Aerotriga - Hungarian Aerobatic Display Team History, Gallery

This team was a Hungarian National Aerobatic Team, so will take place here in Military Teams section, even the team's pilots aren't military, they training future Air Force pilots in its first steps to the air. Untill the present, Hungary has no other aerobatic display team.

Aerotriga History

The history of this team begins in 1975, when four young pilots - Laszlo Toth, Zoltan Varga, Andras Molnar and Andras Veres become instructors from Aviation Academy at Nyiregyhaza. After work they improved their skills by practicing aerobatics with the two-seat Zlin 526F Trener (Trainer).

In 1975 they began formation flying with four of these aircrafts. In 1976 the new team began working on basic aerobatics maneuvers, but after an accident in which the prop of the "slot" aircraft (Andras Veres) cut the tail wheel of the lead aircraft, they decided that three aircraft would provide a safe formula. By this time they got in to the Hungarian National Aerobatic Team and participate in several socialist countries, European and World Championships had flown in Zlin 526 AFS.

Hours and hours of training helped them into improve their tight formations and it was not long before they introduced the inverted "mirror" sequence.

In 1977 Zoltan Varga went to the MALEV, the Hungarian National Airlines, and the new pilot joined the team -Tibor Paszti- consequently the whole training program had to start all over again. In September 1977 the team members finally made their first public appearance during the closing ceremony of the National Aerobatics Championships.

The 1978 season saw them performing in a similar manner and exciting though this was for the threesome, their displays were only before an audience of Hungarian events. The director of the Aviation Academy was well impressed and decided to give them more time and fuel for practice. However, after a while, it became clear that the engines of their trusty Treners were not powerful enough for the more spectacular sequences that the pilots wanted to try. Naturally it was a great boost to morale, when in October 1981 MEM Air Service (responsible for the Ministry of Agriculture's aircraft) bought three new Zlin 50LA. This is the single-seat, all-metal aircraft with the culmination of Zlin's experience in the world of aerobatics aviation.

Early of next year a long, intensive and hard training course was conducted by Ferenc Hargitai and Gyula Rozmann. The team attended its first international airshow on August 22, 1982 at Spitzenberg in Austria, which also happened to be the venue for the World Aerobatics Championships, where each pilot of the team was a competitor as well. The audiences were amazed by the daring performance of the Hungarians.

More invitations followed and in 1983 the team went to the International Airshow at Friedrichshafen in Germany. By now, the trio was working under the name of Aerotriga, which in Greek means a three-horse chariot.

In 1984 an invitation arrived to perform at the 10th International Airshow, at Moorsele in Belgium. Moorsele is home to FLAVIP, a non-profit making organization that specializes in promoting light aviation in Flanders. Aerotriga came to an agreement with FLAVIP for it to organize a European tour for the Hungarian team.

During 1985 the team attended airshows in Belgium, France, Holland, Germany, and made their debut in the UK at the Biggin Hill International Air Fair. At the evening "do" for the pilots at Biggin the Aerotriga team received a standing ovation from the Red Arrows for their brilliant performance.

From 1986 the team's performances abroad was interrupted for a short period, as the Air Service decided to sell the aircraft because of financial reasons. One went to Germany and the other two went to South Africa.

On 1st September 1987 Laszlo Toth took a job with MALEV and after two years he became a first officer on Tupolev TU-154. In 1993 he had been promoted to captain. Andras Molnar and Tibor Paszti were still in Nyiregyhaza working for the Air Service and they began flying L-410 Turbojet 15-seaters for a commuter airline in Budapest.

In spite of difficult circumstances the Aerotriga kept itself alive with limited practices for few airshows just in Hungary. The team was flying with the aircraft of the Hungarian Aeronautical Association, which had four Zlin-50 planes (one Zlin 50 LA with 260HP engines and three Zlin-50LS with 300HP engines).

In 1991 with the dramatically changing political situation and climate, it was a hard task for the leader to solve the financial problem of the team, but he did with the help of HAA. The Aerotriga started its Western-European tour coming to Belgium once again, for the Moorsele International Airshow, like the Hungarian National Team. The three performed having had only minimal training but were, nevertheless, an enormous success. This event gave the opportunity to reactivate the agreement with FLAVIP to coordinate and organize the programs for Aerotriga. At the end of this year the pilots and the team and the mechanic, Csaba Bakai with other aerobatics pilots founded an Aeroclub named Aerotriga to make the independent operation of the formation team easier.

In 1992 four Zlin 50LS (one was kept as a reserve) were leased from the Hungarian Flight Association. The first airshow was scheduled for early May in Valenciennes in France and at the weekend before the event, the team held their only rehearsal in Budapest - but still their display held crowds spellbound.

Aerotriga took part in 25 airshows during 1992, from ILA Berlin to La Ferte Alais near Paris, as well as other shows in Holland and Belgium. In the UK, the team attended North Weald, Ipswich, Belfast, Newcastle, Bentwaters, and Folkestone. Farnborough's programme was fully booked but the organizers told Aerotriga, "Don't you worry, your fame is preceding your name. Keep in touch for 1994", they will!

As from 1992 Aerotriga's close relations with MALEV were reflected in a change of the name to Aerotriga / Malev-Team.

In January 1995 the team gave up the operation like an aero club. Only three pilots and the mechanic founded their own company called Aerotriga Limited Partnership. From year to year the team took part in major airshows all over Europe for example Oostende, Geneve, Berlin, Cannes, La Ferte-Alais, Klagenfurt, moreover Bordeaux, Koksijde, Twente, Dijon, Liege.

At the middle of 1996 the other two pilots, Andras Molnar and Tibor Paszti got a job from MALEV like co-pilots on Tupoljev-154. By the end of 1996 the team had done more than 300 airshows.

Remembering the first part of this history, it's easy to calculate that the year 1997 was a landmark in the history of Aerotriga, since the team celebrated its 20th anniversary.

In October 1998 Andras Molnar, the team's left wing pilot suffered a fatal accident and died. This tragedy shocked the rest of the team. It took long time for their decision was formation flight keeping the remembrance of Andras Molnar.

In springtime 1999 there was an intensive training period with the new left wing pilot: Andras Podolcsak. The MALEV and the Hungarian Flight Association provided sufficient help in maintaining the financial background of the training.

Not too far the financial crisis in Hungary gives no chance to Aerotriga, and the team slowly going to its end.