One of the things I love about aviation is that it’s the great equalizer. Being a pilot is a shared space that seems to allow who you are and what you’ve accomplished melt into the background for a while allowing the experience and joy of flying an aircraft to become the tie that binds. And if you’re paying attention, there’s almost always something you can learn from listening to another pilot.

Siebel started flying in the early 1980s. Considering the training fleet of the day—the airframes, avionics, interiors, and engines—not much was new or exciting other than the intrinsic value of exploring the science and fun of learning to fly. Like many pilots, he stepped away from flying for a while but never lost his love of aviation.

A few years later, Siebel found himself back in the seat of a GA aircraft—a Cirrus SR22—only to discover that a great deal had changed. Mesmerized, as we all were at the time, he described the integration of technology in a piston GA aircraft as “almost unimaginable.” Imagine having last climbed out of steam gauge (circa mid-1950s design) aircraft and being introduced to a sleek, composite, glass-cockpit, parachute-equipped aircraft with more bells and whistles than a model train museum. Clearly a great deal had changed, and he was ready to jump in again and not look back.

Aviation is a huge part of Siebel’s life—it’s an invaluable business tool, a source of recreation, and the mechanism to support some of his philanthropic endeavors. As one might expect of someone of his stature, he owns a Boeing BBJ, but he never once mentioned it in our conversation—probably because he can’t fly it inverted like the GB1 GameBird that he is enamored with.

Listening to Siebel talk about his aviation experience is fascinating and inspirational. As I mentioned earlier, if you pay attention, it’s easy to learn from fellow aviators, and I did. Something that fascinated me about his aviation experience (and inspired me to do better) is his unwavering commitment to safety and training.

“I’m a super enthusiastic pilot who likes to be safe,” Siebel said.

And it shows. Once, while getting some mountain flying training with a CFI, he inadvertently got into a spin while executing an aggressive 180-degree turn to simulate retreating from a canyon. That experience prompted him to get spin training, which as he explained, “the next thing you know I own a GameBird.” 

Siebel shared that he flew 300 hours last year—a big number for anyone who doesn’t fly for a living, let alone someone who’s busy day job is running a Fortune 100 tech company. But even more impressive is the fact that 50 percent of that time was devoted to training and becoming a better, safer pilot. Staying proficient in all five of the aircraft he flies certainly requires training, but dedicating half of one’s flight time to that speaks volumes. 

• READ MORE: In Depth with JoeBen Bevirt Illuminates the Joby Vision

We all have an intelligence quotient (IQ) and an emotional quotient (EQ). If pilots have a safety quotient (SQ), an ability to understand, assess, and manage the need to be safe and proficient and to take the steps necessary to maximize and maintain that, I’d say that Siebel’s SQ is very high, and he continues to stack the deck in his favor.

To that end, his new love, which also makes him a safer pilot in the realm of unusual attitudes and upset recovery, is aerobatics—something he didn’t start until he was in his 60s. His beautiful GB1 GameBird comes out of the nest for those flights of fancy. Siebel trains with world champion and aerobatic pilot Sean D. Tucker (another pilot whose SQ is off the charts). 

When not tossing the GameBird about while arguing with it over the laws of aerodynamics and physics, Siebel also has an affinity for birds that swim, owning both a Daher Kodiak and a CubCrafters XCub on floats. Also in the fun-to-fly category is his wheeled XCub.

“It’s hard to have more fun in an aircraft than in a Carbon Cub,” he said. “You can land these things anywhere. They’re unbelievable. We land in the driveway, alfalfa fields, cow pastures, mountaintops, the highway…[But] let me clarify this first—it’s lawful to land on the highway in Montana.”

His Montana ranch is also home of an annual fly-in Siebel hosts. Through his connections who share the love of aviation, his charity event generates funds to provide college scholarships for children of Montana state troopers and fish, wildlife, and parks officers.

From business to pleasure and philanthropy, aviation is woven into the fabric of Siebel’s life.

• READ MORE: In Depth With an ‘Airport Kid’

With time running short, I didn’t want to leave our conversation without asking his opinion about the role of AI in aviation. Automation in aviation (think autopilot) is nothing new, but the concept of AI (like machine learning) and the speed of its integration can be a great source of debate: Is it good thing, bad thing, and how soon will we see a required crew of two be reduced to one or even zero pilots? What should we look forward to or be cautious about?

His Q&A responses were both surprising and refreshing.

FLYING Magazine (FM): What was the first aircraft you owned?

Tom Siebel (TS): My first plane was a 140 hp Cherokee. I used to have a B36TC, a Malibu, a couple of Maules, PC6, PC12, Falcon 2000, Global Express, and others, but I’d say the planes I fly now are by far the most fun.

FM: What has been your greatest aviation experience thus far?

