Image: Brian Snelson The Edge 540 faces stiff competition from the MXS-R “Edge Beater” built by MX Aircraft—a purpose-built aircraft designed from the ground up to excel at this event.

For him, the wild ride featuring flips and loops was just a practice one — and a mild one at that, since he had this reporter in the cockpit ... performance Zivko Edge 540 about 2,500 feet ...