Feb 1, 2009
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Al Ain , the garden city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi was full of color during the weekend. It was literally flying high , as the city played host to the Aerobatic air show 2009. The cool weather, and a magnificent backdrop of a dark blue sky touching the golden desert dunes made a perfect spot for the aerobatic displays.
Competitors from all over Europe and the USA came down for this superb air show. From radio controlled model aircrafts to state of the art jets – it was a show that every spectator will remember for long.
The Sukhoi Su-26 , a single-seater aerobatics plane from the former Soviet Union performed some thrilling aerobatic moves that needed nerve and skill.
The vintage aircrafts flew by displaying their ancient majestic look. Some of these planes were used in the Spanish and the Russian wars.
The Saudi Hawks ( Saudi Royal Airforce) , however, stole the limelight. A contingent of six modern jet fighters performed a breath taking aerial display with rank formations, mirror formations, cross paths. The best however, was a smoke formation of a cupid heart pierced with an arrow.
The UAE team performed a scintillating Para drop display, seven dare devils free falling from the sky and safely parachuting down to mother earth.
A Guinness world record was also broken on the final day of the event. Swift Glider Aerobatic Team pilot, Guy Westgate, smashed his own record for nonstop turns on a tow, turning his towed glider 13 times, breaking his earlier record of 12 spins.
The spine chilling Aero Combat maneuvering (ACM) was another added feature of the show. Skilled and experienced pilots performed dangerous movements with their aircrafts coming close to within meters of each other, with perfect precision.
The competitions included, Radio controlled model aircraft flying, precision bombing either by using vertical dive technique or a parallel flyover maneuver. The dog fight was another interesting competition where 2 aircrafts fly over until one of them gets a vantage point to shoot down the other. The winner is judged by the adjudicators watching from the ground.
The finals of the Formula 1 Aero Grand Prix took to the skies with four finalists battling it out for first position. It was a remarkable display of sheer courage and skill, coming dangerously close to each other in an attempt to overtake. The winner however was the famous Hungarian born Aviator Zoltan Veres.
Women from Sweden performed the bravest of the stunts of the entire show, the sky catwalk. Three women performed breath taking moves positioned on the wings of a flying aircraft. Any miscalculation of the pilot would mean a seer death drop for these ladies.
Down on the ground, an USA stunt team performed a police chase, pursuing a motorcycle ridden fugitive on the run. One of the stunt men tilted his SUV and drew past the crowd with just 2 wheels of one side of the vehicle on the ground.
The Al Ain air show was organized by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), in conjunction with the UAE Air Force.
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