13 min listen
The AeroSuperBatics Wingwalkers at the 2021 Bournemouth Air FestivalS
FromTop Landing Gear
ratings:
Length:
42 minutes
Released:
Oct 1, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Welcome to TLG and to our series of interviews from the 2021 Bournemouth Air Festival.
No airshow would be complete without the intrepid AeroSuperBatics Wingwalkers who’ve been thrilling airshow crowds all over the world since they were founded back in 1984. They fly the Boeing Stearman, a biplane trainer from the 1940s, with the wingwalkers climbing from the open cockpit onto the top wing to perform various moves, while the aircraft perform aerobatics in close formation, at speeds of up to 150mph and pulling up to 4G.
Unfortunately on Day Three of the Air Festival, one of the aircraft sustained a technical malfunction during the display, and pilot Dave Barrell did a brilliant job of successfully ditching the aircraft in Poole Harbour, saving his own life and that of wingwalker Kirsten Pobjoy. Her great friend Emma Broadbent was the wingwalker on the other aircraft, flown by former Red Arrow and Jaguar Display pilot Andy Cubin, who circled overhead for some time, but landed back at Bournemouth unaware of the outcome of the crash. Needless to say there was huge relief when word got back that Kirsten and Dave were safe and sound.
Our interview with Kirsten, Dave and Andy was recorded the day before the incident, hence there’s no reference to it.
No airshow would be complete without the intrepid AeroSuperBatics Wingwalkers who’ve been thrilling airshow crowds all over the world since they were founded back in 1984. They fly the Boeing Stearman, a biplane trainer from the 1940s, with the wingwalkers climbing from the open cockpit onto the top wing to perform various moves, while the aircraft perform aerobatics in close formation, at speeds of up to 150mph and pulling up to 4G.
Unfortunately on Day Three of the Air Festival, one of the aircraft sustained a technical malfunction during the display, and pilot Dave Barrell did a brilliant job of successfully ditching the aircraft in Poole Harbour, saving his own life and that of wingwalker Kirsten Pobjoy. Her great friend Emma Broadbent was the wingwalker on the other aircraft, flown by former Red Arrow and Jaguar Display pilot Andy Cubin, who circled overhead for some time, but landed back at Bournemouth unaware of the outcome of the crash. Needless to say there was huge relief when word got back that Kirsten and Dave were safe and sound.
Our interview with Kirsten, Dave and Andy was recorded the day before the incident, hence there’s no reference to it.
Released:
Oct 1, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (61)
TOP LANDING GEAR SPECIAL – BA ‘LANDOR’ 747-400 TO DUNSFOLD: On Saturday 5th December 2020, retired BA Boeing 747-400 G-BNLY made its final flight from Cardiff to Dunsfold aerodrome in Surrey. This aircraft was destined for the scrapheap, but because it is one of BA’s ‘retro jets’, Lima Yankee is painted in the ic... by Top Landing Gear