The RNZAF Red Checkers aerobatics team has been grounded for the rest of the current display season following a training accident on March 1, its second incident in two months after a fatal crash in January.
Reports indicate the March 1 accident saw two aircraft touch each other in flight before both landed safely. “We are continually focussed on making our flying operations as safe as possible,” RNZAF training group commander GPCAPT Stephen Howard told local media. “How this incident happened is now being investigated as a matter of course and the prudent decision is not to fly the team again this season.”
The Red Checkers flies CT-4E primary trainers.
