Hager's Raiders hope to be back at Al Ain 2010

With four days of high and low-altitude action at Al Ain Aerobatic Show coming to an end for another year, Hager and his 'Brotherhood of Destruction' driving team have already come up with two new stunts for 2010 - but is keeping tight-lipped about the details.

"We really want to come back next year and as soon as we get home to Florida we are going to start planning for it," revealed Hager, who has performed stunts in movies such as 'Dukes of Hazzard' and 'The Punisher' and coordinated driving sequences for dozens of car manufacturer adverts.

"We're going to get the pyrotechnics working - to me it's not really a party without blowing something up. We have also come up with two new stunts that we will start practicing immediately. I'm not saying anything right now, but watch this space," he added

This year's 'Hager's Raiders' performance included two US patrol cars, which, with sirens blaring, pursue 'baddie' Hager up and down the runway with screeching tyres and burning rubber.

"It's ironic that we do a police chase actually," Hager said. "My father was a police officer for 30 years and they always say the kids of cops are the worst."

And when asked whether the police pursuit at Al Ain International Airport was based on real-life experience, Hager brushed it off with a smile.

"No comment. I will say that my father has always been really supportive of what I do, although it has been difficult in the last couple of years when I was hurt," he added, referring to a horrific crash he had during a show in Miami in 2007 when a stunt, involving him jumping a car 40 feet in the air, went drastically wrong.

"I basically broke three of my vertebrae into a million pieces and I was given a five per cent chance of ever walking again. After a 10-and-a-half hour operation to remove bits of bone from my spinal cord, the doctor put his hands on both my feet and asked me to try and move them. I managed to move my throttle foot and at that point I knew I was back. I was very, very lucky," he said.

Hager knows he will never perform jumps and crashes in a car again, but is happy devoting his time to inventing never-been-seen-before moves in his high-octane, precision-driving shows.

"It's been great. I still get to travel and come to amazing places like Al Ain. The thing we have found is that Americans and Arabs share a love for things that go fast and we have really found some common ground. The Arabian hospitality that we have experienced here has been incredible. The military that we have worked with have done everything they can to facilitate our show - they have gone above and beyond and we will take some great memories back to America," he added.

The Al Ain Aerobatic Show 2009 attracted a high-profile sponsorship line-up including Pilatus, Abu Dhabi National Hotels, Etihad Airways and Al Ain Mineral Water as Gold sponsors; Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies and Tourism Development & Investment Company as Silver sponsors; Emirates Motor Company as the official vehicle sponsor and was supported by Abu Dhabi Airports Company.