Red Bull Air Race

Hannes Arch, the 2008 Red Bull Air Race world champion and last year’s runner-up, has been the most dynamic pilot in the championship. The hard-charging Austrian pulls out all the stops to win and the adventurer has treated crowds around the world to spectacular aerial battles against his main rival, Paul Bonhomme. Arch will undoubtedly go all out in 2010 to win the title back.

Highly intense and focused, Arch is always looking for ways to improve his plane and his performance. He has an aggressive style of flying that has put him on the podium 10 times, once even after a bird strike damaged his plane. Several controversial penalty calls cost him dearly in 2009. The title race still went down to the wire – decided only in the final run of the final race.

Arch has been a catalyst for change since he joined the Red Bull Air Race World Championship in 2007. He jumped from 10th in his rookie season to first in 2008 with bold flying and the help of innovative techniques as well as technology advances. The man with a rich background in adventure sports proved that decades of aviation experience was not required for success.

A competitive skier in Austria in his youth, Arch began hang-gliding at 16. He advanced to paragliding, working as a test pilot and making thousands of paragliding flights around the world. The next step was B.A.S.E. jumping; he made hundreds of leaps. He climbed the west ridge of the Eiger mountain and jumped off its north face. He flew his Edge 540 underneath the Mozart bridge in Salzburg in front of 10,000 spectators, just a few metres above the Salzach River. A professional helicopter pilot, Arch was the Red Bull Air Race’s Aviation Manager and Race Director before joining the competition. Salzburg is home but the Austrian adventurer has lived in various countries around the world including Switzerland and the USA where he still spends a lot of time.

THE TEAM

Arch is supported by team coordinator Claudia Maur. Vito Wyprächtiger is the man in the hangar responsible for keeping Arch’s Edge 540 in top mechanical condition. A champion aerobatic and display pilot in his own right, Wyprächtiger is one of the younger techs on the race circuit but his in depth knowledge of aviation and vast technical ability has earned him the respect of his elders. Part of Team Abu Dhabi since 2008, he prefers to keep a low profile but is definitely a key player in the modification arena.