'Nervy' first jump for highly experienced parachutist and newest member of RAF Falcons
The RAF Falcons parachute display team have stepped out into the skies for the start of the 2023 season which will include displaying in Cyprus to mark the ascension to the throne of King Charles but, for some, this is a novel experience as they are embarking on their first season.
The UK military's premier parachute display team consists of 14 members, nine of which are display jumpers who perform precision aerial displays under their distinctive red, white and blue canopies.
This week, first-year RAF Falcon member Sergeant Greg Ashelby took on display jump number one over a home crowd at RAF Brize Norton, after an intense package of training.
"That was a nervy one today, I have to admit," he said. "It was obviously the first one that I've done, my first display.
"It's what I've been training for and it's what I was looking forward to, so it's a big, big thrill."
As a parachute instructor, Sgt Ashelby has trained personnel on exercises around the world, but that experience hasn't set him apart in the UK's best display team.
He said: "The environment I was working in before, the training environment, we were used to flying a good safe distance away from one another, 50ft up, 50 ft back from one another, whereas, in this, we're flying a lot closer to each other.
"We're flying directly behind someone else, so you have to learn how to do it."
Before the summer season, first-year Falcons head to California for 100 free-fall dives, then about 100 to 150 display dives, breaking down complicated manoeuvres in groups of twos, then working up to full eight or 10-man colourful aerial display moves.
The team can reach speeds of up to 120mph during freefall.
Sgt Ashelby said: "On a training exercise just in February alone, I did 144 jumps to hone the skills for this, so that's where it really builds up and it was quite an intense package we went through to get ready for everything.
"It takes a lot of determination, a lot of being willing to listen and learn. We take note from all the third years and from the team coach, how we can learn, how we can implement the different slots that we fly because they've all been there and done it."
The 2023 season is full of exhilarating public events up and down the UK and overseas, where the RAF Falcons will be impressing the crowds in their usual outstanding style.
The team jumped from their signature Dornier 228 aircraft onto the RAF Brize Norton sports field.
The official launch of this season was attended by hundreds of children selected from schools in Carterton and the surrounding villages as a way of saying thank you for the community's continued support.
The team spent time meeting the excited school children and invited them to ask questions about what it's like to be an RAF Falcon.
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