Action girl is flying high

When our editor first asked me if I wanted to go up in a Blades in Bahrain plane my stomach did more acrobatic flip-flops than the four pilots could ever manage in a lifetime!

I knew there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity but I also had no idea how I was actually going pluck up the courage to climb aboard. Still, climb aboard I would and my reputation as GulfWeekly’s action girl would stay intact even if I had to die to maintain it!
After two aborted attempts, a lost passport, sand storms and a week of feeling like my heart was sitting in the pit of my stomach, it was finally time for the off. Suited and booted and parachuted up, I climbed into my seat. Add headphones and a harness like seatbelt, to keep me locked in place, and call me Top Gun. I was without a doubt the coolest thing to ever grace Bahraini air space – a true legend in my own mind!
We taxied down the runway weaving from side to side, avoiding piles of rubble as we went. That’s even more impressive than it sounds when you take into consideration the fact that the plane itself sits at an upwards angle which means that the pilot (in my case the lovely and confidence-inspiring Andy Evans) in the back can’t actually see what’s happening directly in front – and I’m guessing my pineapple ponytail sticking up on the top of my head didn’t make visibility any easier – sorry Andy!
A few squawks and a bit of garbled headphone chatter later we were off the ground as effortlessly as effortless can be.
I was right in the midst of the most surreal setting I’ve ever experienced. I knew it was me up there looking down on Bahrain but I felt as if I was watching it through someone else’s eyes. I’d expected to be scared witless but in reality it felt safer than if I was sitting at home watching TV. Through my headphones I could hear Andy asking me how I felt but I couldn’t find the words to describe the sensation so I just smiled into the camera and put both thumbs up.
When Andy told me to look right I turned my head, a little confused that I couldn’t work out what he wanted me to see until he pointed out I should be looking at my other right, the right that every other human being goes by rather than the right that I go by – otherwise known to the masses as left.
I looked round and was startled to see Marvin and Dave (passenger and pilot in Blades 2) grinning away at us.
They were so close that it felt as if I could have reached out and touched them. I’d known that we were going to be flying in close formation but I never realised it would be so close we could almost see the twinkle in each others eyes. Once again I should have been scared and once again I wasn’t.
We reached Amwaj Islands and looking down it felt as if I was l glancing at a miniature model of Bahrain with the financial harbour in the distance and the world at my feet.
The greenest seas were just below with little toy boats and tankers peppered about.
The one thing that really struck me as I sat there as if suspended in mid-air was how incredibly calm and serene I felt. The outside world had disappeared and all that existed was this little bubble we were in and the most breathtaking view of the world around.
It was time to start some gentle manoeuvers to get me used to flying around before we went into the white knuckle acrobatics I was up there to experience.
When you’re flying at a 30 degree angle with nothing but a harness and a flimsy looking bit of carbon fibre between you and the ocean down below, you’d be forgiven for feeling just a little bit nervous but the reality is that it feels like the most natural thing in the world.
All the while Andy was checking in with me to make sure I was alright with what he was doing before moving on to the next move.
Several thumbs up signs and more than few ‘oohs’, ‘aahs’ and ‘amazings’ later we got to the mad part. Loops, barrels and flying upside down – what more could a girl ask for?
G force – you gotta love it! It’s hard to describe the sensation and no matter how much you’re told to prepare you for it, you just don’t expect it to feel the way it feels.
In the brief we were told that for every G you pull, your weight increases accordingly so if you take one G as normal standing-on-the-ground weight, two G would double your weight, three G would triple it and so on.
Thinking about the weight of your arm, you’d figure that four times the weight would be heavy but you could still lift it. Not so, by the time I was upside down in a loop, my entire body was super-glued to my seat with my head firmly held back as far as it would go.
Add to that the fact that your internal organs are all going through the same ordeal, and you’re left with a pretty clear understanding of how a piece of paper must feel sucked up against an industrial strength vacuum cleaner’s nozzle. It’s a very weird sensation but only adds to the experience!
It has to be said, there just aren’t enough words in the English language to describe the entire flight – incredible, amazing, mind-blowing, fantastic, brilliant, superb, awe-inspiring and breathtaking just don’t do it justice.
This is definitely the most fun I’ve ever had in a 25-minutes time period and I’ve decided without a shadow of a doubt that in my next life I’m coming back as a Blade pilot!
And an added bonus is that I get to re-live the entire experience anytime I like as the plane is fitted with cameras that record every aspect of the flight and every nuance on my face – an added incentive not to get ill while you’re up there!
The 11th and 12th of May will give everyone the chance to join in the excitement with a fun-filled weekend planned for the family.
There are Blade flights to be won and a display for all to see on both days down at the corniche.

The Blades in Bahrain consist of Andy Offer (team leader), Andy Evans (my ever so gentle pilot), Dave Slow and Myles Garland. I got a chance to talk to the two Andys before putting my life in their hands.

What kind of speed does a Blades plane reach?
Andy E: Maximum speed is 240mph but we normally operate at about 180mph.

I keep hearing about G force, what is it and how does it compare to that of a fighter pilot/ Formula 1 driver?
Andy O: G force is what keeps you on the earth and that’s one G. When you pull G, you increase the amount you weigh by the number of Gs; so at two G everything weighs twice the amount and so on up to 10. This plane is capable of going from plus 10 to minus 10 so that’s an incredible amount of G. Formula 1 is around 5 G and fighter pilots reach six to eight G.

How did the Blades come about?
Andy O: All of us were Red Arrows Pilots and I was the leader of the Red Arrows. For many years, I’ve always had this vision or goal as it were to have this commercially-run Red Arrows because there is loads of potential but because they are a military team their job is to promote the military, they haven’t got the commercial mindset. I always saw the commercial potential and always wanted to do it so about four or five years before I left the air force I started looking into it and getting a business plan together to see if it was viable. After that we looked for funding and then it took about a year to set up so by April 1, 2006 we were ready to go. 

Display flying has got to be more dangerous than regular flying, what kind of training does it take to master what you do?
Andy E: We do a lot of training. We start from a lot higher and a little bit further apart with smaller numbers. Generally we’ll do about 30 sorties much higher than display height before we come down to display height so all of us have done about 90 sorties before we did our first display and the reason it was only 90 is because of our experience with the Red Arrow and are all used to flying formation at low altitudes otherwise we would have wanted to do more.

Does it take a specific type of personality to do what you do and if so what is it?
Andy E (laughing): Mad!
Andy O: It definitely takes a certain mentality to work through your air force career to get into the Red Arrows – you have to be very focused. For then to go into a commercial venture also takes another type of personality, someone who isn’t really run of the mill. You have to want to take a slightly diverse route to a different career path. Mad, yes there’s some truth in that because you have to have the ability to take some risk. Not just with your flying, which is a given, but also in terms of your lifestyle. So what sort of person?
Andy E: Ambitious.
Andy O: Yeah, I’d say ambitious.

What has been the scariest situation you have found yourselves in?
BJ’s on a Friday night!

What’s the most fun you’ve had doing what you do?
BJ’s on a Friday night!

EXCLUSIVE
By MARIE-CLAIRE
marie-claire@gulfweekly.com