The fan racer is a small, single-pilot aircraft often used in flight contests or for recreational flying. Built for speed, the fan racer features a ceramic rotary engine and a double-fan jet propulsion system. For additional speed and rapid bursts of acceleration, the fan racer has a series of six rocket boosters positioned around the aft fan exhaust. At the time he visited South Ataria Island in February 2009, then civilian pilot Hikaru Ichijo owned and operated a fan racer as part of an organized flight team. Upon arrival, Hikaru in his fan racer carelessly interrupted the "Angel Birds" flight demonstration of the VF-1 Valkyrie, being presented to a crowd by Hikaru's sempai Roy Focker. When Roy berated Hikaru over the radio for his meddling, Hikaru performed a daring boost rollover, breaking up the Angel Bird's formation, dazzling the audience and showing up Roy (a maneuver taught to Hikaru by his sempai). With this fan racer, Hikaru won the Amateur Pilot Competition seven times.