A king’s idea

The Royal Jordanian Falcons were founded in 1976 at the initiative of King Hussein, himself a pilot, to promote Jordan abroad through aviation. Two Pitts Special S-2A biplanes and the American display pilots David Rahm and Steve Wolf formed the nucleus, but Rahm was killed during a local performance attended by the King, an accident that called the project into question. Jordanian pilots trained in Florida in 1978 and the team made its domestic debut in October 1978 at the Middle East Civil Aviation Conference in Amman, followed by displays in Doha.

From Pitts to Extra

A third Pitts arrived in 1979 for a three-ship routine shown at the Paris Air Show and the International Air Tattoo at Greenham Common. In 1982 the team took delivery of new single-seat Pitts S-2S biplanes in Wyoming and toured more than 20 cities in the United States and Canada. The Pitts gave way in 1992 to five Extra 300 monoplanes, replaced in turn by five Extra 300L in 2007 and, from 2018, by five Extra 330LX bought at the behest of King Abdullah II.

Air Force pilots, airline aircraft

The team has an unusual status. The pilots are Royal Jordanian Air Force officers selected for a posting of three to four years, while the aircraft have been owned and maintained by the national airline, Royal Jordanian, which sponsored the team from the start. The first pilots were civilians trained by the Royal Jordanian Air Academy; in 1984 a second team was formed for the first time entirely from Air Force pilots.

Aqaba and the display today

The Falcons were long based at Amman Civil Airport before a royal decree moved the headquarters to King Hussein International Airport at Aqaba to support tourism and investment there. The 2026 sequence is flown by four aircraft from a box take-off, with a solo/slot pilot breaking away for one-minute segments and set pieces named the “Falcons Heart”, the “Hashemite Break” and the “Concord”. The team counts four Best Overseas Display awards from the Royal International Air Tattoo.