Abu Dhabi // Matt Hall admits that his path to becoming a Red Bull Air Race pilot was "a little bit different" than most.
Up until last year he was flying F-18s and F-15s and was a "Top Gun" instructor for the Royal Australian Air Force.
Today, he will wow crowds on the Corniche as his MXS-R carbon fibre plane twists and turns through pylons just nine metres above the water, at speeds up to 370kph.
"The difference is significant," said Hall, 38. "These planes are more manoeuvrable than a jet fighter. It is all seat-of-your-pants flying."
Hall and 14 other pilots will be taking to the air this weekend with one goal in mind - a victory to kick off the 2010 season.
To get into the competition, referred to as the "Formula One of the skies", they have each come by a different path.
Kirby Chambliss was flying Boeing 737s for Southwest Airlines in the US at 24, while Pete McLeod started off flying float planes in rural Ontario, Canada, in his teens. They have all logged thousands of hours in the sky.
Even after proving his skill at major aerobatic events, a pilot must be invited to qualify for the race.
"It takes a huge amount of passion, a huge amount of work," said Alejandro Maclean, 30, from Spain, who is sponsored by The National.
Before he started competing in the race in 2003, he captained the Spanish aerobatics team. "Once you are selected as an air race pilot you have to prove that you can be safe and the right type of person to manage the stress," he said.
"There is no feeder series to this," added McLeod, who at 26 is the youngest in the competition. "I had to go out and basically get backing from people to get into this."
McLeod represents the changing nature of the race, now in its seventh season. For many of the pilots, aerobatics may have been a hobby while they worked their full-time jobs. But McLeod expects that the competitors in coming years will start younger and devote all their time to the race series.
"The difference now is kids can say, 'There is this thing where guys do it full-time and make a good living, and it's a professional sport'," he said.
The pilots are essentially team owners, who, in addition to training, must work with sponsors and make decisions such as whether to invest in a new propeller.
"I would love to say all I have to do is just jump in the airplane and fly but that's not the case," said Chambliss, 50. Pilots also spend significant hours in the gym, a necessity to handle the strain of racing.
All the pilots have had scary moments. There have been engine failures and near misses. A system failure at an air show in China had Chambliss hitting the water at 290kph. He suffered fractured ribs and now has a scar across his forehead.
"Like anything, there is a level of risk," he said. "Every morning I wake up and ask myself, 'Well is it worth it for me today?' I've always been able to say yes."
@Email:mchung@thenational.ae
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
The biog
Name: James Mullan
Nationality: Irish
Family: Wife, Pom; and daughters Kate, 18, and Ciara, 13, who attend Jumeirah English Speaking School (JESS)
Favourite book or author: “That’s a really difficult question. I’m a big fan of Donna Tartt, The Secret History. I’d recommend that, go and have a read of that.”
Dream: “It would be to continue to have fun and to work with really interesting people, which I have been very fortunate to do for a lot of my life. I just enjoy working with very smart, fun people.”
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Review: Tomb Raider
Dir: Roar Uthaug
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Daniel Wu, Walter Goggins
two stars
FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan
The top two teams qualify for the World Cup
Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.
Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place play-off
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Muguruza's singles career in stats
WTA titles 3
Prize money US$11,128,219 (Dh40,873,133.82)
Wins / losses 293 / 149
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
