DeLand Airport hosting air races March 4-13, 2016

[fantom]

By Bob Koslow
bob.koslow@news-jrnl.com

Published: Sunday, November 8, 2015 at 6:54 p.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, November 8, 2015 at 6:59 p.m.

DELAND — When motorcycle enthusiasts from across the country cruise into the Daytona Beach area for next year's Bike Week, they’ll have a new event to consider attending.

The inaugural Sport Pylon Air Races event is set for DeLand Municipal Airport on March 12, the final Saturday of the 75th annual Bike Week motorcycle rally that runs March 4-13.

“We hope to capitalize on all the people and national media already here,” said Christopher “Doc” Bailey, the air race's organizer.

“Right now we are piggybacking on Bike Week for the first event, but we want to make this a winter series across the country that starts and ends in Volusia County," said Bailey, who also owns a company at the airport called Renegade Light Sport Aircraft LLC, which makes some of the planes expected to be used in the air race event.

The inaugural event from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. will feature timed heats of light sport airplanes flying at 150 miles per hour through a twisting and turning course of pylons — also referred to as "gates."

More than a dozen pilots from throughout the country are expected to compete in the event which will feature races in different categories of light sport planes, including those with single ("monoplane") and double ("biplane") wings.

The Federal Aviation Administration is allowing spectators at the air race event to sit about 500 feet from the course, which will be 70 feet above the airport's runways.

The sport planes used in the races will be slower and smaller — but more agile — than those used in the better-known Red Bull Air Race series. The latter requires its planes to fly higher with a larger “splash zone,” which results in the audience being seated further away from the action, Bailey said.

“This makes our event much more fun and interactive than sitting a mile away with binoculars,” he said.

The sport planes are also safer, Bailey said. Each will be equipped with a ballistic parachute that can be deployed in one-tenth of a second. The chute lowers the plane to the ground below the course rather than having a pilot eject, leaving an unguided plane to crash.

The inaugural air race will also feature food and drink vendors, aircraft displays, skydiving and short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft demonstrations. Post-event activities are also being planned. Tickets will be $25 per person and $20 for a couple. Children age 12 and under, and military veterans with an identification card, will be admitted free, Bailey said.

The inaugural event is expected to cost about $250,000 to produce, Bailey said.

He hopes the event, along with a second “teaser” race being planned in Austin, Texas, can generate enough interest to produce a full eight-event season that would run from September 2016 through April or May 2017.

Bailey said he is in talks to secure air race venues in Phoenix, Arizona, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Atlanta, Georgia, as well as in Kentucky and Alabama. Some of the potential venues are motorsports racetracks, he said.

Bailey said he has been planning the air race series for more than a year. He initially hoped to hold the inaugural event at Daytona International Speedway but said he was unable to secure a commitment to hold it on a weekend in February ahead of next year's Daytona 500.

“We’re making lemonade out of lemons,” he said of holding the kickoff event at DeLand Municipal Airport. “DeLand is a good location because the planes will be here and it’s better for logistics,” he said.

Bailey said he is hoping to draw 5,000 to 20,000 spectators for the inaugural event.

Janet Kersey, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce, the official organizer of Bike Week, said she welcomes the air race event as another potential thing to do for visitors during the 10-day motorcycle rally.

“The more the better,” she said. “This is an opportunity for them (Bike Week visitors) to see something unique. It’s a good fit and I think they’ll enjoy it.”

Bailey's plans to promote the air race event includes having sport planes displayed at major Bike Week venues, putting event fliers in hotels and running ads to entice bikers to DeLand for the day.

Nick Conte Jr., executive director of the DeLand Area Chamber of Commerce & Orange City Alliance, said area hotels will already be full with Bike Week guests, so he isn't counting on a big boost in visitors for the inaugural air race event.

He does, however, see long-range benefits to having the sport plane event held here, especially if future races are held during slower times of year such as fall.

“This will also help highlight the sport aircraft village that (Bailey) is trying to create (at DeLand Municipal Airport) and the city’s outreach to attract the (sport plane) industry, like was done when making DeLand a leading skydiving and parachute industry center,” Conte said.

FAA officials are expected to visit DeLand in the next 60 days to inform airport officials what preparations and actions the federal agency will require for the event. The air races will not stop most other airport activities but will “inconvenience” some, said John Eiff, who manages DeLand Municipal Airport.

The airport will be turned over to a master controller during the event to permit skydiving between race heats and regulate routine plane takeoffs and landings, Eiff said. Touch-and-go training will be prohibited.

Bailey said he is less concerned about making money from the inaugural event than in creating a buzz among air race fans.

“We’ll have a lot of people here watching us to see how we do before committing to the series," he said. "We’ll pull it off. We won’t get a second chance at a first impression.”

[rainman]

I've made many skydives at Deland over the years, and flew my Mooney there a couple of years ago. Good service from the FBO, and the skydive operation is among the world's best. Sounds like fun!

[carusoam]

Interesting pricing to watch...

$25 per person. $20 per couple?

Bring a friend,

-a-