Blades at the cutting edge of passenger thrills

This was not a normal day at the office for me.

I was heading to Farnborough Airfield to take a flight with The Blades and my first dilemma of the morning was whether or not I should eat breakfast. Was I going to be sick? 

I decided it would be fine – after all I was going to be flying with ex Red Arrows pilots, among the best in the world, and figured they would be kinder to their passengers than they are to themselves in their amazing displays.

Once at Farnborough I was kitted out in my flying suit and parachute. After a ten minute ‘airline’ safety briefing I was given a headset and made my way down to the air strip along with three other passengers to where the four Blade aircraft sat waiting. It was very much a Top Gun moment and I wished my friends could see me.

The Blades fly German-built Extra 300 LP, one of the leading high-performance aerobatic aircraft in the world, and in front of the gleaming propeller I was introduced to my host, Dave Slow, a former Harrier pilot, otherwise known as Blade 2.

Dave made me feel at ease straight away. I was securely strapped into my seat at the front of the two-seater aircraft and, after a short briefing and some words of encouragement, it was time to start engines. Taxiing down, Dave explained over our headsets what to expect.

“We fly elements of the show with passengers as the actual display is too much. We start off with gentle manoeuvring and get people used to flying in gentle formation, then we can do some manoeuvring with that and, as the passenger gets more confident, we can separate apart and show what the extra can do if people want to experience that,” said Dave.

All four Blades taxied to the runway. Being in Blade 2 meant we were next to the leader, Blade 1, who gives instructions to the other aircraft. With the build-up of engine power my excitement and adrenaline started to kick in as my clammy hands clung to the sidebars by my seat. All four Blades were now ready to take to the skies. And up we went.

The first thing that is obvious is how close the other Blades are to you, an eye-watering experience itself. How an earth do they remain so perfectly apart yet so close? “With lots and lots of practice,” said Dave. “On an average display weekend we can end up doing five flights in a day where three are displays and we will transit between display venues on the other two trips. Each flight is extra practice to make it perfect.”

The glass canopy enabled me to have great views of the English landscape below, which looked very green. It was very gentle but I was waiting with anticipation, as I knew a manoeuvre was coming up. Dave made sure he communicated with me at all times reminding me to say if I was uncomfortable or worried at any point.

“We will start off with gentle turns, then increase the amount of bank and go up a bit and down a bit and introduce a vertical element before building up to fly a loop,” he explained.

I was all for it, expecting the sensation of a rollercoaster ride. It came. I was stuck to my seat barely able to move as we reached for the skies. Then we dropped and although dramatic it was slightly calming as you feel weightlessness, like you are floating. Then another force took over my body.

“You just experienced three to three-point-five g-force on your body as we pulled up from the bottom of the loop,” explained Dave after we had completed a circle in the air. “The g washes off as you go up the hill because the aircraft slows down, so as you get to the vertical the g has gone back to about one and then as you go over the top you’re down to zero g and then you get the same in reverse as you come out of the other side, so the g builds as the speed builds and as you pull out of the dive at the bottom you get back up to three to three-point-five g.”

After I had composed myself I wanted more – and I got more.

The Blades have flown more than 300 displays in front of 18 million people and carried over 1,000 corporate flying event passengers. Now a fully sustainable business since it was set up in 2006, the Blades is looking to scope out to other countries.

“We are constantly getting indication of demand in the Middle East . Every year we are invited to air shows there,” said Dave. “We went out to Bahrain in 2006 for three months but we haven’t managed to negotiate a right price to go to any more as it’s quite expensive to pack up your organisation in the UK for one air show, which makes us quite an expensive product. The way to solve that is take this team as a little franchise and set up a new one out in the Middle East . Our difficulty will be recruitment, as we only recruit ex Red Arrows, who are few and far between.”

The sky is not the limit for these guys and they want others to experience it too.

“We want to push people past their perceived limits but nowhere near their real ones and that is a real skill, as everyone has a different limit,” explained Dave. “We don’t want to make anyone air sick; that is not what the experience is about. It’s about an adrenaline rush and fun.”

With their own chalet at the Farnborough Air Show the Blades are hoping that their supporters from the Middle East will take up a corporate offer and try a flight for themselves. And I would recommend it.

I came back down to earth with breakfast fully in place and the biggest smile on my face from an unforgettable experience.