(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
One of the unluckiest pilots in the Red Bull Air Race this season is undoubtedly American Michael Goulian.
As well, the man from Boston is one of the nicest guys on the field, but he has had to languish behind his American colleagues, Mike Mangold and Kirby Chambliss, who have both been Red Bull Air Race Champions in 2005 and 2007 for the former, and 2006 for the latter.
An experienced airshow pilot and aviator, Goulian has had a hard time of late in making it into the points and the podium in 2009.
It all started at the season opener in Abu Dhabi with an improperly connected antenna on his Edge 540 which didn't deliver live results to the race control tower during qualifying. As a result, he was disqualified from the second qualifying and had to fly in the Wild Card round on race day, but he wasn't quick enough so he left the Emirates with no points to his name.
Getting on home turf in San Diego wasn't much of a consolation either for Goulian as he was too slow in qualifying and only making it into the Wild Card round again. Taking four seconds worth of penalties in the race did not help his cause and this resulted in him taking an early bath again.
By this point, Goulian was one of two pilots who hadn't registered a single point yet—the other being rookie Pete McLeod.
Things changed when the Air Race made its Canadian debut at the Cross-Border Classic in Windsor with Goulian putting in a decent time in qualifying and finally not having to compete in the Wild Card round. He made it as far as the Super 8 round, but he hit a pylon in the quadro in windy conditions and had to perform a Safety Climb Out (SCO).
Regardless, the American took six points to his name with a season-best sixth place. While not the result envisaged, he was able to take at least something—a positive note ahead of the two-month summer break before Budapest and the European rounds.
During the summer break and run-up to Budapest this season, Goulian has been attending various airshows and fly-ins such as the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Still though, it's not all fun and games for the Bostonian as he spoke with Bleacher Report about his summer, his goals, and his training.
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