TS: I was able to do some formation training with the Chilean national acrobatics team. And I also trained with Sean Tucker doing formation flight in the GameBirds. It was really exhilarating and really exciting. It’s been one of the most exciting experiences of my life.

FM: What is the future of AI in the cockpit? Will we see pilotless aircraft any time soon?

TS: I don’t think so. The UAV problem is very difficult to solve. C3.AI has built some of the largest and most complex enterprise scale AI applications on earth for places like the United States Air Force, the intelligence agency, and others.

We can spool up 10,000 virtual machines in the cloud doing 24-bit floating point operations, say 20,000 of them on three-, four-, or five-gigahertz cycles—this is an unimaginable computing capacity. A $100 million worth of computing capacity to train a learning model, which actually has very, very little intelligence and it requires two gigawatts of power. The human brain has 60 billion neurons that make 100 trillion analog connections simultaneously. And it operates on only 17 watts of power.

As somebody who is a leader in artificial intelligence and knows something about it, I do not think we’re going to see fully autonomous, ground-based terrestrial vehicles or aircraft really anytime soon. I don’t think we need to worry about [pilotless aircraft] anytime soon. That being said, will artificial intelligence assist pilots in single pilot operations? Absolutely.

I think one of the most sophisticated applications of computing in aviation—I’m not sure there’s any artificial intelligence in there—is definitely what Garmin has done with this Safe Return system. That’s almost unimaginable.

FM: What is the best application of AI in aviation?

TS: Predictive AI is a good example. We’ve taken all of the aircraft weapons systems, F-15, F-16, F-18, F-22, F-35, KC-135, and aggregated all of the telemetry off these systems, all of the maintenance data, all of the flight history, all the information about flight stories, and the weather where they were flying. We’ve aggregated about 100 terabytes of data in a tool called PANDA (Predictive Analytics and Decision Assistant).

We run those data through machine-learning models to predict system failure before it happens. And so the idea is, if we can identify the system, auxiliary power unit, flap actuator, igniter, whatever it might be, and can identify it’s failure 50 or 100 flight hours before it happens, we can then dispatch the personnel and the materiel to converge with the aircraft, maintain it, and it flies off and doesn’t break. 

In doing so we’re able to increase aircraft availability. The United States Air Force has 5,000 aircraft, and this AI can increase availability by 25 percent on any given day.

FM: Could AI have changed the outcome of any historic crashes, like US Airways 1549 “Miracle on the Hudson,” or United Airlines Flight 232 “Impossible Landing?”

TS: Miracle on the Hudson: Could a computer have pulled that off? I don’t think so. Impossible Landing: No hydraulics, no flight controls. Whoever was flying that was thinking out of the box. A computer’s not going to do that. No way, no how.

FM: What do you find most compelling about aviation right now?

TS: I think the most interesting thing I’m seeing in aviation is things like what Sean Tucker is doing with the Bob Hoover Academy, and I think the work that AOPA has done with their STEM curriculum, using aviation as a means of teaching science, math, and engineering.

This feature first appeared in the July/August Issue 949 of the FLYING print edition.

The post C3.AI Top Executive Possesses High Aviation Quotient appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Vicky Benzing hails from Northern California, growing up in San Jose. After graduating from high school, she pursued a career in physical chemistry, eventually obtaining a Ph.D in the discipline from the University of California-Berkeley. But a lucrative position in the Silicon Valley tech industry failed to hold onto her heart. Recognizing we have only so much time on the planet, she switched gears about 20 years ago, turned toward aviation, and practiced full time the aerosports she loves. Today she is based at Monterey Airport (KMRY).

She’s a skydiver, holds an airline transport pilot certificate, and flies her 450 hp 1940 Stearman in air shows around the country. In 2008, she placed in the top 10 in the Advanced category at the U.S. National Aerobatic Championships in an Extra 300S. But it’s her past 13 years at the National Championship Air Races in Reno that spark her forward the most. Benzing first raced at the Reno-Stead Airport (KRTS) in 2010, winning her first heat flying a Glasair SH-3R. She went on to become the “fastest woman at Reno” in 2015 in an L-139. And recently she’s topped the Sport Class Silver division with her custom Lancair Legacy, Lucky Girl.

• READ MORE: 6 Cities Competing to Host Next National Championship Air Races

FLYING caught up with Benzing as she was preparing for Reno 2023—hopeful to mark one more milestone at the storied event in the Unlimited Class at the controls of a P-51 Mustang.

FLYING Magazine (FM): How did you transition from aerobatics and get your start at Reno? What was the first airplane you brought to the races?

