The Flying Bulls Aerobatics Team
The Fascination of Aerobatics
Since 2001, one of the most accomplished European aerobatics teams has been a member of the Red Bull family: the Flying Bulls Aerobatics Team consists of four pilots (three men and one woman), and they present formation aerobatics of unbelievable precision.
Formation aerobatics is a matter of centimeters. Four airplanes nearly touch each another while simultaneously flying complex stunts ? such as the famous "Mirror": in this figure, the lead plane flies along on its back, while immediately beneath it a second airplane flies right-side-up and ?mirrors? all the maneuvers performed by its partner; while this is going on, the third plane performs a continuous roll, thus encircling the other two.
The Mirror has been mastered by only a very few formations ? and it?s a specialty of the Flying Bulls Aerobatics Team, based in the Czech Republic. The team?s history began back in 1960. First as "Box Trener" and then as "Sky Box", it spent decades as a symbol for peerless flying skill. The team?s airplane of choice was the best stunt plane of its day, the Zlin Trener. Since 1992, the team has flown the Zlin 50 LX.
In 1999, Sky Box went on a spectacularly successful Asian tour, a highlight of which was their daring formation fly-through of the rock arch at Tienmen ? an approximately 30-meter-wide and 90-meter-high rock formation in the mountains near the city of Zhang Jia Jie. Needless to say, this feat attracted worldwide attention. International titles during this period included two FAI Diplomes d'Honneur and World Grand Prix victories in the formation flight category both in 1998 (Neuchâtel) and in 1999 (Zhang Jia Jie).
In 2002, the team ? by then known as the Flying Bulls Aerobatics Team ? welcomed a new leader: Radka Machova, charming housewife, mother and top-notch stunt pilot, leads the team in appearances at competitions worldwide, appearances which never fail to produce superlative displays of precision flight.