For decades military flypasts have become a special edition to selected shows during the month-long run of the Edinburgh Tattoo - with RAF pilots showcasing precision timing to begin the spectacular event.
Over the course of this year’s Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the show features five flypasts involving several types of aircraft, including Typhoon jet, the iconic Red Arrows, and larger cargo planes including a Boeing C-17. The next scheduled flypasts are scheduled for August 15 and 23 at 9.30pm.
Tuesday night (August 13) saw an A400M aircraft flyover Edinburgh Castle - arriving right on time at 9.30pm to mark the beginning of the spectacular show. The cargo aircraft made its way across the esplanade to thunderous applause before flying over the castle as the Royal Marine band began to play.
Over the course of this year’s Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the show features five flypasts involving several types of aircraft, including Typhoon jet, the iconic Red Arrows, and larger cargo planes including a Boeing C-17. The next scheduled flypasts are scheduled for August 15 and 23 at 9.30pm.
Tuesday night (August 13) saw an A400M aircraft flyover Edinburgh Castle - arriving right on time at 9.30pm to mark the beginning of the spectacular show. The cargo aircraft made its way across the esplanade to thunderous applause before flying over the castle as the Royal Marine band began to play.
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00:30I think the people really, really enjoy them here at the Tattoo.
00:39They get a roar of an applause when they come over.
00:42But I also think one of the things all of Edinburgh, dare I say, everybody in the area
00:46enjoyed.
00:47If you look at the social media posts that come the next day, many come from the Tattoo
00:51or people that were at the Tattoo.
00:54But even larger numbers come from people that were in the area.
00:57And some of the photos are extraordinary from people that weren't even at the Tattoo.
01:00So I think it certainly points to the Tattoo and they know what those flyovers are.
01:05But all the people in the area truly enjoy it.
01:09It's a time on target.
01:10So they know we set the time and they set it in their aircraft.
01:13And then it just becomes almost like any sort of GPS, a time-space calculus that says they've
01:18got to be here and over the target at a specific time.
01:21Should we need to push that time, and there are times when the show starts later or whatever
01:26the case may be.
01:27Then there's somebody on the ground here, some sort of forward air controller that is
01:31speaking to the pilot and saying, you know, time has changed Rolex to a certain time.
01:37So yeah, it's a time on target.
01:39They're very, very precise.
01:41Not that different than what they do on real operations.
01:44Same exact thing.
01:45They've got to be overhead at this specific time.
01:47And that's what they do every single time when they do it for us.
01:51We had a typhoon earlier in the show.
01:54And then we had, of course, the Red Arrows, and now we get to see some of the workhorses
01:59of the RAF come over with an A400M, and I think we have a C-17 coming later in the show.
02:18I've seen them many times, but every time I see them, it's a jaw-dropping moment.
02:24I was up here where we're conducting our interview right now, and I saw them coming across the
02:30Firth and coming up Castle Hill, the Royal Mile.
02:34And then you see the smoke come on, you see them go over, and it's just, yeah, spine-tingling.
02:38It's amazing.
02:45We're off to a great start, in fact, in many ways, exceeding expectations.
02:50These aren't easy things to put on, as many would know.
02:53It's a Herculean effort on so many different levels.
02:56And it's not without hiccups, but if I were to compare this show to the previous two in
03:01my experiences, it's gone incredibly smooth.
03:04That's a credit to all the hard work of the team that puts this thing together.
03:07So we're very, very happy with the start.