Firebirds Aerobatic Team
2 × Extra 330LC + 1 × Extra 330SC · Three-aircraft formation aerobatics
Three Polish aerobatic specialists turn the Extra 330 family into a compact formation display built around close geometry, synchronised figures, smoke-marked breaks and rapid transitions. The two-seat LC pair carries the formation while the shorter, single-seat SC adds a visibly different unlimited-category machine to the trio.
- Founded
- 2014
- Public debut
- Rybnik, 2014
- Formation
- Three aircraft
- Current aircraft
- Extra 330LC / 330SC
- Current operating link
- Katowice-Muchowiec, EPKM
- Status
- Active display team
The team
The founding trio remains the published line-up, twelve seasons after its debut.
Firebirds was created in 2014 by Adam Labus, Łukasz Świderski and Sebastian Nowicki. All three arrived with competition, instructional or professional flying experience, but the new challenge was collective: building a formation in which three high-performance aerobatic aircraft would appear to move as one.
Contemporary team material places Adam Labus in the lead position, Sebastian Nowicki on the right and Łukasz Świderski on the left. Their official public debut came during the Aeroclub Days at Rybnik in 2014. Świdnik Air Festival published the same three names for its 13 June 2026 programme, confirming continuity rather than a replacement line-up.
Three different flying backgrounds
Labus is the formation leader and an experienced aerobatic instructor. Świderski won the Polish powered-aerobatic championship in 2013 and flies the single-seat Extra in the present trio. Nowicki combines aerobatic competition experience with an airline career. Those differences matter: formation flying depends on shared references and anticipation, not three pilots applying identical control movements.
From Łososina Dolna to the Firebirds academy
In 2018, organiser material described Łososina Dolna as the team's base and training airfield, reflecting its links with Aeroklub Podhalański as well as Aeroklub Śląski. The present operational picture is centred on Firebirds Flight Academy at Katowice-Muchowiec, EPKM. Poland's Civil Aviation Authority lists the academy there as both a declared training organisation and a special-operations operator authorised for air displays.
Active throughout 2026
Firebirds appeared at Świdnik in June, Nowy Targ in July and Air Show Rudniki at the end of July and beginning of August 2026. Current photographs identify all three familiar aircraft, while the national special-operations register separately confirms the two LC aircraft under Firebirds Flight Academy. The evidence is direct and current: this is an active three-ship.
The display
Compact formation geometry with unlimited aerobatic performance in reserve.
Current organiser material describes tight formation flying, synchronised figures and dynamic aerobatics. Exact duration, sequence, smoke use and aircraft assignments are adapted to the venue, weather and approved display authorisation rather than fixed permanently on this page.
Close three-ship formation
The leader sets the flight path while both wingmen control relative position through small changes in power, line and bank.
Full-formation aerobatics
Loops, rolls and vertical figures are shaped around the performance available to all three aircraft, not simply the leader.
Synchronised figures
When the formation separates, matched or mirrored lines let the crowd follow more than one aircraft without losing the centre of the display.
Breaks and rejoins
Changing closure speed creates pace, but the pilots must rebuild spacing precisely before the next collective figure begins.
Single-seat agility
The smaller 330SC gives the trio an unlimited-category aircraft whose response and energy differ subtly from the two LC machines.
Smoke-defined paths
White smoke makes formation shape, crossing lines and vertical geometry readable across a large display site.
The aircraft
Two tandem-seat LCs and one single-seat SC, not three identical Extra 330s.
SP-TLA and SP-TLB: Extra 330LC
The two LC aircraft form the matched tandem-seat element of the current team. Polish ULC documents identify both registrations as Extra 330LCs and include air displays among Firebirds Flight Academy's declared special operations. Their serials, 1310 and 1309 respectively, are also consistently tied to the red-and-white Firebirds aircraft in recent photographic records.
SP-TLC: Extra 330SC
The SC is a purpose-built single-seat unlimited-category aerobatic aircraft. Extra Aircraft lists a 315 hp Lycoming AEIO-580-B1A, carbon wing and empennage, 7.5 m span and a certified aerobatic load factor of plus or minus 10 g at the applicable aerobatic mass. SP-TLC, serial SC035, was photographed with Firebirds at Świdnik and Rudniki in 2026.
Why the LC and SC distinction matters
The SC is shorter, narrower and single-seat, while the LC provides a tandem cockpit and a wider wing. They share the Extra 300/330 design lineage and similar high-power aerobatic character, but they do not have identical mass distribution, sight picture or control response. The pilots compensate for those differences continuously inside formation.
Designation discipline
Online image databases sometimes mislabel SP-TLA as an SC and occasionally describe all three aircraft as LCs. This profile follows the Polish ULC for SP-TLA and SP-TLB, and the clearly documented single-seat SC identity of SP-TLC. Manufacturer figures remain type references, not team-specific display limits.
SP-TLA
Extra 330LC, serial 1310, tandem-seat formation aircraft.
SP-TLB
Extra 330LC, serial 1309, tandem-seat formation aircraft.
SP-TLC
Extra 330SC, serial SC035, single-seat unlimited aerobatic aircraft.
Three smoke systems
Smoke fit and use remain subject to the aircraft and approved event programme.
The story so far
From a mixed Zlín and Extra beginning to the present red-and-white Extra trio.
2014
The team is created
Adam Labus, Łukasz Świderski and Sebastian Nowicki establish Firebirds as a new Polish civilian formation aerobatic team.
2014
Public debut at Rybnik
The team flies its first official public display during the Aeroclub Days at Rybnik.
2015
A mixed early fleet
Contemporary organiser material identifies Zlín Z-50 and Extra 330 aircraft within the developing formation, reflecting the types already flown by the three pilots.
2018
The all-Extra transition
Nowy Targ organisers report that the team has moved from earlier Zlín combinations to three Extra 330s, increasing performance commonality across the display.
2019
First Świdnik appearance
Firebirds makes the first of what becomes a recurring series of appearances at Świdnik Air Festival.
2021
The present registrations are established
SP-TLA and SP-TLB are documented at Katowice-Muchowiec alongside the Firebirds academy operation, with SP-TLC completing the familiar trio.
2025
The same three pilots and aircraft remain visible
Polish event programmes and photographic records continue to identify Labus, Świderski and Nowicki with SP-TLA, SP-TLB and SP-TLC.
June 2026
Firebirds returns to Świdnik
The festival publishes the founding trio and a three-aircraft Extra 330 programme, providing direct current confirmation of team activity.
July-August 2026
Nowy Targ and Rudniki
All three red-and-white Extras appear again on the Polish circuit, extending the team's twelfth public season.
Identity & context
Four distinctions prevent the Polish Firebirds from being confused with entirely different teams.
Polish, civilian and three-aircraft
This team was founded in Poland in 2014 and flies three Extra 330s. It is not a military formation.
Not the British Firebirds
The British Firebirds Display Team flies two Van's RV-4s with optional lights and pyrotechnics. It is a separate organisation.
Not No. 56 Squadron
The RAF used the Firebirds name for a nine-Lightning formation in 1963. That historical military team has no connection to this group.
Academy and display team overlap
Firebirds Flight Academy provides the current EPKM operating framework, but the display team's identity remains the three named pilots and aircraft.
