250 Mph 50 Ft Above Deck, Iconic Scenery, Navajo Culture, Near Scalping

I have always loved the romance of Utah’s red rock country, and the Red Bull Air Race in Monument Valley was a chance to drive right down the throat of it. The trip to Monument Valley would be an escape from the daily grind. Not that I dislike my job or the people I work with, but sometimes I just get that nomadic itch.

I left with 3 of my 4 brothers. The excitement was high as we headed toward Moab where we would stay at the Red Rock Inn, then drive the rest of the leg to Monument Valley the next day. It was somewhat hard the next morning to see the red rock of Moab and know that perfect slick rock was right there and I would not be enjoying it’s playground like sandstone on my Mt. Bike. I took solace knowing that a high speed air race including the world’s best pilots in Monument Valley would not likely disappoint. And sometimes I am just plain right.

We drove past Mexican Hat which is by Blanding, Utah, and if you ask me it looks like a petrified UFO that was trying to escape area 51. The passing red rock formations reminded me that I had a whole lot of “Old Cowboy” music on my Zune and then began to listen to theme songs from western shows. It was not hard to imagine myself out there upon my horse riding the range but the purr of the AC in the 90 degree weather made me glad that I was in a hydrocarbon powered horse instead.

Soon we were loading onto the Buses that would transport us from Goulding Utah to the anticipated site of the Red Bull Air Race. Everyone was jostling with excitement as we all seemed to sense that we were about to witness something epic. As we got off the bus the desert heat beat down on us but as soon as the makeshift air tower and the natural towers of scenic Monument Valley came into view any discomforts were forgotten.

The soothing sound of an Indian flute played by a local tribe member echoed softly off of the surreal iconic monuments. He was dressed in full Indian costume. It was a time to think about the Navajo’s rich and storied history. Three young Navajo girls sang the National Anthem in native tongue and dress. The Navajo culture had been shared and the opening ceremonies soon ended.

It wasn’t long until the red bull helicopter was hovering over the crowd which was intermittently spread out atop a cliff on a sandy hill side. A plane came into view which held the Red Bull Arial stunt team. They parachuted out of the plane-one was in a wing suite that made it so he could fly. The team pulled myriads of different stunts that only someone truly crazy would attempt. What really got my heart pounding was their landing technique. They came in body and chute parallel with the ground. When they got to within 50 feet of the ground they pulled up their chute to where they were perpendicular to the ground with about 25 feet of cushion. Then proceeded parallel with the ground at high speed until executing a smooth landing.

Huge TV’s were showing film of the Red Bull Base Jumper team. The helicopter ferried them to the top of huge sand stone pillars that had maybe a 6 ft circumference and then they hurled themselves off of the spire falling hundreds of feet before pulling their chute.

It was finally time for the big race. The race featured the best pilots in the world. Peter Besenyei the granddaddy and founder of the race, Mike Mangold who is a former TOP GUN instructor, 2005 Air Race champion, and is part Native American, Kirby Chambliss, 2006 Air Race champion.

The Red Bull Air Race helicopter was first to demonstrate the course. The helicopter navigated the course with great speed and breath-taking precision.

Now it was finally time for the planes. In a typical Air Race the planes go about 250 mph and pull 9.8 g’s. It is against the rules to pull more than 10 g’s. However, this race was at a much higher altitude than any other Red Bull Race. Most other races had been done at sea level and Monument Valley is at 5,200 FT. Since the air is less dense at higher altitudes pilots were forced to be more cautious. This also was the first Race where the deck was not flat, there were varying deck elevations through the course. This was the most challenging Air Race to date.

The Course was amazing. First, the planes would gain altitude till the announcer would say “Smoke on,” then they would dive into the course going dangerously fast through the starting gate but not so fast that they could not make the first turn in under 10 g’s. Most planes seemed to be in the 9.5g -9.8g category. The whole time in the course they had a smoke trail which made it easier to understand the torturous path through which they navigated. After the first turn they were required to turn another 90 degrees while dropping violently into the “chicane” which is a slalom course of 65-1/2 ft tall conical inflatable pylons. Coming out of the chicane the planes were required to go knife-edge through the quad gate (if the wings were not knife-edge, the pilot was subtracted 5 seconds), then perform a 1/2 Cuban 8. A ½ Cuban 8 is where a pilot performs a pull-up and 5/8 inside loop to 45 degrees followed by a ½ roll and a 1/8 inside loop to level flight. Ok are you still with me? Keep in mind these guys are doing this at 250 mph and 9.8 g’s, and if they screw up they are dead no questions asked, as they are usually only 50 feet above the deck. The pilot comes out of the dive blazing into the finish line usually doing a crowd-pleasing stunt.

I was just settling in and getting past the worry of thinking that every pilot was going to grease himself on the desert sand. Then just as Steve Jones was finishing his first 9 g turn, he noticed his prop surge so he looked down for a second at his manifold pressure. In doing so he came so low to the ground that he lost his left wheel pant. He hit the 65 foot Pylon dead center, causing it to quickly deflate after being violently torn apart by the prop. He corrected instantly, missing death by micro seconds by leveling his wings and pulling out of the course. As he winged out of the course, he came dead strait for the cliff my brother and I were standing on top of. I remember thinking, “He is going to crash into this cliff and we will be sprayed by airplane parts and rocks.” His plane cleared the cliff coming straight at us. It felt so close that I ducked left and my brother, Pete, ducked to the right. It was that close. Well, since I am still alive, he did not hit us but I was nealry scalped. My new worry was that he may hit the on-lookers behind us higher up on the hill. He did a great job of missing the crowd. The tower radioed him and asked if he needed Kirby Chambliss to fly up beside him to check the plane. The worry being that his landing gear was damaged. He later landed successfully, but his plane caught on fire. In the interview after he was visibly shaken.

After a long day of racing Hungary’s legend, Peter Besenyei came out on top. The race was over, but the memories will forever stay with me. When I think back to that day it seems like it must have been one of my crazy action-packed thriller dreams, but it was not. It was the RED BULL AIR RACE!