Taking time off from their busy schedule of assembling ZLIN 50 LX, and practising for the aero show, Czech Republic’s Flying Bulls, the world’s best aerobatics team, interacted with students at Dayananda Sagar Institutions.
As the team presented videos of their formations from previous shows, students who nearly filled the hall, whistled, hooted and clapped, obviously impressed by the manoeuvres that were being shown on the screen.
Why did it take so long for the Flying Bulls to come to India, a student asked. Team manager Martin Nepovim said India had been on the cards and was being discussed for at least two years. “But because of our busy schedule, it is only now that the India show is happening,” he said.
Another question that got the team members smiling and thinking hard was which is the hardest stunt to perform. The woman member of the team, Radka Machova, replied that for each person, it was a different manoeuvre. For herself, it was the ‘inverted loop’. For Miroslav Krejci, another team member, “all of them are difficult.”
One of the questions that won a student free pass to the aero show was are all planes able to manoeuvre and perform stunts such as those performed by the Flying Bulls.
Nepovim said, “Most of the planes at the aero show will not be able to perform these manoeuvres.”
“India is a significant chapter in the history of Flying Bulls,” said the team manager, giving credit to Red Bull, “who gave us wings.”
“Once you start flying, you can choose the military, join an airline or get into sports. In sports, aerobatics is one of the biggest avenues and once you enter this, you never want to leave. But the biggest problem that we faced was lack of a suitable place for training the pilots. The problem was solved when we joined the Red Bull family,” he said.
The team is looking forward to “walking on the streets of India,” said Nepovim. “Aero shows are the same everywhere. But the world actually begins beyond the fences of the airport.”
