IT COULD BE any ordinary day on Queensland’s famous Surfers Paradise beach – sparkling water, warm, golden sand, children shrieking and jiggling in the whitewash, hundreds of colourful umbrellas swaying precariously on thin poles nearby. But today is far from ordinary. A loudspeaker crackles to life: “Here they are, ladies and gentlemen!”
Way above the shimmering skyscrapers, 13 small planes launch into a spectacular sky-high, synchronised dance. For more than 10 long minutes, the single-propeller aircraft leap and twirl in perfect unison, trailing long ribbons of smoke behind them. With sleek bodies glistening, their wingtips are no more than a few metres apart.
“Here comes the pass!” Two planes hurtle towards each other, head-on. From my sandy seat, I can barely watch. My stomach churns, convinced I will bear witness to some devastating air disaster. At the last second, the planes each deftly flip onto a wing, their bellies streaking past each other and missing by a whisker.
This is the Freedom Formation Display Team, an Australian troupe of daredevils who present just one of the acts on the sky high stage of the Pacific Airshow on the Gold Coast. Astoundingly, these pilots are amateurs. Most of their planes were built in garages and sheds across the country, by the pilots themselves.
THE PACIFIC AIRSHOW was established in 2016 at Huntington Beach in California. For the first time, its organiser, Kevin Elliott, has spread his wings to bring the show toAustralia’s Gold Coast. The Glitter Strip’s beating heart, Surfers Paradise, is the dramatic backdrop – shining skyscrapers stand shoulder to tall shoulder along the beach and the crystal-clear waters of the Coral Sea. For three days, more than 300,000 eager spectators take over the sand, and the many balconies above, to watch displays by the world’s best stunt pilots, military aircraft fly-pasts and formation flying. It’s Australia’s largest airshow and it won’t be the last – the organisers have locked in the next four years to temporarily take over the Surfers Paradise skies.
The soul of the Freedom
