Abu Dhabi Air Race

So we went down to Abu Dhabi for a bit of a break from the desert. One nice little perk is that the company I (Ron) work for currently has a vacant apartment in Abu Dhabi – so no accommodation costs when we go to town for the weekend.

The Air Race is sponsored by Red Bull and features aerobatic planes and pilots racing the clock through a series of “gates”. The gates are blow-up vinyl/plastic and, in Abu Dhabi at least, float on the harbour. They are about 12-15m high. - - - - - Yes - this means the pilots must fly their little craft at speeds of over 200kph at a height of 15m. - - - - And THEN, also do amazing flips and spins in-between gates.

Amongst all the gates and parts they have to fly through, there are 2 sets of 3 slalom gates. To get through these the pilot has to fly the plane on its side through one gate, and then switch onto the other side before going through the next gate. And this at a height of 15 m and at 150kph or so. Hairy stuff.

There are some news photos here: http://www.redbullairrace.com/ . FInd the photo with the scripted Abu Dhabi sign on the beach and we were about 100m to the left. And there’s a Cool You Tube video of last year's race at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4aVggpwrbc to give you a bit of an idea.

It was great fun to watch - but B--- hot on the beach. And so we retired to the Hilton Bar after a couple of hours!! - - to rest up before our evening dhow cruise of course.