Vicky Benzing (VB): At the behest of Lee Behel, I went to PRS [Pylon Racing Seminar] in my Extra and, of course, the Extra is too slow to race. The Sport Class was not yet oversubscribed…we hadn’t opened the class up to [Van’s] RVs yet…so he asked me if I would race if he could find an airplane for me. Vicki Cruse [an aerobatic champion who died flying her Edge 540 at an airshow in England in 2009] was a close friend. Lee purchased her Glasair from her estate, and I raced it in her honor. She had previously raced at Reno—it was Race 13— the Cruse Missile. That airplane…had gremlins, and we always attributed that to Vicki’s sense of humor. I won that first race against Scott Nelson—I had to pass him to win the race. I got the fire truck ride, and the second race, I was on the pole, and when you’re a rookie, trying to find the pylons is tough. In the chute, when I put the throttle forward, I had a prop overspeed and very nearly lost the prop. I managed to get the airplane on the runway. We rebuilt the engine on that airplane, and I raced it the following year, the race that the Galloping Ghost went in, so we didn’t get to finish the race. So it wasn’t till the third year that I actually got to race all the heat races.

FM: From there, you went on to progress into the Jet Class, as well as getting the right airplane to advance in the Sport Class. Tell us about those experiences.

VB: In 2013, I raced the jet, Kermit, the L-39, and the Cruse Missile. We tried to make the Cruse Missile go faster with modifications—and I had a number of Lancair “kills.” But it wasn’t as fast as all the Lancairs. I put a rearview mirror in my cockpit, and I put a label on it that said, “Lancairs belong here.” But I wanted to have an airplane that I could modify and work on my own, and so in 2014, I went out and bought Lucky Girl [a Lancair Legacy]. I think the Cruse Missile was jealous, because Lee took me to go look at Lucky Girl in Fresno, California, and on the way, the Cruse Missile threw a fit and had a prop overspeed, and we ended up landing at the former Castle Air Force Base—Merced Airport [KMCE] now. Lucky Girl’s a fast stock Lancair, and through the years I’ve just modified her bit by bit, with bigger pistons, and last year, nitrous [oxide, a performance booster], and we’ll probably run nitrous this year.

FM: In 2015, you became the fastest woman at Reno. How did you come by that milestone?

VB: I raced the jet again in 2014, and then Dianna Stanger called me up to race her jet, Darkstar, an L-139, in 2015, and that’s when I became the fastest woman ever at Reno, ’cause I was clocked on the course at 469.831 mph, which was the same speed as one of the other guys did. And he clocked it first before me, so I ended up behind him in the order. Last year I raced Robin, the yellow jet [L-39]. Jets [are] a different deal—it’s really high G loading, especially for the really fast ones. You kind of say, “400 mph, 4 Gs; 500 mph, 5 Gs,” but that’s continuous, so if you hit wake, or fly unevenly, you’re hitting even higher Gs.

FM: You moved up to the top of the Sport Class Silver rankings regularly over the past few years in Lucky Girl. But you’ve had other dramatic moments in the race that stand out.

VB: From 2014 to present, I’ve raced Lucky Girl. My engine quit in the cooldown [lap]. I came out on downwind in the cooldown and went to land, and the engine quit. I was like, “What? You’re kidding me.” And those airplanes come down so quickly. I was basically over [Runway] 8, and I made the left turn to land on 32, and I barely got on the runway, barely got out of the turn before I made the runway. They are not gliders.

FM: For this year, you plan to campaign a special airplane. How did you come to buy a classic warbird?

VB: So I bought Clay Lacy’s P-51 [Miss Van Nuys] in 2019, and Steve Hinton Jr. has been restoring it, and it became a much bigger project than it started out as. The idea of purchasing the aircraft was to put it on the racecourse at Reno because it’s an historic aircraft [see “In Depth,” Issue 938] but also to fly it at airshows, because I think airplanes like that deserve to be seen. I think, as a woman, there are not that many opportunities to fly warbirds. I would love to be the person who is at the [Commemorative Air Force] museum wrenching on airplanes, but I just don’t have time to do that with doing the shows. I had to make an opportunity for myself to fly a warbird. I went to Stallion 51 to get training—and I swore up and down to my husband I was not going to buy a P-51. He bought me a little model for my desk. But Clay is my neighbor at Pine Mountain Lake, and I heard that his Mustang was for sale. It took a little talking to my husband and asking Clay if he would sell it to me.

FM: But the care and feeding of a warbird takes time and investment. Share with us the story of bringing an historic P-51 to the Unlimited Class.

