SHAH ALAM: As you are might be aware, four RMAF F/A-18D Hornets conducted a flypast for the last F1 Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday (Oct. 1, 2017). The Hornets conducted the flypast for the inaugural F1 race back in 1999 so its fitting they closed out the show this time around.

From Bernama.

Hornet Fighter Jet Fly-Past To Mark Last Malaysian GP
SEPANG, Sept 30 (Bernama) — After making their fly-past at the first Formula One (F1) Malaysian Grand Prix 19 years ago, four F/A-18D Hornet fighter jets will once again be given the honour to carry out a fly-past at the last F1 race at Sepang International Circuit (SIC) tomorrow.

The thunderous sounds of the four F/A-18D Hornet jets from the 18th Squadron of the Royal Malaysian Air Force which were deployed in the battle against Sulu intruders in Lahad Datu, Sabah in 2013, will bound to awed spectators.

Major Hazman Harun, 36, who had been tasked with leading the fly-past tomorrow said the show lasting one minute involved a formation display of three aircraft followed by a solo flight at high speed.

“We are very happy to be given the honour to carry out another fly-past for the last time at SIC after having performed similar acts in 1999, 2000 and 2002.

“Tomorrow. we will conduct a three craft formation followed by a solo performance as low as 250 feet above sea level at 833 km per hour,” he told Bernama here today. According to Hazman, during the training session, the weather was the biggest challenge faced by the team better known as ‘The Mighty Hornet’.

“We began our practice two days ago and the uncertain weather condition at SIC especially heavy rain with lightning was a major challenge to us,” he said.

The 19th Malaysian GP will be the last after Malaysia held its debut F1 race in 1999.

For this year’s flypast, the Hornets had staged out from Subang airbase, a rare occurrence to say the least. Previously the fighters – the Hornets, Flankers and when they were available, Fulcrums – had flown from their respective bases for similar events like Merdeka or the air force day, for example.

Five Hornets (pictured here) were based at Subang for the flypast with one apparently on stand-by as the spare aircraft as only four flew during the three practice runs and on the day of the race itself.

Since there was no official announcements regarding the flypast, apart from the Bernama story, I have no idea why they had done it differently this time around. Perhaps some of the pilots and crew wanted to join the fun at Sepang being this was the last F1 race.

Note the pictures posted here were taken around Subang as it was impossible for me to get to Sepang after the Hornets took off.

And as for the pictures, this were the best that I could do. I only started taking pictures of fast jets in the last four years. Before that I confined myself to static pictures only.

— Malaysian Defence

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