Red’s Synchro Pair at Syerston?

As previously reported in ‘Notes’, the Red Arrows will be relocating to RAF Waddington prior to the sale of RAF Scampton. This move is planned for later this year, with the sale of the airfield going ahead in early 2023. The original decision to relocate to Waddington was contingent on continued access for training in restricted airspace (EG R313) over Scampton, as this would provide the Arrows with all their training airspace requirements indefinitely.

However, the MoD has now decided that the aerodrome will be sold without caveats, and this has placed the future of EG R313 in doubt, as continued access to this airspace will now rely on the scale of development at Scampton and the willingness of the new owners to support the team’s operations. Consequently, a feasibility study to identify alternative training locations that are accessible from RAF Waddington has identified RAF Syerston as one of several suitable locations that together might provide sufficient training opportunities for the team using their current display model.

Syerston is being looked at as a potential site for early training sorties, with the focus on the Synchro Pair, because it has a runway and is located close to RAF Waddington. A runway is considered essential for safe initial Synchro Pair training to allow effective deconfliction between aircraft: the Synchro Pair use