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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald

Stunt pilot ready to get hearts pumping to finish 2023

Expert pilot Paul Bennet, of Paul Bennet Airshows, at Cessnock Airport earlier this year. Picture by Peter Lorimer

Paul Bennet will have a unique view of Newcastle's New Year's Eve festivities when he goes to work on Sunday evening.

The world-renowned stunt pilot will take to the skies above the harbour to do things in a plane likely to make the crowds below shake their heads in disbelief.

The first part of the show will be a solo "unlimited aerobatic display" in a Wolf Pitts Pro - which Bennet said was the "highest performing" aerobatic biplane in the world - at 6.30pm.

For the second display, at 7.30pm, the biplane will be joined by a Zivko Edge 540 - a monoplane which is capable of a 420-degree-per-second roll - for some "real close formation" flying.

"[The show will include] exciting manoeuvres and cool things you don't normally see, like torque rolls, double hammer heads and forward flips. Things that no-one else can really do," Bennet told the Herald on Friday.

"You've got to practice every day before events really. It's not something that's easy to do otherwise everyone would be doing it.

"I think airshow flying is coming back. It's exciting for people to watch ... and appreciate how much work we put into making aeroplanes do the impossible."

Having performed at the city's New Year's Eve party last year, Bennet said the scene from above "looks unreal".

"It's outstanding to see both sides of the foreshore chockas," he said.

"You can still see the traffic on Stockton Bridge and there's people everywhere watching the aerobatics and waiting for the fireworks at nine o'clock. "

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