Krila Oluje (Wings of the Storm) is the Croatian Air Force (HRZ) aerobatic display team. Our task is a presentation of skill, discipline, teamwork and the high degree of training quality of the Croatian Air Force and Croatian Armed Forces in general. The team 'Krila Oluje' consists of the pilots from the 392nd Fixed-wing Squadron, 93rd Wing in Zemunik. In comparison with the majority of aerobatic
teams in the world whose pilots' single task is to train and do aerobatic team performances, the primary task of the pilots from the 'Krila Oluje' is the training of the future Croatian air force pilots. Captain Diana Doboš, was a member of the 'Krila Oluje' from 2005 to 2007 and became the third woman in the world's history to fly in an aerobatic team. The very first flight of the team is considered to be at an aerobatic performance with a formation of four aircraft, during the opening ceremony of the European sailing championship in Zadar on 23 July 2004. On the 5th of August 2005, in Knin, regarding the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the military and police operation known as 'Oluja' after which the team was named, the team 'Krila Oluje' has been officially presented to the Croatian public. By the end of the year, the team grew to a 5-plane formation, and the first flight with a 6-plane formation was made on 25 March 2009. The candidates for the team are chosen from amongst HRVAF flight instructors who must meet the basic conditions of excellent flying skills and a minimum total of 600 flight hours. The chosen candidates then go through a very demanding training of aerobatic flying in formations ranging from two to six aeroplanes, during which the pilots' train to perform specific aerobatic elements at a minimal altitude above ground and extremely close together in a formation. During the performance, the aircraft fly at distances less than 3 m from each other, at speeds of up to 550 km/h. The g-load in the display varies from -2.5 g to +6.5 g. The minimum altitude during the performance is 100 m above ground level. Opposite the very spread lay perception of flying in the aerobatic display team, the exceptional coordination in acrobatic performances is not the result of the precise instrument reading or the help of modern equipment. It is the result of an individual pilot evaluation that includes the position of his plane and the distance from the leading plane. Based on this the pilot operates his plane in a way to ensures the minimum deviation from the given position requests in respect to the rest of the planes in the formation. The full program performed by the 'Krila Oluje' is 24 minutes long and is performed at altitudes from 100 to 1000 m and at the minimum distance from the audience of about 230 m. A delegated narrator is in charge of presenting the program to the spectators. His task is also an overflight of a backup plane to the point where the air show is being held. As in almost any aerobatic team in the world, there are no backup pilots. The training for each position in the formation is specific and continuous therefore it is impossible to have a trained backup pilot who would be able to replace any one of the pilots from the team. In case a pilot is ill, the team performs a shortened program with 5 planes or cancel the display. For training and displays, the 'Krila Oluje' do not have specific aircraft and equipment, as the majority of display teams in the world do, instead, they use the aircraft from the Fixed-wing Training Squadron of 93rd air base according to availability. At RIAT 2016 "Krila Oluje" won the "King Hussein Memorial Sword" award for the Best overall demonstration. "Krila Oluje" HRVAF Display Team- 209 displays (56 International)
𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬:
#1 Maj Darko Belančić
#2 1st Lt Danijel Rigo
#3 Cpt Krešimir Oštrić
#4 Maj Ivan Anđić
#5 Maj Nino Perović
#6 2nd Lt Matija Đurašin
𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬:
KO 001 Miroslav Franjić
2004.-2008.; #1; 35 displays (35 as #1)
KO 002 Damir Barišić
2004.-2012., 2015.-2017. ; #2, #4, #1; 124 displays (86 as #1)
KO 003 Diana Doboš
2004.-2007.; #3; 24 displays
KO 004 Saša Joković
2004.-2006.; #4; 6 displays
KO 005 Matija Vrđuka
2005.-2015.; #6, #4, #1; 103 displays (20 as #1)
KO 006 Nenad Hasnek
2006.-2014.; #2, #5; 98 displays
KO 007 Edvard Krišto
2007.-2015.; #3, #6, #4; 79 displays
KO 008 Božen Tadić
2008.-2015.; #2, #5; 67 displays
KO 009 Siniša Hucika
2009.-2015.; #3, #6; 63 displays
KO 010 Josip Čolak
2012.-2015.; #3; 20 displays
KO 013 Denis Živaljić
2015.- 2020', #5, 94 displays
KO 014 Goran Grgić
2015.- 2020., #3, 92 displays
KO 015 Zvonimir Mravunac
2015.- 2019., #6, #4, 69 displays
KO 016 Ivan Rendulić
2016.- 2018. #6, 26 displays
KO 017 Marko Novković 🕯️ 07.05.2020. 🕯️
2019. - 2020. #6, 12 displays
