Watch an Etihad Airbus 380 fly in formation with the Al Fursan aerobatic display team over Abu Dhabi

The UAE Air Force aerobatic display team formed up with an Etihad Airways A380 for the 2016 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

On Nov. 27, an Etihad Airways A380 performed the traditional pre-Grand Prix race flypast in formation with the seven Aermacchi MB-339 jets of the Al Fursan (The Knights) display team.

The following footage, filmed from both inside the UAE AF display team jets and the civilian “superjumbo” show the amazing pass conducted by the unusual formation at dusk.

The Al Fursan team was formed in 2010 and made its first appearance with a simple fly-by with 4 MB-339s at the graduation ceremony at the Khalifa Bin Zayed Air College on Jan. 20, 2010. In July the same year, eight pilots moved to Italy to start training under the supervision of the Frecce Tricolori of the Italian Air Force, world’s largest display team based at Rivolto, and flying the same kind of aircraft. The training course ended in 2011.

The team made its first public aerobatic demonstration on Nov. 13, 2011, during the opening day of the Dubai Air Show.

Nowadays the Al Fursan team is equipped with 10 aircraft, four of those come from the 61° Stormo (Wing) of the Italian Air Force, the Flight School based at Lecce Galatina.

The Emirates MB-339As are painted in black, gold, white, red and green, and are equipped with smoke generators that produce red, green white and black smoke, the same colors of the UAE National flag.

By the way, the video provides also a glimpse of the backseat where you can see a dummy mascotte strapped to the ejection seat….

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About David Cenciotti

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.