Updated: 10/19/06; 8:06:36 PM

 Wednesday, October 5, 2005

Air Racing

Its a little known fact that air shows are incredibly popular and annually attract more visitors then any professional sport. Somebody out there appears to have figured this out and we are starting to see some very interesting airplane racing competitions around airshows.

If you have been to the Reno Air Races in the past few years, you have seen the L-39 Albatros jets race (400mph+). The tricky part is keeping them in view while they are blasting around a course that is miles and miles long. The unlimited class is still the most fun - watching the highly modified WWII fighter planes roar around the pylons.

Then there are the Red Bull Air Races - the final race of the season is taking place during Fleet Week in San Francisco this weekend where the contestants perform aerobatic maneuvers (knife edge through pylons, under bridges etc) while racing around a course near the city marked with 40ft tall inflated cloth pylons.

Now rocket planes. If you like things that fly, it doesn't get much better than this.