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| Home / News / The world’s only formation wingwalking team lace up for Al Ain Int’l Aerobatics Championships |
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January 05, 2008
The world’s only formation wingwalking team lace up for Al Ain Int’l Aerobatics Championships |
TEAM GUINOT’S WALK IN THE AL AIN SKIES
 Al Ain, UAE. 5th January, 2008: The Al Ain International Aerobatics Championships – the ‘Garden City’s’ annual aerobatics display which is held under the patronage of HH General heikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces – will this year host the world’s only formation wing-walking team, British outfit, Team Guinot.
Based in Gloucestershire, England, Team Guinot spends the summer months travelling across Europe and the world, performing in excess of 80 seasonal wing-walking displays at airshows, concerts and carnivals.
However, instead of heading for the winter hangar this January, the team will head to Al Ain to perform its brand-new formation display - which includes loops, rolls and low-level flypasts - in their 1940s Boeing Stearman biplanes.
“The international appeal of Team Guinot is down to the amazing formation aerobatics and the fact these daring wind-walkers wave and perform from the top wing at incredible speeds,” said Mohammed Abdullah Bin Barrak Al Dhaheri, General Coordinator, Al Ain International Aerobatics Championships 2008.
“Wing-walking creates excitement everywhere the team performs and I’m thrilled to welcome Team Guinot back for a second year.”The all-female Team Guinot wind-walkers will experience a pull of more than four times their own bodyweights during the routine, as they hover 1,000ft above the ground at speeds of more than 150mph.
During the final flypast - in what is a truly death-defying manoeuvre - the brave women wing-walkers will unstrap themselves from their wing-riding rigs and wave at the crowd from a position between the cockpit and the wing.
Jointly organised by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) and the UAE Air Force and Air Defence, and in conjunction with the World Air Sports Federation, the 2008 Al Ain spectacular – which runs from January 24-27 – will see over 110 aircraft compete in the four-day, family extravaganza.
The Al Ain International Aerobatics Championship 2008 has attracted a high-profile sponsorship line-up including Etihad Airways and ADNOC Distribution as Platinum sponsors; Pilatus, Etisalat, Al Ain Mineral Water and Abu Dhabi National Hotels as Gold sponsors, and Al Ain Mall as Silver sponsor.
In addition to the ADTA and UAE Air Force and Air Defence, the Championship will also be organised in co-operation with the Department of Municipalities and Agriculture – Al Ain Municipality, Al Ain Police Directorate, Al Ain International Airport, and Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company.
Last year’s event attracted over a 100,000 spectators, including visitors from the GCC countries, the wider Middle East, and as far afield as Europe and the USA, and organisers are promising an even bigger turn-out when the event takes off in under three weeks time.
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