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Red Wings soar through sky with aerobatics team |
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Being Wings, you’d naturally assume that Detroit Red Wings forwards Justin Abdelkader and Dylan Larkin would be accustomed to soaring.
As the two found out Thursday, that isn’t the case at all.
Abdelkader and Larkin were invited to join the Breitling Jet Team for a fly along at 10,000 feet.
For Abdelkader, it was a repeat performance. He enjoyed a fly along a few years back with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, so he had an idea of what to expect and how to deal with the intense G forces he’d face.
“Having that experience before, knowing how to breathe on the plane, it kind of helps,” Abdelkader said,” You’re squeezing the legs, trying to keep the blood in your head, because if you don’t …”
Well, you could lose consciousness, or worst-case scenario, lose your lunch all over the cockpit.
“When you bank to the left or to the right, you pick up some serious speed,” Larkin said. “You could definitely feel it in your stomach and your chest.”
The Breitling Jet Team, the world’s largest civilian aerobatic display team, is comprised of seven L-39C Albatros, Czech-made twin-seat aircrafts, and is based out of Dijon, France. The jets can reach speeds of 750 km/h during level flight and 910 km/h during dives.
Unlike his fly along with the Blue Angels, Abdelkader could look out the window and see the wing of his plane perilously close to another plane’s wing, but he insisted this wasn’t a discomforting sight.
“They’re professional,” Abdelkader said. “I felt comfortable the whole time.
“You’re up in the air off take off and the planes all fly in formation. It’s weird at first but obviously these guys make you feel very comfortable. I wasn’t really nervous. Some of manoeuvres, as you’re pulling those Gs, I wanted to make sure I didn’t pass out.”
For Larkin, who got to enjoy a ride along in an IndyCar earlier this summer at the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, it briefly became a hands-on experience.
“I actually got to do a barrel roll myself, take over control,” Larkin said. “That was pretty surprising doing that. It’s not as easy as it looks. I was just focused on looking down and not looking up in the air.
“What those guys do is pretty incredible. We went up to a loop to loop, you could definitely feel the G force there. Then we went into a left bank and then a right bank and a barrel roll, so it was pretty cool.”
No Vesey
When Jimmy Vesey makes a decision on his NHL destination – likely later this week – you can guarantee that there won’t be a winged wheel involved in the process.
Vesey, the free-agent forward from Harvard, told the Wings earlier this week that he wouldn’t be considering them as an NHL home.
“We tried,” Red Wings assistant GM Ryan Martin said. “We didn’t make the short list. We did our best.
“We talked to his agent about depth and opportunity. He said he wants to play closer to home.”
Depth Signings
The Wings added two players on AHL contracts, re-signing forward Louis-Marc Aubry, 24, a 2010 draft pick, and adding free agent defenseman Conor Allen, 26, a former New York Ranger.
The Wings also indicated that they had no plans to bring in any veteran NHLers to training camp on a tryout basis.
Several NHL people who were at the recent USA Hockey National Junior Evaluation Camp in Plymouth, Mich. insisted that the off-season additions to the roster of Detroit’s Grand Rapids AHL farm club could make the Griffins the team to beat in the Calder Cup chase this season.
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