Searching

Get behind. Stay there.

Entry 08 in the Jet World Championship. Two A-4 Skyhawks, two pilots, two gamers, fourteen rounds from February 2029.

Watch an engagement The team

Next round

Doha, Lusail. Opening ceremony Thursday 22 February 2029, Grand Battle Sunday 25 February.

Full calendar

—days

—hours

—minutes

—seconds

Two Competition Units

Every team fields exactly two. Each one is an aircraft, the pilot flying it, and the gamer who runs the electronic combat system from the ground. A hit scores for all three. A hit taken costs all three.

Unit one

A-4 Skyhawk, primary. Lead aircraft in every sortie.

PilotTo be announcedSeat open GamerTo be announcedSeat open

Unit two

A-4 Skyhawk, primary. Wing aircraft, and the one that usually gets the shot.

PilotTo be announcedSeat open GamerTo be announcedSeat open

A third Skyhawk is registered as the replacement aircraft. Under the rules it can only be activated if a primary sustains irreparable damage, confirmed in writing by the inspection team, so it is not a rotation and you will not see it fly unless something has gone badly wrong.

Why the name

Two PURSUIT Skyhawks in formation at dawn, the second aircraft low and behind the leader — Unit two, 80, behind and below Unit one, 08. Render.

In a dogfight there are three ways to chase. Lead pursuit points the nose ahead of the target and closes fast. Pure pursuit points straight at it. Lag pursuit points behind it, gives up range, and keeps the position.

Most of the grid will fly lead, because lead gets the shot quickest and the scoreboard rewards hits. We think the scoreboard also punishes them, one point for every hit taken, and that a team which refuses to overshoot gives up fewer of those than it gains. The brackets in the logo are the lock symbol on a head-up display. They only appear once you are behind.

See it on the HUD

Partners

One title position on the nose and the gamer's chest, three primary positions, five associates, six digital and regional slots. Pricing on request.

The inventory

Fly for us

Pilot seats need a Commercial Pilot Certificate, a jet type rating, an ICAS ACE card at Level 4 with the dogfight endorsement, and a Class I or II medical. Gamer seats are decided at the open trials.

Seats and requirements

Season 2029 tickets

Tickets are sold by the championship, round by round. The team paddock pass is ours, and goes on sale with the Doha allocation.

The paddock

Team

Seventeen people. Four of them compete, one of them decides, and the rest make sure two Skyhawks are on the ramp by Wednesday 16:00 at every round.

PURSUIT Skyhawk 08 on a wet ramp at night under floodlights with four crew at work — Thursday night turnaround. Render.

Athletes

Unit one

PilotTo be announcedSeat open GamerTo be announcedSeat open

Unit two

PilotTo be announcedSeat open GamerTo be announcedSeat open

A pilot in PURSUIT flight suit and helmet on the ramp at dusk, a Skyhawk behind — The pilot seat. Render until the seat is filled.

A gamer at the trackside control station in PURSUIT polo and headset, three screens showing the combat system — The gamer seat, at the AJC-provided station. Render until the seat is filled.

What a pilot seat requires

Licence: Commercial Pilot Certificate with a jet type rating
Display card: ICAS ACE card, Level 4, with the dogfight endorsement
Medical: FAA Class I or II
Rating on type: A-4 Skyhawk, paid for by the team
Agreement: JWC Participant Agreement before any event access

A PURSUIT flight helmet with the green brackets resting on a Skyhawk wing at dawn

What a gamer seat requires

The gamer runs the electronic combat system from the AJC-provided station on the ground and is scored exactly like the pilot. We do not recruit from a league. We select at our own open trials, in JWC Combat, which is free, and nothing you can buy in it changes a result.

Everyone else

Role	People	What they own
Strategist	1	The sortie plan and the calls during it. Decides which unit takes the shot.
Chief inspector and assistant	2	The mandatory Aircraft Compliance Inspection Team. Signs the pre-event inspection at every round.
Pit crew	4	Turnarounds. Fire-retardant kit, closed-toe shoes beyond the No Engine Turn Line, no exceptions.
Operations and logistics	2	Aircraft on site by Wednesday 16:00. Tow crews, pit parking, freight.
Commercial director	1	Partner deals and the sponsor disclosure to AJC. Every sponsor is declared, every category checked against the championship register.
Content and social	2	Everything we publish. Competition footage is licensed through the championship, not by us.

Skyhawk

Declared airframe for Season 2029: the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. Small, light on the controls, and built to turn. The declaration is fixed for the season under rule 11.3 and confirmed at the pre-season compliance inspection.

Unit one, 08. Livery render; the real aircraft are surveyed in 2028.

12.3 mLength

8.4 mWingspan, no folding needed for freight

4.6 mHeight

1Turbojet, no afterburner

~6 gSustained turn, the number that matters

3Airframes: two primaries, one replacement

Figures are type-representative and will be replaced by each airframe's own data sheet once the three aircraft are surveyed.

The replacement Skyhawk under covers in a hangar, empty brackets on its tail where the number would go — The third aircraft. No number until it is activated. Render.

The one you hope never flies

The replacement airframe carries the brackets and nothing inside them. It takes a number only if an inspector signs off irreparable damage to a primary, which under the rules is the sole reason it can be activated. Until then it travels, gets inspected, and waits.

Plan view of both PURSUIT Skyhawks side by side, 08 and 80, numbers on the right upper wing — Both units from above. The number sits on the right upper wing and the left lower wing so it reads the same way from either side of a pass.

Why a Skyhawk

Two other entries run the same type, so this is not a secret. It is a choice. The Skyhawk is the smallest airframe on the grid and the lightest, which means it bleeds less energy in a turn and gets back to the inside of a fight faster than anything bigger. That is the whole lag-pursuit argument in a sentence.

It also means our demilitarised, civil-registered aircraft fit the freight pallet without folding, go through the pre-event inspection in a morning, and can be ferried between the paired rounds, Doha to Abu Dhabi, London to Paris, Mexico City to Monterey, on their own wings.

Pyrotechnic hit indicators are supplied and installed by AJC at each round. The HOTAS VHF radio is ours and is mandatory. Fuel at events is provided by the championship; ferry fuel is on us.