Latest Mackay Airport News

Roulettes touchdown in Mackay for repairs

With repairs completed, Flight Lieutenant Aaron Ferrari this afternoon received the all clear to return to the Roulettes’ base in Sale, Victoria.

Mackay Airport played host to a member of the RAAF’s Roulettes after an electrical problem grounded one of the aircraft while returning to the squad’s home base in Sale, Victoria this week.

The Roulettes were returning from the Mareeba Warbirds Air Show and had also performed at the Hamilton Island Race Week.

The Roulettes currently fly the Pilatus PC-9/A to showcase Air Force flying skills to the Australian public. However, the genesis of formation aerobatic teams at Central Flying School in Sale, Victoria, dates back to well before the introduction of the PC-9/A. In 1962, a team named "The Red Sales" was formed flying four de Havilland Vampire T33 aircraft.

The name 'Roulettes' has its origins in one of the early manoeuvres performed by the first team. Two Macchis flew in opposite directions round a horizontal circle and crossed in front of the crowd in a routine that was called the 'roulette'.

The Macchi was the vehicle for the Roulettes from their inception until 1989. In 1989, the Macchi was replaced by the Swiss-built Pilatus PC-9/A aircraft as the RAAF's pilot training plane. During this year, pairs of Macchis and PC-9/As presented displays around the country while the team converted to the PC-9/A. A six-aircraft PC-9/A team debuted at Mt Gambier in March 1990 and the flying team composition has remained the same since.

A seventh member (Flight Lieutenant Aaron Ferrari) co-ordinates the public relations, provides commentary during the shows and flies the spare aircraft.

The PC-9/A is the two-seat single-engine turboprop aircraft that is the major basic training aircraft for the Australian Defence Force (ADF). It is flown by the Central Flying School at RAAF Base East Sale in Victoria, where the ADF’s fixed-wing flying instructors are trained, and at No 2 Flying Training School at RAAF Base Pearce in Western Australia, where future ADF pilots are trained to 'wings' stage.

The PC-9/A is best known to the public as the aircraft flown by the Air Force Roulettes in aerobatic displays at major events throughout Australia.
The PC-9/A, designed by Pilatus Switzerland and built under licence by Hawker de Havilland in Sydney, was introduced to the Air Force in 1987.

Pilot training in the aircraft commenced in 1989. The Roulettes have been flying the PC-9/A since 1990. At RAAFBase Pearce, trainee ADF pilots, having successfully completed the Basic Flying Course at the ADF Basic Flying Training School at Tamworth, undertake the Advanced Flying Training Course, during which they will fly 130 hours in the PC-9/A. Upon successful completion, graduates are awarded their wings and posted to a flying squadron.