Roulettes add wing to sail fest

THE RAAF’s elite formation aerobatic display team, the Roulettes, will make a return to Geelong when they ignite the skies over the 2018 Festival of Sails on Australia Day.

As the RAAF’s elite formation aerobatic display team, the six-member Roulettes team performs breathtaking displays, seemingly within touching distance in their PC-9/A aircraft.

According to Roulette 7 spokesperson Flight Lieutenant Daniel Armstrong, the team uses only hand-eye coordination to fly at incredible speeds of up to a 590 kilometres per hour.

“If you’ve ever seen the Roulettes perform, you’ll know that their skills are truly remarkable,” he said, “particularly when you consider they can experience up to 6G (or six times the normal force of gravity) during flight.”

“We haven’t performed at the Festival of Sails for a couple of years now. We know there’s a fabulous crowd that attends and we’re delighted to be back.”

When not demonstrating their extraordinary skills across Australia, the Roulettes teach qualified RAAF pilots to become flying instructors at RAAF Base East Sale in Victoria.

Before flying into Geelong at 3pm for the Festival of Sails, the Roulettes are performing a fly-past of Hampton Park and a full aerobatic display over the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne at 11.30am.

Flight Lieutenant Armstrong will be providing the Festival crowd with live commentary during the Roulettes Geelong performance.

“My main role is to help the audience follow what the pilots are doing by using language that everyone can understand,” he said.

“It still gives me a huge thrill to watch them perform and I know the crowd will love watching them as well.”