The Roulettes Over Hervey Bay
The RAAF aerobatic team - The Roulettes - put on a tremendous show over the northern end of Hervey Bay on Saturday.
A fine display of precision flying kept people enthralled as the six pilots put their planes through a very impressive display.
That display and the actions of two very brave F-111 aircrew on July 18 underlines the high standard of training that all our defence force personnel undergo.
Roulettes over Weipa in May 2004
Photo by Warrant Officer Ray Bennell courtesty of Department of Defence
Speaking of the July 18 incident the Minister for Defence had this to say:
“On 18 July I received a call that put me on the edge of my seat - that one of our twenty six F-111s had “lost a wheel” on take-off from Amberley Air Base. An investigation showed this to be a maintenance, rather than a mechanical problem.
Fortunately, the pilot performed a successful “belly-landing”, with only limited damage to the aircraft, a few heart stopping moments and some spectacular television footage. From my perspective, the more impressive television footage came the following day, when the pilot - 29 year old Flying Officer Peter Komar - spoke of his experience.
In contrast to the “Top Gun” stereotype, Flying Officer Komar was completely modest, in: recounting how he and his navigator simply focused on the task; stressing that this type of situation is what they are trained to deal with “pretty much from day one”; and giving credit to the professional team on the ground who helped bring the jet down to safety.
Despite his calm demeanour, Flying Officer Komar’s enthusiasm for flying was palpable, in concluding: “I’ll be happy to go flying (again) as soon as I can”.
Peter - thank you for being an outstanding ambassador for the Australian Defence Force!”
Sometimes even I have to agree with a politician 
