3AT3 Formation Flying Team
Aero AT-3 R100 · Three and four-aircraft formation displays
A Warsaw-based group of civilian pilots who turned the Polish-built AT-3 trainer into a disciplined formation act. The team is now treated as inactive, with no verified 2026 display programme and its former website unavailable.
- Formed
- July 2009
- Public debut
- Radom Air Show 2009
- Aircraft
- Aero AT-3 R100
- Usual format
- 3 aircraft, sometimes 4
- Origin
- Aeroklub Warszawski
- Status
- Inactive; no verified 2026 programme
The team
A civilian flying partnership built around club aircraft, private commitment and the discipline of close formation.
3AT3 came together in Warsaw in July 2009. A contemporary team interview credits Marcin Wyszyński with proposing a display using four AT-3 aircraft, two belonging to the aeroclub and two privately owned. Jakub Kubicki and Piotr Krasiński were among the core pilots, and the first public season led quickly to an appearance at Radom Air Show.
This was not a conventional company-owned display fleet. The pilots were civilian enthusiasts who arranged aircraft hire, positioning and training, drawing on both Aeroklub Warszawski machines and privately owned examples. The team later used the name 3AT3 Formacja Aeroklubu Warszawskiego and appeared in programmes associated with the White-Red Wings Foundation.
Formation flying, not aerobatics
The team name described the display accurately. The AT-3 R100 is not approved for aerobatics, so 3AT3 built its routine around close station keeping, coordinated turns, changing formation geometry, breaks, rejoins and flypasts. The visual effect came from timing and proximity rather than loops, rolls or inverted manoeuvres.
Three aircraft became the signature
Event profiles generally described a three or four-aircraft team. Three AT-3s provided the compact arrowhead identity most closely associated with the name, while the available number could change with pilots, aircraft and the needs of an event. A six-aircraft formation flown at Mazury in 2013 was an exceptional historical expansion, not the normal team format.
The end of the public trail
Post-event reporting confirms that 3AT3 opened the flying at Mielec Air Show on 28-29 June 2025. The team was then advertised for Mazury AirShow on 2-3 August, but no sufficiently clear post-event record confirming its appearance was found for this profile. No verified 2026 programme has surfaced and the former team website no longer works.
The White-Red Wings Foundation continues to list paid AT-3 formation-flight experiences carrying the 3AT3 name. That suggests an enduring association with formation flying, but it is not evidence of a current public airshow team. European Airshows therefore marks the display team inactive.
The display
Precision without aerobatics: a routine shaped by spacing, timing and clean geometry.
3AT3 extracted a convincing crowdline display from a touring and training aircraft that was never certificated for aerobatics. Content varied by event and by the number of serviceable aircraft, so the points below describe the team's characteristic language rather than a fixed sequence.
Close formation passes
Three aircraft normally approached as a single compact shape, using consistent spacing and matched attitude to make a relatively small light aircraft read clearly from the crowdline.
Synchronised turns
Coordinated bank and power changes kept the formation together through sweeping reversals, making disciplined station keeping the central skill on display.
Changing geometry
The pilots shifted between compact arrangements so spectators could follow aircraft moving from one relative position to another without relying on aerobatic manoeuvres.
Break and rejoin
Separations created individual movement and spacing before the aircraft rebuilt the formation, demonstrating anticipation, visual judgement and closure control.
Flexible aircraft count
Three aircraft were typical, four were used on some occasions, and the exceptional six-ship Mazury appearance in 2013 should be understood as a special event rather than a standard offer.
Event-specific presentation
Pilots, aircraft, sequence and supporting elements changed between appearances. Historical descriptions should not be treated as a guaranteed routine for every season.
The aircraft
A Polish two-seat trainer whose honest handling and low operating cost made it a natural platform for formation flying.
Designed and built in Poland
The AT-3 was designed by Tomasz Antoniewski as a compact two-seat training and touring aircraft. The prototype flew in 1997 and customer production followed in the early 2000s. The R100 version was certificated in the European Very Light Aircraft category and is built mainly from metal, with side-by-side seating and fixed tricycle landing gear.
Why it worked for 3AT3
Side-by-side seating, predictable handling and a 100 hp Rotax engine made the AT-3 accessible as a club trainer while still offering enough speed and responsiveness for close formation. Its low wing and compact outline also gave the three-aircraft formation a clean, easily read silhouette.
The aircraft's limitation was equally important to the display's identity: the AT-3 is not approved for aerobatics. 3AT3 therefore concentrated on accurate formation work rather than presenting the type as something it was not designed or certificated to be.
One type, several approved configurations
Published AT-3 figures are not completely uniform. The legacy 582 kg flight manual gives a length of 6.15 m and a maximum take-off mass of 582 kg. Later production information gives a length of 6.25 m and a maximum take-off mass up to 630 kg. Equipment, fuel system and approved weights can differ between individual aircraft.
Club aircraft
Early accounts describe two aircraft drawn from Aeroklub Warszawski rather than a fleet owned outright by the team.
Privately owned aircraft
Private AT-3 owners supplied further aircraft, making availability dependent on individual machines and arrangements.
Typical three-ship
The most recognisable public configuration used three similar AT-3s in close formation.
No fixed current fleet
Historic formation sizes do not prove which airframes, if any, remain attached to an active display operation.
The story so far
From a four-aircraft idea in Warsaw to a final confirmed display sixteen years later.
July 2009
The group comes together
Warsaw pilots begin developing a display around club and privately owned AT-3 aircraft, following an idea proposed by Marcin Wyszyński.
Radom 2009
First public airshow season
The new formation reaches one of Poland's largest aviation audiences, establishing 3AT3 as a recognisable civilian display identity.
2012
Aeroklub Warszawski identity
The team adopts the name 3AT3 Formacja Aeroklubu Warszawskiego, making its aeroclub connection explicit.
Mazury 2013
An exceptional six-aircraft formation
Six AT-3s fly together at Mazury, a special expansion beyond the three and four-aircraft formats normally associated with the team.
Radom 2018
White-Red Wings programme
3AT3 appears in the centenary Air Show Radom programme alongside the foundation's restored aircraft, including its Antonov An-2 presentation.
2021-2024
Intermittent public appearances
The formation remains present in selected Polish event programmes, including Aerobaltic and Mazury material, rather than maintaining a heavily documented international season.
28-29 June 2025
Last confirmed display
A post-event report records 3AT3 formation flypasts opening the flying programme at Mielec Air Show.
2-3 August 2025
Advertised for Mazury
The official event material lists 3AT3, but no sufficiently clear post-event confirmation was found, so this page does not treat Mazury as the last verified display.
2026
Marked inactive
With no verified public display programme and the former website unavailable, European Airshows classifies the team as inactive. No formal dissolution date is assigned.
Identity & context
Four distinctions keep the historical record clear and proportionate.
Not an aerobatic team
3AT3 was a formation-flying display group. The AT-3 is not approved for aerobatics, and the routine was built around coordinated flight rather than loops, rolls or inverted manoeuvres.
No fixed owned fleet
Early accounts describe a mixture of aeroclub and privately owned aircraft. The team identity did not mean every AT-3 in a display belonged to one organisation.
Three or four, not normally six
Three aircraft formed the signature and four appeared at some events. The six-aircraft Mazury formation in 2013 was a notable exception, not the standard display size.
Inactive without an invented date
A failed website is not proof of legal dissolution. The classification reflects the lack of a verified current display operation while preserving 2025 as the last confirmed flying evidence.
