Air Racing
Discover how Martin Šonka pushed the boundaries of barrel rolling
Former Red Bull Air Race World Champion Martin Šonka likes a challenge – but flying barrel rolls around a jet fighter pushes the boundaries – even for him.
In the world of Red Bull Air Race, extraordinary stunts and stunning displays are par for the course – but occasionally something so extreme appears that it makes you sit back and wonder, 'Did I really see that?'
The aerobatic display performed by 2018 Red Bull Air Race World Champion Martin Šonka and Czech Airforce display pilot Ivo Kardoš falls firmly into that category. Two-ship aerobatic formations always look spectacular – but even more so when one of the aircraft is an Extra 300SR propeller-driven aerobatic plane and the other is a Saab JAS-39 Gripen jet fighter. It’s David and Goliath – if David was travelling at 400kph and Goliath was trying very hard to not go supersonic.
In the build-up to the NATO Days Airshow (September 21-22, 2019) in Ostrava, in the Czech Republic's northeast, Šonka – relaxing in Japan after the 2019 Red Bull Air Race finale – explained to us how this all came about.
Watch Martin Šonka and Ivo Kardoš' barrel-roll adventure in the player below.
Who came up with the idea of pairing an Extra with a Gripen?
Before becoming a full-time Red Bull athlete, I flew the Gripen for the Czech Airforce. Ivo is one of my best friends from the Airforce – we did our conversion training onto the Gripen together – and when he became a display pilot for the Airforce, it really seemed like something we should do.
Of course, it isn’t particularly usual. We had to get permission to begin rehearsals. I think it helped that I’m a former Gripen pilot and knew what the aircraft could do, so when we started planning it, we were able to convince people that it would be something very interesting to see.
How do you begin practicing something like this?
Very carefully! In terms of flight time, with both of us in the air, that was pretty minimal. I think we did five training flights of between 20 and 30 minutes each. It’s not easy to get the Gripen for an extended period of time and it isn’t feasible to put a lot of flying hours on it, so we had to reduce the flight training to a minimum.
Once we had our own parts rehearsed, we came together for some real flights
The first stage was sitting together to discuss what was possible, what wasn’t possible and what might be possible. We focused the training flights on those parts where we weren’t sure how it would work. The Czech Airforce was really helpful. They liked the project and gave us all the support we needed.
Ivo did his initial training on the simulator, practicing the flying manoeuvres and the airspeeds required for the display. I worked by myself, practicing in the Extra at the speeds required to stay in formation with the Gripen. Once we had our own parts rehearsed, we came together for some real flights.
Martin Šonka
© Predrag Vuckovic/Red Bull Content Pool
There's quite a performance differential between a Saab JAS-39 Gripen and an Extra 300SR. Where were the two aircraft in their relative performance envelopes?
Yes, the Gripen is slightly faster! The envelope is quite narrow where the airspeeds can overlap. The Gripen can’t fly too slow and it accelerates very quickly and I can’t do that with the Extra. I can fly somewhere close to 400kph, which for him is very low speed.
Fortunately, the Gripen is an amazing aeroplane. It can fly very slowly, very well, so it gives Ivo the margin on manoeuvrability that we needed at these speeds. That said, even we were surprised at how well we could fly some of these manoeuvres. We were really happy we were able to fly really sharp, hard turns. With him at maximum power – minus the afterburner – I was able to hold vertical position in the formation with him. It was just amazing.
Of course, his manoeuvrability at this speed is limited, but he was definitely not flying in straight lines. We were able to do Immelmann Turns, barrel rolls around me, him flying inverted, me flying inverted. Hopefully it looks good to spectators because it is really interesting to perform.
An aerial David vs Goliath
© Martin Haleš
How fun is it performing something like this?
Oh yeah, it’s definitely a lot of fun when you’re flying. I realised when we started this that one thing I’d missed since leaving the Airforce was the view from the cockpit of having a Gripen on my wing. When I was in the Airforce, every day, more or less, we were flying at least two-ship formations.
Ivo is a really good pilot and it was a really great pleasure to build this with him
I was always very close to the Gripen and I love that view of having it flying a few metres away from me. I missed that – and suddenly, being in the air again with one next to me, that made me very happy. It really was a lot of fun. Ivo is a really good pilot and it was a really great pleasure to build this with him and fly barrel rolls and inverted mirror flight with the Gripen, and to see the aeroplane from all these different angles.
Martin Šonka flies his Extra 300SR around a Gripen jet fighter
© Martin Haleš
How about your own aircraft? Why is the Extra 300SR the right plane for something like this?
I’ve been flying this beautiful Extra since 2011 when I became a Red Bull athlete. It’s definitely one of the best aerobatic aircraft in the world. I know it very well now and the manoeuvrability of this aeroplane is absolutely incredible. Everyone in the flying world connects me with this aircraft now.
But the main reason for using it is that the appeal of this project is having these two very different aeroplanes flying together. It would be easy to do the display with something that could fly much faster, but the spectacle comes from seeing these two very different aeroplanes flying in very close formation. You don’t see this often and definitely not with extreme manoeuvres like these.
Is this a one-time only display?
I have no problem with the Extra, but getting the Gripen from the Czech Airforce will be difficult. The intention was to do this exhibition as a one-off, at an airshow on my former Airforce base, where Ivo still serves as a fighter pilot. The display was intended for this show and to make the video as a hopefully interesting and permanent record. But the Czech Airforce liked the finished product very much, liked how it represented them – their pilots, and their aircraft – so they’ve requested we do it again, in Ostrava at the biggest airshow in the Czech Republic.
There isn’t an intention to perform it again after this, so if people want to see it live, they really should come along to Ostrava!
Martin Šonka hangs tough, upside down, over a jet fighter
© Martin Haleš