After the official announcement of the event seven months ago, the Red Bull Air Race World Championship is now on its way to rock Putrajaya. Set to happen in around one week time on 17 and 18 May, the race in Malaysia is the third in the series.
Among the pilots that will be strutting their air supremacy over Putrajaya Lake is one of our own, the 48-years old Major (Ret.) Datuk Halim Othman who will be competing in the Challenger Cup category of the championship. Apart from Putrajaya, he will also be flying in two more rounds; namely Ascot, England and Dallas, USA.
A former fighter jet pilot and instructor at Royal Malaysian Air Force, Halim joined RMAF at a tender age of 19 and has received the honor to fly plenty of renowned aircrafts including the MiG 29N Fulcrum, F18/D Hornet, A4 Skyhawk and the F-5E Tiger during his service. He retired from military service with more than 4000 flying hours under his name and a RMAF Top Gun Pilot award.
These days, Halim is in charge of the country’s first full-time national air display team, the KRISAKTI. Meanwhile, the Red Bull Air Race Challenger Cup that Halim will be competing in is essentially a feeder category to the main category in the competition which is called the Master Class. Newly added to the 2014 season, the Challenger Cup is aimed to provide experience to new competitors which is why the flying route for this category will be slightly less demanding.
Then again, nothing is easy when you need to fly as fast as possible at low-altitude while navigating through several air pylons. If you want to check out and support the debut of the sole Malaysian pilot in the Red Bull Air Race for this season, the Challenger Cup portion of the event in Putrajaya will be held on 17 May. For further information, head on to www.redbullairrace.com.
[Image 2: Geh Chee Minh / Red Bull Content Pool]
