SOUNDING THE ROAR OF UNITY

On the 9th of August, Singaporeans all over the island will be able to hear the Roar of Unity together, as six Republic of Singapore Air Force F-15SG fighter jets take to the skies to bring the National Day celebrations closer to everyone's homes.

For the first time at the National Day Parade (NDP), the fighter jets will be flying out to the heartlands after performing a salute to the President during the parade at the Padang in the morning.

The six-ship formation will first pay tribute to our front-line health-care and essential workers by flying over eight government and restructured hospitals. The hospitals are Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Seng Kang General Hospital, Changi General Hospital, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, National University Hospital, Alexandra Hospital and Singapore General Hospital.

It will then make three loops around the island, covering all different parts of the heartlands.

"We want to bring the Roar of Unity to Singaporeans at home (where they will) be able to see and hear it, and pay tribute to our front-line fighters keeping up the fight against COVID-19 and our essential workers keeping our economy and nation going during this period.

"We salute them for their resilience, dedication and sacrifice," said Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Tan Boon Hong, Deputy Chairman Air Participation and Flying Display Marshal. He oversees the planning for all the participating aircraft, including the CH-47D Chinook and AH-64D Apache helicopters involved in the Fly Our Flag state flag flypast.

Keeping our airspace safe

The whole display will take 30 minutes, beginning at 10.45am at the Padang, and cover 170 nautical miles. This marks the longest route and longest flight time flown by the fighter jets at NDP.

Although it is not unusual for the fighter jets to fly in a tight formation, and the crew often carry out such training, this is the first time they will be flying in formation over the heartlands.

As they will be travelling at speeds of about 600 kilometres per hour around buildings of varying heights, it was important to ensure the safety of the aircrew and the public, said LTC Tan, 46.

"We first had to carve out the airspace for them to fly in. So we worked with the CAAS (Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore) to secure the airspace and promulgate the TRA (Temporary Restricted Area). This is to ensure that only the pilots and aircraft are in the air, and we won't have a situation where they meet with unauthorised aerial activity," he explained.

"We also worked with the squadron to make sure that in the event of hiccups or malfunctions on the aircraft, the aircraft can get away safely to manage the situation."

Working closely with LTC Tan to ensure that the crew can carry out their flight safely is NDP Airspace Management Coordinator Captain (CPT) Daniel Heng. The 26-year-old Air Warfare Officer (Air Traffic Controller) acts as a Global Positioning System (GPS) for the aircraft performing at the NDP, guiding them to their locations.

CPT Heng elaborated: "This time around, we also have the helis, which are undertaking a longer route as well. Throughout the flights, we have to ensure there is a height separation, so that safety is not compromised. The fighters must also be able to climb and descend safely when they need to."

Because of the extensive amount of airspace the aircraft will be covering while flying over the heartlands, he must also make sure that the airspace is free for them to fly. "Singapore has a lot of airports and airbases with their own allotted airspace. We are all sharing a small space so we need to manage it safely and tightly, within the RSAF and with CAAS," he said.

Paying tribute to our health-care workers

With less than a week to the NDP, the pressure is on for the aircrew to nail their training so that they can hit their marks perfectly during the Parade. This is even more so for Flight Lead and Chief Planner of 142 Squadron (SQN), CPT Adam Eng, 29. The Weapon Systems Officer (Fighter) is in charge of the mission planning for the F-15SGs, working out details such as the flight path and flight height, and testing and executing the plans. In addition, he will also be leading the formation, flying in the first aircraft.

And they have to brace themselves for another enemy – Singapore's infamous monsoon rains.

"The main concern we face is the unpredictable weather. The six-ship delta formation we are flying in already requires a lot of concentration from the crew. And we need to be as precise as possible when hitting the show centre, on time and on target. We have to focus on maintaining our tight formation safely, and bad weather will hinder our view while we are flying," explained CPT Eng.

First-time NDP participant F-15 pilot Lieutenant (LTA) Shidan Swah agreed, adding that teamwork will be key in putting on a good show.

"There is no 'behind-the-scenes' for this route; we are visible all the time. We have to work together to maintain the formation throughout the flight. The route also has a lot of turns. So as we are turning, (depending on whether we are on the inside or outside of the turn) we need to perform different actions to make the turn while staying in formation."

Taking part in the tribute flypast is special to him for another reason – both his parents work in the health-care industry. And he is especially looking forward to flying past Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Said the 26-year-old, who has an eight-month-old daughter: "It's meaningful to me that I can fly over the hospital because my mum spent most of her career there, and I spent a lot of my childhood visiting her there.