Guy Westgate threw his body weight to one side, launching his glider into a sequence of 12 rotations while suspended dozens of metres above the ground. Just as he had promised he would, the pilot broke the record of 11 consecutive horizontal spirals while attached by wire to a tow plane yesterday at the Al Ain Aerobatic Show. "When I'm in the plane, all of my focus is on the tow plane. It is the centre of my world," Westgate said.
A glider has no engine, and is usually pulled into the air by another aeroplane. There, it is released and allowed to glide back down to the ground. The trick in doing spirals while still attached to the other plane is to keep the wire taut enough to manoeuvre, but not so tight that it breaks. "Because you can't have a break in the middle of a show," he said. The attempt was announced as a world record during the show at the city's international airport.
About one-third of the stands were filled during the second day of the event. Although the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority had expected to draw 130,000 spectators, attendance has so far been sparse. The authority said it hoped it would improve over the weekend. Westgate said he was not aware of any other glider pilots who have attempted to make a dozen such spirals. He attempted the record on Wednesday, the first day of the show, but only managed to complete 10 rotations before the glider began to wobble.
"The conditions today were perfect," he said. "There was no wind and no turbulence. Yesterday, it just was not on." Meanwhile, qualifying flights and dogfights continued for the Aero GP. Jeff Zaltman, the team's manager, said the races and trial runs were building up to the last day of the show. That is when points, times and wins will be counted toward the season. In Aero GP a team of pilots perform a series of competitive aerobatic stunts including barnstorming, dogfighting and pylon racing, in which six planes race simultaneously at speeds of up to 500kph.
Gerald Cooper, an Aero GP pilot, had to sit out yesterday's show because his plane's chassis was broken. "Luckily it was just a practice run today," he said. "I'll be back up there tomorrow." Cooper learned how to fly from his father, who was a crop duster in Egypt. The scariest stunts performed by the squad included large formations, when several planes must keep as close together as possible in a tight and precise shape, and the races.
"Being low to the ground in a turn and catching someone's turbulence can get pretty scary," he said. "But it's about the challenge, not about the adrenalin. It's about finding the sport, finding the time to practise and to keep the aeroplane serviceable." Cooper is a full-time commercial airline pilot. The show was rounded off by a display of Russian warbirds and red Sukhoi jets, skydivers, wing-walkers, radio-controlled mini jets and a firework display from the back of planes flying in formation.
Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, the chairman of the ADTA, attended the air show. He walked around the stands and watched the stunts. The show ends tomorrow. jgerson@thenational.ae
