'Wild West of aviation': Edmonton pilot ready for wild air race in China

Update Nov. 18: Holmes placed seventh in the races. The original story appears below.

For air racing pilot Scott Holmes, the fastest motorsport in the world is pure "hair on fire" excitement.

And he's ready for his next adrenalin rush.

The Edmonton pilot will be competing this weekend at the Air Race 1 China Cup, racing against seven other pilots — wing tip to wing tip — at speeds of over 450 kilometres per hour, just 10 metres above the tarmac.

It's like NASCAR in the air where there is zero margin for error, Holmes said in a phone interview Wednesday from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.

"We're all jockeying for the lead. You're in your zone. Nothing else matters, right from when the engine starts and you close the cockpit, to the end of the race."

The five-kilometre circuit at Hannan Municipal Airport is designed to challenge even the most experienced pilots.

"The only thing that matters is the person you're trying to pass because if you screw up, or you make a mistake, or you stop thinking about that, you could hit and the consequence of that at 50 feet are terrible."

The race, from Nov. 16 to 18, will be the first event of its kind ever to be held in China — and it comes with its own set of perils.

"Especially in Asia, it's a bit like the Wild West of aviation," said Holmes, who will be flying his purpose-built Cassutt airplane named Outlaw.

"They don't have a lot of the typical rules and laws and best practices that we've built in North America over the years. So we have to kind of use our best judgment in a lot of situations."

Smog is expected to make visibility extremely poor for the pilots, Holmes said. And they will by flying perilously close to a military base.

"The normal course that we fly in is in Reno, Nev., which is a big open desert," Holmes said.

"We're flying in China and it's over like rice paddies and very tall trees and the river, the Yangtze River, is right beside us.

"They told us if we fly east of the river, that's the military zone, and we don't exactly know what's going to happen.

"There's a lot of unknowns in this race that we're a little bit concerned about."

Holmes, 29, is the only Canadian competitor in the race. He's also the youngest and has the least flying hours of the 13 race competitors.

Although Holmes, a chemical production engineer and University of Alberta graduate, has had his pilot's licence since he was 17, he's relatively new to the sport.

He was invited to compete in Air Race 1 after competing at the 2017 National Formula One Air Racing Championships in Reno, his first professional race.

Holmes admits he and his pit crew may be at a disadvantage but said he is looking forward to learning from his veteran competitors.

"I think I'm the youngest by quite a bit in this race, actually. I think about that every day," Holmes said.

"And what's worse is almost everybody is an airline pilot with 20,000 hours so my 350 is not even comparable."

"We're in good company."