"People are hooked on it"

Mike Mangold dominated the Red Bull Air Race 2005 World Series – and he’s the favourite in the new season that begins with a race in Abu Dhabi on 17 March. In part one of the preseason interview, he discusses his racing prowess, the worldwide success of the Red Bull Air Race and his past as a Top Gun pilot.

You clinched the first Red Bull Air Race World Series the start of October in San Francisco, and you turned 50 that same week. Were you ever able to stop partying?

It was hard work during the day – the training, the race – but we did manage to relax at night! I was so stoked to be in my home country and state, plus having all my family and friends in attendance made it a very special birthday celebration.

You won five out of seven races in 2005. What is it that you do better than the other pilots?

I make fewer mistakes and minimize my time penalties. There are a couple of things I can do better than the others:  I transition faster out of the Air Gates, I transfer the energy of the plane more precisely, and I can handle the G forces really well.

Have the spectators around the globe all responded to the World Series in the same way? What were your impressions?

People are hooked on it. Everywhere. Everyone wanted to know when and where the next race would be. Lots of people follow us from race to race. I receive up to ten emails a day from enthusiastic fans – from all over the world.

These fans almost certainly want to know something about your life outside of the Red Bull Air Race. Your favourite hobby is sky-diving. What fascinates you about it? How many jumps have you made?

I have over 4800 skydives and make about 35 jumps per year. If time permitted, I would make more jumps because it is a relaxing and rewarding hobby for me. What I find fascinating is overcoming basic human fears.

Your wife shares this hobby with you. The Mangolds seem to be generally more venturesome than the average family. Your five-year-old son Nicholas is even allowed to take over the controls of your plane. How does that affect family outings – what did the most recent outing of the Mangold family look like?

We all flew together in our Bonanza to the mountains to go skiing, very laid back. But what we do more typically is that my wife and I each take a different child and then chase each other around the sky in two airplanes – the kids love it.

 

You’re a graduate of the US Air Force Weapons School – better known as the “Top Gun Academy”. Do people often ask you about that? Do you already have pat answers to the same tired, old questions?

I do get asked that a lot. My three most common answers are: 1. Yes, it’s very stressful, six months of very intense training with difficult final exams. It’s like getting a PhD in being a fighter pilot. 2. No, it was not like the movie, Top Gun. Less partying, more studying. 3. Yes, it’s dangerous. A fellow pilot in my class crashed, for instance – but he survived.

 

In part two, read about what happened to really ruin Mike Mangold’s day last season, and his thoughts on his competitors and the future of the Red Bull Air Race.