ANN's good friend, Sean Tucker, is getting ready to strap on a biplane and commit serious aerobatics again this weekend... just weeks after losing his beloved Oracle Challenger II to a control malfunction... and his having to depart the aircraft in mid-flight.

On Wednesday, Sean was practicing over over Ogden/Hill AFB whilst enjoying a photo shoot in advance of the Hill AFB Airshow this weekend. This will be the first show Sean will fly in the "new" backup Oracle Challenger - which Sean's folks are naming the "Oracle Challenger III."

Sean's right hand, Karl Koeppen, tells ANN that, "This is actually a Pitts S-2 which has been highly modified. After the crash of II, the crew went in and built in some additional redundancy on some of the critical flight control areas. Sean is planning to build an entirely new aircraft for the 2007 season - but this will carry us through the remainder of this season."

Karl was kind enough to send us a new photo he shot while Brian Norris flew chase (in a Piper Seneca III) on the four birds pictured above. Of course; that's Sean D. Tucker in the Oracle Challenger III, John Klatt in the Air National Guard Staudacher S-300D, Ed Hamill in the Air Force Reserve Dream Machine, and Capt. Tad Clark in Thunderbird #8, an F-16D.

This beautiful four-ship formation is pictured over Ogden, Utah at Hill AFB for a photo op prior to the weekend airshow which will be headlined by the US Air Force Thunderbirds.

FMI: www.poweraerobatics.com, www.teamoracle.com