the safety Ribs.

Prepare for winching.

But in North Wales, the pilots'
rescue is significantly

more dramatic.

They're combining their training
with the coastguard.

Off the Cornish coast,
the engineers' sea training is over.

That was fun!

Quite enjoyed it, bobbing around.

And one more.

\ Thank you. I

They're now ready for their
first flight in a Red Arrow.

For the pilots, it's
straight back to training,

with the start of the display
season just eight weeks away.

The Red Arrows are
just two months away

from their first display
of 2018.

Go!

For the last four months,

they've trained as
two separate sections.

Team Leader Perty has decided
they're ready for a landmark flight.

Today, for the first time, he wants
all nine aircraft to fly

as a single formation.

Flying our first nine ship
marks the start of everything

about a Red Arrows' season.

It is what the guys are aspiring
to from the day they start training

here in November.

Now we might go out and just fly
nine aircraft and do no aerobatics,

we'lljust get nine aircraft
airborne in a safe formation,

but it really does mark a turning
point in our next development

of the training.

Perty may be ready to fly nine jets
but with only three hours to launch,

he's only got eight...

...because a serious fault
has just been discovered

with an aircraft's hydraulic system.

The charging point for the main
accumulator, all the insides

have come out, so we've come in
today, got a new one, replaced it.

Two hours later,
the hydraulics are fixed,

just as the pilots
head to their briefing.

There's still a final rush to get
the jet serviced ready to fly.

Monday, I think we pretty much only
had about six or seven aircraft

actually that we could rely
on being serviceable, so to get

all nine ready for today
was a really good achievement.

So, really pleased for the guys,
because it's, you know, everyone

is really proud we've managed
to achieve that today.

It's not just about the pilots
in the air flying them,

it's about the guys on the ground
making sure the aircraft

are serviceable and ready.

Welcome all.

The aim of the sortie obviously
is the first nine ship.

Big milestone for us
but it is a normal sortie

for all of us.

Hazards today, cognitive error,
potentially, eight, nine,

just calling someone else's
radio call sign

that you've been used to so far.

For everyone else, it's just now
remembering we are the full nine,

our SOPs cater
for all of that, so as long

as you stick to the book,
you'll be absolutely solid.

Nine jets are ready in time.

But the rush was unnecessary...

Looking at 1900, overcast at 2-4.

...because the Lincolnshire weather
intervenes once again.

Right, unfortunately it's not fit
so we're not going to go now.

What we're going to do
is, we'll delay,

so down tools for the moment.
Sorry about that.

We've had our cloud base lowering
and visibility dropping,

but at least by two o'clock
we should have much better weather

and gives ourselves a better chance
of getting this nine ship in.

An hour later, with the weather
still far from perfect,

Perty decides to give
the go-ahead for take-off.

I'm really excited
about the first nine ship.

It's going to be a milestone moment
for Bondy and I, I think.

It's proof we've met the standard
so far, that the boss is happy

putting together that Diamond Nine
and that'll be a big moment, I think

it's a big moment for any year
for the Red Arrows.

For the first time,
the 2018 team are smoke on,

in the iconic
Diamond Nine formation.

It goes so well, Perty decides
they're ready to try

the more complex formations.

Lightning...

...and Phoenix.

Perty's even confident enough
to perform the breathtaking Tornado.

Another last.

Last first nine.

We've got guys who are leaving,
who will remember this day

for the rest of their life.

Flipside of that is Bondy
and Starky, who this is their first

nine ship they've flown
in a formation aerobatic team.

What better way to do it
with eight of your buddies?

And again, they're probably
overwhelmed by their emotions

over the next 24 hours,
and realise they've done it,

and they are definitely
chipping away at the next stage.

It was quite funny today, people
were playing it down this morning

saying, "It's no big deal, it's
just a nine ship, don't treat it

"as anything unusual." There's
a definite buzz in the air, I think.

And certainly afterwards, everyone
was celebrating as if it was a big

deal, so there you go,
maybe they were downplaying it

to manage our expectations
but it was a huge moment, I think.

Well done, mate.

It feels like massive deal, purely
because we've flown in formation

with nine other aeroplanes.

I've dreamed of doing that
since I was a young kid,

and you know, to get to do that
today for the first time,

is awesome.

You know, it's a great moment
in my career, and it just marks

the start of a fantastic
three years.

Next time -

the team suffer a terrible tragedy.

As you'll be aware, on Tuesday,
one of the squadron's aircraft

crashed at RAF Valley.

The jets are grounded,

throwing the 2018 season
into jeopardy.

We will grieve for some time
but we will also get back

to what we need to do.

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