UARC's First US Event Announced For August 20-21st In Camarillo, CA

A press call and subsequent info released to ANN, Wednesday, about a new air racing event is already raising eyebrows throughout much of the airshow, aero-association and warbird community -- especially as some of the major players in the event have recently been named. Called the Ultimate Air Race Challenge (UARC), a spokesman tried to describe the new event as "Mixed Martial Arts with Airplanes" -- which did not inspire a very positive picture at first hearing...

Heavily hyped via a web site and some initial marketing materials, the folks at UARC claim that the FAA has given the go ahead for first US Ultimate Air Race Challenge which will pit 'the world's greatest pilots at the controls of space age technology aircraft head-to-head in what has been called (without naming who has done so) the Superbowl of Aviation.'  

In the last few days, UARC says that pilots from around the country were 'put thru their paces in a grueling series of qualifying trials in the high desert of Southern California.' Seven pilots 'met the qualifications to be issued the highly specialized UARC Racing Qualification License' which will allow them to participate in the UARC Races. UARC notes that to be considered for the racing slots, that pilots are required to have 2000 hours of experience plus formation cards and aerobatic waivers. At least one practice "Race" was produced in China last year as a demonstration program, though participants and staff admit that it was more a demo than an actual competition. The UARC plans their first American event in Camarillo, California, this August 20-21st. 

UARC staffers admit that the first seven pilots have little real-world air racing experience but claim that they have been training for these races, 'aggressively' and that the FAA has signed off on their plans.

While a new aviation event would normally be solid reason for excitement and great anticipation, some of the names associated with the event have raised serious questions among the aviation community. Famed aerobatic pilot and industry legend, Corkey Fornof, has been named as a member of the Board of Advisors (and is still posted as such on the web site as of late Wednesday night) but in a conversation with ANN this afternoon, Fornof indicated that he has refused involvement, not once, but twice, due to heavy schedule commitments and his own concerns about the fledgling program.

Potentially more worrisome, two of the few recognizable names on the pilots list have some pretty negative baggage following them. The most notable is David Riggs... who made news (again) last year during sentencing for a well-known buzzing incident in which he was implicated as the L-39 pilot who flew a very low pass over the Santa Monica pier... and created some fairly anti-aviation press reaction. The stunt, which occurred in November 2008, was allegedly an effort to generate "buzz" for a movie. The FAA almost immediately revoked Riggs' pilot certificate, but on March 17th of 2009, an administrative law judge modified that revocation order to a 210 day suspension, and it was eventually reinstated.

Riggs was criminally charged and eventually sentenced by a California Superior Court to 60 days in jail, 36 months probation, and a $900 fine in connection with the incident. He was also ordered to perform 60 days community service cleaning up Santa Monica Beach. It was not the only legal/criminal altercation for Riggs  -- who has a long history, documented in a number of press reports, of his legal altercations... one of which got him incarcerated in a foreign prison for a year. He has created great enmity among a significant portion of the aviation community... at least one of whom has gone so far as to dedicate a web site to his alleged transgressions (www.aviationcriminal.com).

Riggs cautiously admits to some problems in his past but insists that he has become the "FAA's Poster Child for Compliance" since then and that he now enjoys an excellent relationship with the FAA and promises to behave in a manner that promotes aviation in a positive way.

Chris Rounds was also named as a pilot for UARC and carries some negative baggage in the airshow and the Oshkosh community for his FAA suspension following a 2005 close intercept (while flying the 'Red Knight' T-33) of a Mitsubishi MU-2 turboprop near Wittman field as well as a subsequent bust by the FAA for being aboard an aircraft performing shortly thereafter (while his ticket was still in suspension). The Tullahoma bust was dropped and the FAA eventually declined to prosecute that incident (though the Oshkosh suspension stood until the allotted time expired) but his $2 million dollar suit against Airshow Performer Julie Clark (for the letter she wrote, reportedly at the request of the authorities to describe what she saw in Tullahoma), has rubbed many in the airshow community the wrong way and created a significant negative backlash where Rounds is concerned. Rounds claims that the negativity is unjust, in that the Oshkosh incident was improperly adjudicated and that the report of his intercept of the MU-2 is "a lie." Rounds is wary of the attention created by these circumstances and vehemently claims that he is the victim of misrepresentations -- and that he was wronged by the MU-2 pilot, the FAA, the NTSB Law Judge, many others in the airshow biz and Performer Julie Clark.

"I've done and am doing a lot of good things in my life and nobody wants to remember those..." says Rounds.   

In the meantime, the spotlight is being directed toward the efforts of UARC... with those concerned that the event may be heading for trouble at the direction of persons who may not have aviation's best interests at heart... and no matter what, any new event with the extreme potential for attention and hazard as does a close-quarters formation air race event could do great harm to the cause of aviation if the event fails -- or worse, has an accident that injures a pilot or (even worse) a spectator. ICAS is watching the matter closely and has yet to issue a verdict on the matter, though industry buzz is certainly creating some tension for those who seek to make the industry as safe as possible. ICAS simply notes, for the moment, that the UARC event and Air Racing... "in any form can be very dangerous, so we hope and expect that the organizers of this event will do everything possible to develop rules and insist on the highest level of training to insure that both that the audience and the participating pilots are completely safe."

ANN will continue to look into this matter as the program develops -- and because of the potentially significant repercussions should this event go bad, will do so aggressively. We will report on what we find as the first US event approaches this summer... stay tuned.

FMI: www.uarc.tv, www.airshows.aero