Bandit History

The Bandit Flight Team performs at various events including all the NC State football games, NASCAR events at The Charlotte Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway and Dover Speedway, The Durham Bulls, the Raleigh Christmas Parade and Rally for the Cure. We are available for national anthem flyovers, charity events, Missing Man Formation for military ceremonies, as well as grand openings, VIP or corporate events.

The Bandit Flight Team is a group of highly-trained, experienced pilots that combine their love of flying with an appreciation for vintage military aircraft. The Bandits are based in the Raleigh, NC area and flies their aircraft to preserve the military Warbird heritage and as an opportunity to salute our returning war veterans.

The Bandit Flight Team’s history began in 2009 with a few pilots flying formation in YAK 52’s and CJ-6 at the Sanford, NC Airport. In 2010, a group of RV pilots joined the group and they formed a formation flying team. This initial group practiced and conducted extensive formation training for a couple of years. In addition to local practices, they attended formation clinics advancing their skills to the level that now all members have a FAA Formation Card and a Commercial Pilot’s license.

In 2012, they officially named ourselves the Bandit Flight Team and flew their first National Anthem flyover at a North Carolina State Football game. That same year the team added the WRAL Raleigh Christmas Parade. It was good timing as the military had stopped military flyovers due to sequester and this created an opening and opportunity for formation flyovers. The National Anthem flyovers have been well received and appreciated enabling the team to grown tremendously and they now perform at over 25 events a year. In addition to performing the National Anthem flyover at all NC State football games, they added NASCAR events at The Charlotte Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Richmond Raceway, and Dover Speedway. The Bandits also fly at many local events such as The Durham Bulls, the Raleigh Christmas Parade, and many local service events such as Veteran’s events, Rally for the Cure, and Missing Man Flights at Military Memorial services.

The Bandit Flight Teams is available for Charity Events, Missing Man Formation for Military Ceremonies, as well as Grand Openings, VIP or corporate events.

http://www.banditflightteam.com

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