In anticipation of the June New York City Red Bull Air Race, I will be interviewed today (with fellow racer, Kirby Chambliss) on FOX Business Channel at 12:45pm. (In about 20 minutes!)
CLICK HERE to find out if you subscribe to this channel (you just need your zip code).
We hope that you have time to tune in!
Michael
Last week Mike Goulian was featured in two Boston area newspapers – the Maynard Beacon-Villager and North Andover Citizen. Freelance writer, Jill Michaels, wrote the two articles about Mike, his flight school, aerobatics, the Red Bull Air Races and his connection with astronaut, Nick Patrick, who recently completed a mission to the International Space Station on NASA’s space shuttle Endeavor.
“We are happy that our local media is interested in hearing about the exciting things we are doing this year with my flight school, Executive Flyers Aviation, and our air show and air racing teams at Goulian Aerosports” commented Mike Goulian about these articles.
Click here for the complete North Andover Citizen article.
Click here for the complete Maynard Beacon-Villager article.
As the first race of the 2010 season draws closer, AvWeb’s Mary Grady catches up with Michael Goulian to talk about what it takes to be a Red Bull Air Race pilot and his hopes for his 5th season of racing.
To hear the podcast CLICK HERE or visit AvWeb.com
Last week Team Goulian was honored to hire award-winning Boston photographer, Michael Indresano to photograph our ASB Air Show Team and our Red Bull Air Race Team 99. His work speaks for itself – as he has shot for the Boston Celtics, Timberland, Hermes, Dunkin Donuts, Baskin-Robbins, Comcast, and many more corporate and sports clients.
Click here to check out Michael Indresano’s blog post about our photo shoot!
Here are some behind-the-scenes photos:
Here are some of Michael’s awesome shots of both our air show and race team:
Today was a great day. The #99 EDGE left on a flat bed truck for its over the road journey to JFK Airport. From there, it will be loaded onto a 747 Freighter for a trip to meet the other Red Bull Air Race race planes in Brussels. Once in Brussels, all the race machines which have been collected from around the world, will be loaded onto another 747 for the trip to Abu Dhabi, which is our first race location.
The weather in Boston was beautiful today so I was able to get out in the EXTRA and start preparing for the 2010 air show season. I forgot how awesome the EXTRA flies and now it looks incredible in its new ASB.TV colors and paint scheme (check back for photos soon).
Right off the bat, I pulled a muscle in my upper back, which is coincidentally the same one I injured toward the end of last season. It’s amazing that after a four month lay off, an injury can linger unknowingly until you start abusing your body and then it comes right back again with the same level of pain as before. Oh well, that’s part of this game and I will never complain about injuring myself while flying one of the most beautiful airplanes on the planet. It’s a GOOD hurt:-)
Watching the race plane move on down the road and going flying in the ASB.TV EXTRA has put a bounce in my step. It’s just great to get the new season underway because it has been a long and cold winter in Boston.
The new season is always exciting for me. After more than twenty years of flying aerobatics, and more recently racing, I love it today as much as I did when I was still dreaming of flying in my first air show.
This past week a film production crew for a new television series (coming this summer) spent two days at our race and air show headquarters in North Andover, Mass filming Team 99. This series, called INTERSECTIONS, will feature our Red Bull Air Race team in one of the episodes. Each episode takes two seemingly different “speed” machines and compares the similarities between them and their drivers or pilots.
The production company, Blue Chip Films, interviewed Michael and our team to get insight to racing in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship. The interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, practice flight footage, and race footage (courtesy of Red Bull Air Race), will prove to be very exciting! Team 99 will be paired up against an Acura Le Mans Racer!
The first episode airs on SPEED Channel June 2nd (check your local listings). We don’t have the air date for our episode, but we’ll keep you posted.
Click here for more information on INTERSECTIONS.
This week we’re doing the final tests on the race plane. The “green machine” is one happy bird at the moment. We did testing on the systems that we modified over these last few months. I must say that luckily, all worked as planned. Everything is going very smoothly. I know this might sound a little crazy but even our radio is working flawlessly which is a big change from prior years. That sounds silly but when you’re trying to give 100% focus on racing and you can’t hear the race director calling you into the track from two miles away, that’s a big distraction.
The only thing not in the race plane for this first race will be our fancy new race engine which is still undergoing reliability testing. A race track in the sky is not the place to be testing critical engine components so we chose the safe route and will wait a race or two before installing the new engine. We will use the same Lycoming Thunderbolt as last season which was very strong.
All in all, we are in a happy place with our plane and we are actually slightly ahead of schedule as we prepare to ship to Abu Dhabi. We might not have the fastest racer as we start the season but I think we can more than make up for that with a seamless work flow within our team. I think we are…. READY TO GO!!!
