Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Black Falcons to perform display over Mount Maunganui

The Black Falcons are the Royal New Zealand Air Force aerobatic team.

Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Black Falcons will perform an aerobatic display over Mount Maunganui on Friday.

The team has a bustling schedule this display season, which goes until early April, with the coming weekend seeing them showcasing their skills in the upper North Island.

Mount Maunganui Beach will be treated to a Black Falcons display on January 27 about 6pm.

Over Auckland Anniversary weekend, the team will be doing displays over Mission Bay about 11am on Saturday and about 3pm over Orewa Beach.

To round out the weekend, the team will perform a display over Takapuna Beach about 11am on Sunday.

The 2023 Black Falcons team.

Central Flying School Officer Commanding Squadron Leader Paul Stockley said it was great for the team to be back in the sky.

“While the RNZAF has been very active during the last three years conducting operations both here and overseas, the opportunities to publically engage with New Zealanders through air displays have been few and far between.

“The RNZAF Black Falcons formation aerobatic team, led by Squadron Leader Stuart Anderson, is representative of the training, character and skill of everyone in the military, and we are very much looking forward to presenting to the public the professionalism of their Air Force in an entertaining format.”

The Black Falcons team members are all either instructors with the Central Flying School, who are responsible for training flying instructors and maintaining flying instructional standards across the Air Force, or with No. 14 Squadron, which trains new pilots to the RNZAF.

There are eight team members in the RNZAF Black Falcons - six pilots, a team manager and a team support officer.