Red Bull Air Race: secrets of pilot training

In the current season of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship, five familiar stops remain on the calendar: Abu Dhabi, Tiba, Budapest, Lausitziering and Indianapolis. In addition, the championship returned to San Diego and Porto. Kazan debuted as one of the new circuits on the Air Race World Championship calendar. It was here, in Kazan, that we managed to meet with the participating pilots to find out what the secret of their excellent physical shape is. After all, no one has any doubts: to be a pilot, you need to be 100% healthy, which means that in the arsenal of each participant of the Red Bull Air Race must have its own little secret, and maybe even a local approach to the training process. Read about this and much more in our material.

The next round of the World Championship Red Bull Air Race in Porto will take place on September 2-3. The race in Porto was held three years in a row – from 2007 to 2009 – and became a real event, attracting fans to the banks of the Douro River.

Christian Bolton

Date of birth: October 10, 1973
Country: Chile
Class: Masters

Prior to the Red Bull Air Race, Bolton served in the Chilean Air Force at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, flying fighter jets in several squadrons. The Chilean flew a total of 4,600 hours in racing, aerobatic and military aircraft.

Instagram: @Christianboltonracing.

5 rules from a Chilean pilot

1- Usually we start preparing for a stage a month in advance, because every track is totally different and every track and every new country is totally different. Together with the team we analyze everything, including temperature, pressure, humidity, because weather conditions and climate are also very important to take into account when preparing.

2. Then we work out all the possibilities on the simulator: what happens if the wind blows from the north or how we should behave if the water is too close. Visualizing the future flight and understanding what the track will be like is very important. This is mostly psychological preparation: the team’s job is to make sure that when you arrive at the track you are no longer surprised by anything. It is difficult, but very interesting.

3. Even for a completely healthy person acclimatization can be a big problem. That’s why we always arrive a few days before the competition. During this period it is very important to sleep, rest, reduce the intensity of training, do not overload your stomach with “heavy” foods and drink enough water. I think that this recipe will work not only for athletes, but for anyone.

4- Getting a good night’s sleep is an important part of the body’s big recovery process. I probably should have talked more about working out and working out at the gym, but healthy sleep is something that a lot of people don’t pay enough attention to, and that’s wrong.

5. To be honest, I don’t have any kind of strict diet. But I stick to certain rules: you should drink a lot of clean non-carbonated water, do not skip meals and include in your diet as much seasonal fruits as possible.

Michael Goulian

Date of birth: September 4, 1968
Country: USA
Class: Masters

Goulian is one of the pilots who have won Red Bull Air Race stages. The most memorable victory was at the Budapest stage in 2009. At this year’s stage in Kazan, Michael Goulian had a great result and climbed to the third step of the podium.

Instagram: @mike_goulian

5 rules from the American pilot

1. All teams, including ours, spend a lot of time practicing all sorts of pilot behaviors on a computer simulator. We have to be ready for everything, to fly at any time and in any weather conditions. This stage is more related to psychological preparation.

2. Before coming here, to the stage in Kazan, I went through this track on my computer and in my head more than 200 times. Thanks to that my first training day didn’t bring me any unpleasant surprises.

3. It may seem too simple, but the more you put into your preparatory phase and your preparation – psychological, physical and technical – the better result you can show on the track.

4. My training at the gym consists of two parts – strength training and cardio training on the bike. Alternating between the two types of training allows me to optimally prepare and stay in shape throughout the year. When I’m home, I work out five days a week.

5. My nutritionist helps me with my nutrition. This is individualized and depends on what type of workout I’m going to do today. On one day you should include protein-rich foods, on the other hand, you should exclude them or have a “off-load” day. If you are not a professional athlete and just want to watch your diet, I think you can make such a program yourself with the help of the Internet.

Matt Hall

Date of birth: September 16, 1971
Country: Australia
Class: Masters

As Australia’s sole representative at the championships, Hall has a gold medal in the National Hard Piloting Championship and a silver in the aerobatics category.

