4 Jan 2011

Red Checkers training again after troubled year

3:46 pm on 4 January 2011

The Royal New Zealand Air Force's aerobatics display team, the Red Checkers, are back training together after two incidents last year, one of which left a pilot dead.

Squadron Leader Nick Cree died when his plane crashed while he was practising an aerobatic manoeuvre in January; then in March a plane was damaged when two members of the team collided.

An inquiry was launched into the death, and appearances by the Red Checkers at airshows were cancelled for the rest of the year.

But now an Air Force spokesperson has confirmed the team - part of No 42 Training Squadron - are training together again.

The spokesperson says the Air Force will decide next week whether the team will perform at shows this year.