Al-Ain Airshow 2010 Dazzles Spectators

The 56-year-old Jacquie Warda from San Francisco has been one of the star performers in this week’s Al Ain Aerobatic Show which began on Wednesday at Al Ain International Airport.

This is Jacquie’s first visit to the Middle East - an experience she describes as ?awesome’. "Everyone has been so very friendly throughout my few days in the UAE, from the moment I stepped off the plane. At Al Ain Airport, the military personnel couldn’t have been nicer and more helpful," she continued. "I think it phased some of them at first to see a woman flying, but once I had returned from my first test flight, they welcomed me as one of them.

"Seeing a woman fly as well as the men, well that is worth seeing alone," she enthuses. "I have never been in such great physical shape as I am now. When passion drives the performance - not even the sky is the limit! "I am probably the only woman in the world who started flying air shows at 50 years old," she said, adding that she has had a pilot’s licence for 24 years and has been flying aerobatics for 12 years. She comes from a flying family - her father, brother and two uncles are pilots, but none of them fly aerobatics. "I am an aggressive pilot who loves every moment of flying aerobatics and it will be obvious in my flying and in my conversation that I am passionate about what I do!" Jacquie describes herself as very much a ’biplane girl’ and would like to continue flying biplanes for a while. If money were no object, she concedes, she would have a biplane built that would withstand up to 10 +/- Gs and have about 375 hp. "The biggest difference would be the amount of vertical penetration I would have and the amount of energy to do tumbles that would be twice as spectacular as they are now, since I only have 250 hp right now," she explains.

Jacquie flies her own 1986 Pitts Special, named The Red Eagle. The factory built plane is acknowledged as the world’s leading competition aerobatic display biplane. Its 3-blade MT propeller is powered by a Lycoming AE10 360 engine and the plane is structurally capable of +6/-3 G. It was one of three built by Curtis Pitts to fly around the Statue of Liberty in 1986 upon the completion of the refurbishing of Ms Liberty. It has a wingspan of 17’4", a length of 15’ 6" and a climb rate of 3,500 ft/min.

In the past six years Jacquie has flown more than 100 air shows entertaining over two million fans. Apart from the Al Ain Aerobatic Show, which started the 2010 season, she already has about 10 displays lined up for the rest of the year so far. "I will fly all over the United States to shows in places like Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Washington State, Ontario, Canada, Missouri and Kansas so far, although I am sure more will come later. I live in San Francisco so that is a whole lot of flying in a small biplane!" Held under the patronage of HH General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, the Al Ain Aerobatic Show is organised by ADTA and the UAE Air Force and is supported by an extensive list of sponsors. These include gold sponsors Etihad, Pilatus, Al Ain Water and Abu Dhabi National Hotels, along with silver sponsors Mubadala Aerospace, ADAT, Al Ain Municipality and Panasonic. Costa is the official retailer and is partnering with The National, a leading UAE English language daily newspaper, to create ’The National Costa Coffee Lounge’ - a relaxed venue to grab a coffee and paper. Emirates Motor Company - the authorised general distributor for Mercedes-Benz in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain and flagship company for Al Fahim Group - is providing the official vehicles.

The four-day show, which is being held at Al Ain International Airport every afternoon until Saturday January 30th, is the world’s only aerobatic spectacle that combines military and civil aircraft, stunt displays and competitions.

Al Sheikh, Manager of the Major Event’s Division of Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA), which organises the show in conjunction with the UAE Armed Forces, explained that a record 23 international teams from 15 countries are taking part in the Show this year. "Since its inception eight years ago, the Show has gone from strength to strength. Not only are more teams from more countries competing; but in addition there is ever-growing interest from around the world, with visitors coming from as far away as Canada, the USA, Australia and Chile.

"Among the many highlights are a number of other firsts," he continued. "For instance, the South African Goodyear Eagles Aerobatic Team are attempting a never-before-seen triple synchronised inverted parachute drop, whilst three aircraft perform a formation loop.

"For the first time, too we have on display an AH-64D Apache, four-blade, twin-engined attack helicopter belonging to the UAE’s Air Force and Air Defence, whilst the Royal Bahraini Air Force (RBAF) is making its international debut, with two RBAF F16s demonstrating daily. Crowd favourites the Saudi Hawks - the Royal Saudi Air Force Aerobatics Team - are also performing a new, tight-formation flying routine."

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