Instagram: @matthallracing

5 rules from an Australian pilot

1. The most important thing is the path you take when preparing for competition in the so-called off-season or between stages. It’s important to get strong before you get in the cockpit. You need to always be ready to do something meaningful, so you need to always be in good shape.

2. I try to make my workouts as varied as possible: strength training in the gym, running, biking, any other type of cardio workout, stretching.

3. In the gym, I often emphasize different muscle groups. Sometimes I spend more time on my back and lower back muscles, because my profession as a pilot requires me to spend a lot of time in a sitting position, then, for example, I emphasize my legs or shoulders. I like this approach, it is quite effective.

4. A couple of weeks before the first stage it is very important to give yourself some rest, to reduce the intensity of training. It is very important, because the pilot will have a lot of overloads ahead, a new track, maybe also acclimatization, the body should be ready for everything.

5. My usual morning starts with waking up, riding a few kilometers at a relaxed pace on a bike or exercise bike, drinking a few glasses of water, spending some time stretching – after that I’m ready to get behind the wheel of the plane or turn on the simulator to get acquainted with the new Red Bull Air Race track.

Nicolas Ivanoff

Date of birth: July 4, 1967
Country: France
Class: Masters

The Corsican with Russian and Greek roots is one of the most enigmatic pilots of the championship. Ivanoff became a master of aerobatics back in 1990 while working as a flight instructor.

Instagram: @nicokasivanoff

5 rules from the French pilot

1. For me, the most important thing in life and in preparation for these competitions is to have a team. When you go to some result, it is important to have a strong team around you, which can foresee all the risks and find ways to solve various problems.

2. Like many other athletes, I spend a lot of time on mental preparation. I study the track, visualize it, try to remember everything in detail, work out in my head all possible developments.

3. Regularity in training is an important part of success in preparation. A couple of weeks before the flight on the track we usually give ourselves a rest, at the same time every pilot watches his form during the year, because every training for a month, for half a year and even for a year is the basis of your result.

4. I don’t have any specific diet. My approach to nutrition is not to eat a lot. You can eat absolutely everything, the main thing in everything is to know in moderation.

5. Active amateur sports is what keeps me in shape throughout the year. My main favorites are biking and downhill skiing. This year I was only able to spend one month in the mountains skiing. Although usually during the season I don’t go a day without skiing in the mountains.

Luke Cepela

Date of birth: June 8, 1983
Country: Poland
Class: Challenger

One of the youngest competitors of this year. In his normal life Luke is an Airbus A320 pilot, so if your plane starts doing aerobatics, think about it, it might be the future Red Bull Air Race champion behind the wheel.

Instagram: @LukazCzepiela

5 rules from the Polish pilot

1. Perhaps someone thinks that physical fitness is not so important for a pilot, because when the viewer sees on the screen, we sit in the cockpit and do not move much. But this is not quite true, because in every flight the pilot experiences enormous overloads, which means that in order to endure them, it is necessary to keep yourself in top shape all the time.

2. In my normal life I like to ride my bike cross-country or climb mountains. It’s a great workout for coordination and balance.

3- My ideal type of fitness is crossfit. Why? Because it’s a high intensity workout that can be done even with very little time. I usually work out 3 to 5 days a week depending on what stage of competition preparation I am in.

4. The most difficult stage in terms of acclimatization for me was Japan. In order to get in shape and beat jet-lag on my very first day in Japan, I went out for a run and the whole next day was dedicated to rest and recovery. Cardio and healthy sleep always helps me acclimatize quickly in a new country.

5. In any sport, constant practice is important. If you are preparing for a race and want to show results, then you should run a little bit every day. In my normal life, I am a captain of an Airbus 3220 that flies for Wizzair. I love the fact that my regular job and my participation in the Red Bull Air Race Championship overlap so closely. In this way I can consider every hour of flying during my working hours as a kind of preparation for the World Championships.