Singapore 96 - Tony Cunnane's Life and Times

The Red Arrows appearances in Singapore caused a few problems. For a start the flying displays were very much secondary to the exhibitions in the main hall, quite unusual for an international show but imposed upon the organisers by the geography of the site. The airspace set aside for flying was over the sea but perilously close to the Singapore International Airport. Viewing of the flying from the area in front of the exhibition halls was seriously hampered by an avenue of tall trees and had the Red Arrows and other display aircraft operated to their normal base heights many of the manoeuvres would have been hidden from the spectators.

The display organising committee insisted that there should be no over-flight of the crowd at all and this meant that the Red Arrows would have to alter some of their manoeuvres, not least the standard crowd rear arrival. By this time the 1995 Team had already flown 140 public displays using exactly the same choreography that had been approved by the Commander-in-Chief on Red Suit Day back in April 1995. Last minute changes to the approved display routine carry with them potential flight safety risks. Even flying to higher base heights has it problems because the Team Leader and the Synchro Pair have got used to the view they get at the lower height limit and there is a completely different perspective at other heights. To compound the problems, the organisers wanted the Red Arrows to occupy the stage for no longer than 15 minutes, a reduction of about 6 minutes on the standard show.

It is true to say that the pilots were extremely angry that these limitations and restrictions only came to light a few days before the first scheduled show. The show organising committee had been told well in advance, as are all Display Organisers, of the Team’s mandatory display parameters but they apparently decided not to insist on the Singapore rules until the Red Arrows were already on the island. One can only surmise why they took that course of action. As the Red Arrows’ end of season report stated:

‘The whole episode highlighted the potential conflictions when a sponsored team performs on an international stage, and flight safety dictates that future sponsored appearances must be conditional upon an early acceptance by the display organisers of the Team’s modus operandi and in the absence of this, a clear option to withdraw, regardless of sponsorship interests.’

An uneasy compromise was reached on this occasion because it was unthinkable that the Red Arrows should withdraw at such a late stage. To have done so would have caused a considerable loss of face for the organisers, embarrassment for the British companies sponsoring the Red Arrows, and huge disappointment for the thousands of spectators who wanted to see the Red Arrows.

Next