Swiss PC-7 Team - RAF Cosford Air Show 2025

The amazing and internationally renowned PC-17 of the Swiss Air Force. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the great and unique Swiss Air Force PC-17. With attractive formation changes and varying figures, these military pilots are part of an extremely professional flying display and performance of the Swiss Air Force. You already observed the next formation change into the Superflash and now the next change into the formation called Delta, our largest formation with a wingspan of around 70 meters, equal to an Airbus A380. You can observe now the next formation change in only a few seconds. The new formation is ready now. This is called the propeller. And bear in mind that the distance between the aircraft is 3 to 4 meters at a speed of around 350 kilometers per hour. Like a rocket, it has more or less than three frontal crossings. The pilots of the PC-17 are professional military pilots of the Swiss Air Force and normally these pilots fly on the F-18 fighter aircraft. The activities related to the PC-17 is their weekend work, so their side job, so to say. So we have fighter jet pilots who, in addition to their main job, get together at the propeller aircraft to perform this display. And we see the second crossing already now. And we expect the third crossing just in front of us. Here at Cosmo, here over the radio, the pilots are having fun. They are quite concentrated, but they are really happy to fly here. And we expect already our soldiers approaching from the right with a speed of around 500 kilometers per hour. And we will show us two half loopings. First half looping of the roll. It pulls off for the second half looping. Now the airspeed is decreasing. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is what happens if the PC-17 flies below its minimum flying speed. It gets into a spin, but don't worry. This is a standard maneuver every military pilot trains. And also our soldiers are out of this uncomfortable situation. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. We expect the next highlight in front of us. Eight aircraft are approaching after. Again, our soldiers are coming back for one roll. And they will present us not less than four crossings with two times four aircraft crossing each other. Actually, it will be three crossings. So now they arrive. Four from the left, four from the right. Now absolute trust between the leaders of each formation is needed. And they will just cross in front of us. And we await the last crossing just in front of us. And after this crossing, follow your eyes. The planes who are flying away to the left side, they will show us again four loopings. And now I will get in contact. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the Swiss precision. You find the leader of the PC-17, Cap. And approaching from the front right, the remaining five pilots of the sub-formation for the beautiful and highly elegant waterfall. We would also like to introduce to you Pascal Haltenstein, nicknamed Aldi. And in the back, our soloist, Cap. The front is flying on its back. We are continuing with romantic form. Please look straight ahead. We expect the four pilots to draw something very special for us in the sky of Cosworth. And we continue with the next spectacular crossing. And two aircraft from the left, two from the right will show you the so-called collider crossing in front of us. Have your cameras ready. Approaching from the left side with a slow roll. Difficult to fly without losing altitude. And it remains dynamic. They will present us the so-called dogfight. Two versus two. Two aircraft from the left and two from the right will present us the stimulated air combat maneuver. Our formation is called Batman. So get your eyes ready for the stimulated air combat maneuver. Two versus two. And on an opposite, the four aircraft, our soloist again is pulling through all the four aircraft into the sky. And he pulls down again through all four aircraft. Our air combat maneuver by the Swiss Air Force PC-17. We continue from the front left. We are expecting another new maneuver, namely the so-called anaconda. These aircraft are equipped with a propeller, which you have to take special care of when flying so close. Number seven and eight from the PC-17, our two soloists. And we expect again a number seven to come back. And why we call it dirty roll? Because the pilot flies this slow roll with the landing gear and flaps down, which is clean roll. This requires very loud G values. Already approaching from the left side, four aircraft. They will present you four simultaneous loopings. Flying one looping is not extremely difficult, but with four simultaneous looping like this, it becomes quite demanding. So all pilots have to pull the stick with the same force, fly at the same speed and at the same angles to make it look even and precise. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. We continue from the left side. Our soloists will demonstrate you the maneuverability of the PC-7 aircraft. The PC-7 is equipped with a front wind turbine, which delivers 550 horsepower. It has a maximum weight of 1,900 kilograms. This is equal to a medium class passenger car. It reaches a maximum speed of 270 knots. It is faster than the fastest Ferrari in the world. And it has a climb rate of 10 meters per second. Compared to taking an elevator, it is doing three floors in one second. Since 1982, these PC-7 training aircraft have been in the service of the Swiss Air Force and are used for basic training of all the military pilots. So our soloist will now wave you goodbye. He will show you a tango. You can wave back to him with your hands or with your head or whatever you wish. And here he comes again. Thank you very much to our number 720. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. The landing flaps have formed a tunnel, which allows us to our soloist approaching from the left side to cross this tunnel in any moment. Have a close look now. He presents the Swiss Cross, an extremely difficult formation to fly. More Swissness is hardly possible. Swiss pilots in Swiss-made planes flying the Swiss Cross, precisely, and professionally flown the PC-7 team, is the worthy ambassador of the Swiss Air Force and Swiss Armed Forces. We are approaching the end of our flight demonstration. I now hand over, for the closing words, to the leader of the PC-7 team, Captain Andreas Menck, called Mengster, and I switch directly into the cockpit. Dear spectators, This was Captain Andreas Menck taking the Mengster directly out of the front aircraft, from the air. Now prepare your cameras for the final split of the Swiss Air Force PC-7 team, just in front of us.