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – American Red Bull Air Race pilot Michael Goulian will be among the astronaut’s family and friends watching the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour, as it lifts off on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on February 7th. Michael is attending the launch as a guest of Mission Specialist Nick Patrick who is making his 2nd trip to space aboard Endeavor. Nick was a pilot at Michael’s flying school Executive Flyers Aviation, in the 1990’s. Joining Michael at the launch will be British Red Bull Air Race pilot, Nigel Lamb. While Mike and Nigel are among the few who defy gravity on a daily basis, both race pilots would jump at the chance to experience the feeling of a completely gravity free environment. Although he has attended two previous space shuttle launches, Michael says he is “fortunate to be invited to attend this launch as there are so few left.” This launch will not only mark the 130th space shuttle flight, but it is also the 32nd of 36 missions to the ISS. The STS-130 crew will be delivering a third module known as the “Tranquility Node” that will connect to the space station. It will also be carrying a cupola to be used as a control room for robotics, and will display seven windows. Goulian said, “Other than the birth of my daughter, a shuttle launch is the most awe inspiring and spiritually uplifting event I have ever witnessed. I have always been in awe of our space program and the astronauts who capture our imagination.” Nigel agreed with this sentiment in saying that “In the early days of the program, I watched a launch from the public viewing area about 5 miles away. Even at that distance, I was blown away by the phenomenal power of the Shuttle and man’s ability to create such a machine. Having the opportunity to watch from Banana Creek and to meet some of the people involved will be an incredible experience.” The Endeavour is targeted to launch at 4:39am EST and will spend thirteen days in space.
For more information on NASA and the STS-130 Endeavour shuttle launch please visit www.nasa.gov
For further information on Nigel Lamb visit www.nigellamb.com or contact Becci Allen at +441844 351585 or becci@nigellamb.com
After weeks of anticipation Goulian Aerosports is happy to announce their 2010 schedule. 2010 will again prove to be a busy and challenging year for the Goulian Aerosports Team. With the Red Bull Air Races spanning the globe with locations as close as New York City or as distant as Perth, Australia, Team #99 will be on the go all season long. In contrast, the Goulian Aerosports Air Show Team will again be focusing all of their attention on the home air show circuit. This year they will be taking their new ASB Extra 330 SC on a tour that focuses on the west coast. “We are very excited for the 2010 season,” said Michael about his Red Bull Air Race and air show schedule, “it is going to be a busy but fun year for all of us.”
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Red Bull Air Race | United Arab Emirates | March 26-27 |
| Red Bull Air Race | Perth, Australia | April 17-18 |
| Red Bull Air Race | Rio De Janeiro, Brazil | May 8-9 |
| MCAS Cherry Point Air Show | Havelock, NC | May 22-23 |
| Red Bull Air Race | Windsor, ON Canada | June 5-6 |
| Indy Air Show | Indianapolis, IN | June 12-13 |
| Red Bull Air Race | New York, New York | June 19-20 |
| RI National Guard Open House & Air Show | Quonset, RI | June 25-27 |
| EAA AirVenture | Oshkosh, WI | July 26-30 |
| Red Bull Air Race | Germany | August 7-8 |
| Red Bull Air Race | Budapest, Hungary | August 19-20 |
| Westfield International Air Show | Westfield, MA | August 22 |
| Thunder Over the Boardwalk | Atlantic City, NJ | August 25 |
| Boston New England Air Show | Portsmouth, NH | August 28-29 |
| Red Bull Air Race | Lisbon, Portugal | September 4-5 |
| California Capital Air Show | Sacramento, CA | September 11-12 |
| National Championship Air Races & Air Show Air Races | Reno, NV | September 15-19 |
| California International Air Show | Salinas, CA | October 2-3 |
| Wings & Waves Air Show | Daytona Beach, FL | October 9-10 |
| NAS Jacksonville Air Show | Jacksonville, FL | October 23-24 |
| Alliance Air Show | Fort Worth, TX | October 30-31 |
| Blue Angels Homecoming | NAS Pensacola, FL | November 12-13 |
I was honored to be a guest of Red Bull at the 7th Annual Living Legends of Aviation award’s night in Los Angeles this past weekend. Joining me were fellow Red Bull Air Race pilots, Paul Bonhomme, Kirby Chambliss, and Pete McLeod. This evening was a special evening to honor those people in aviation that have dedicated their life and work to aviation. Receiving awards this evening were, among others, Tom Cruise (actor and pilot), Joe Clark (inventor of the blended winglet), Buzz Aldrin (astronaut), Kermit Weeks (pilot, aircraft collector and museum owner), Kurt Russell (actor and pilot) and others. For complete details on the awards visit the ASB.tv post about the award’s night.