VB: [Miss Van Nuys] had never been restored since it was built in 1944—never been overhauled. The last time an engine had been put in it was 1976 [after Lacy’s last time racing it at Reno in 1972]. I would be surprised if there were 100 hours on that engine. We were just going to bring it back up to snuff, but then one thing led to another. And that led to paint, and can you paint the cockpit, can you change the instrument panel? And then going through the airplane, we found a crack in the tail, so it had to come off. Steve is in the process of painting it—we got delayed by paint because we had a custom color mix, [a purple that is an exact match to the original shade]. We ordered it in September [2022], and we got it in April. We put in a water bar system for racing; the wing was profiled to make it smooth for racing. We put all the antennas inside the airplane. One of the things that I really like about racing is the modifications that you do to your airplane are there forever. If you’re using it for commuting or flying here to there, you’re going a lot faster because of the investment you’ve made in the airplane. My Lancair Legacy Lucky Girl cruises all day long at 2,500 rpm and full throttle, 5,500 feet, at 250 knots.

This column first appeared in the September 2023/Issue 941 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post Expanding the Campaign at Reno appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

This dream provoked a vision for JoeBen Bevirt—one he has singularly pursued ever since.

After finding his natural engineering mind on a track at the University of California-Davis, and a graduate degree in mechanical engineering at Stanford University, Bevirt founded a series of successful companies in the tech sector. He started Velocity11 in 1999, developing robotic systems for laboratory work. The first iterations of “Joby”—Joby Inc., which produced the Gorillapod, and Joby Energy, focused on aerial wind turbines—came into being prior to the main event, Joby Aviation, which he founded in 2009.

Joby Aviation launched to coalesce Bevirt’s vision of an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft and the transportation system to support and deploy it. Now, as the company surpasses 1,400 employees and celebrates the reveal of its conforming production prototype, the vision sits on the cusp of being fully realized. FLYING talked with Bevirt to illuminate the source of that vision and where it will take Joby next.

FLYING Magazine (FM): So what was it that set off that spark for you when you were that young boy?

JoeBen Bevirt: (JB): I was born and raised far from civilization in a place called Last Chance. Our house was at the edge of a beautiful meadow with fruit trees and a garden nestled among the redwoods overlooking the Pacific Ocean. In the morning I would get a ride to school with one of my parents on their way to work. In the af- ternoon I would either go to a friend’s house and wait or I would take the city bus to the transit station and then take another bus up the coast. I would get off at the bot- tom of Swanton Road and then walk a mile up to Last Chance and then the 4 miles back from Last Chance to my home. It gave me a lot of time to dream about bet- ter ways [of] getting from [point] A to B. I loved where I lived, and I loved my school, but I wanted to be able to expediently get between them.

I imagined an aircraft could take off and land in the meadow. But it was also pretty quiet, and peaceful, and the idea of a really loud aircraft didn’t appeal to me. For me, it was a question of “how do I build an aircraft that is suitable for this serene, beautiful place but that I can take off and land vertically?”

FM: How did you first try to solve that problem?

JB: I inherited my uncle’s collection of model airplane parts including a whole bunch of little model engines—and they were horrifically loud. So, I thought, this is not the answer. They were really fun but really loud. [laughs] Then I started playing with remote-control car motors, and at this point in time, they were these little brushed motors and NiCad batteries, and I mounted props to them, and built many crazy contraptions. This was one of my first experiences with iterative engineering even before I knew what engineering was.

FM: You began working with electric motors, but it took time for them to reach a usable capacity, right?

JB: In 1993 when I was in college, my proficiency with engineering had improved, and I had the opportunity to work for a company doing pioneering work on vertical take off and landing aircraft. Unfortunately, they were horrifically loud. I became convinced that electric propulsion was the critical unlock to make VTOL aircraft part of daily life. NiCad batteries had gotten to 40 or 50 watt hours per kilogram, and there were rumors that the lithium-ion battery was going to move from the lab into production and that Sony was getting close with a cell specific energy of 70 watt hours per kilogram. But even 70 watt hours per kilogram didn’t feel sufficient for a useful endurance.

There were researchers at the DOE [Department of Energy] projecting that lithium ion had the potential to get us to 200 watt hours a kilogram in 20 years. Batteries had been improving by 6 percent a year since the late 1800s, and I figured that it was going to stay on that ramp. But I was 19 years old, and I was thinking, 6 percent a year—it’s going to take 20 years to get to a useful specific energy— that felt like an eternity, and so I put my dream of electric

flight on hold. At Stanford in 1998, I met a guy named JB Straubel who was fixated on building an electric car, and over the years I had the opportunity to experience a few exhilarating test drives in his prototypes. This gave me a front-row seat to the progress being made on batteries. By 2008 I had sourced batteries with a specific energy of 170 watt hours per kilogram and a specific power of more than 1 kilowatt per kilogram, which I believed was sufficient to build a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with 100 miles of range. After a bit of design work and analysis, I founded Joby to bring electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to life. Today we are certifying our aircraft with cells that are more than 280 watt hours per kilogram. And we’ve moved from the idea of making something for an enthusiast to something that could be a new mode of transportation.

FM: So, with that early introduction into electrical and mechanical engineering, it was pretty clear that was your passion. Were there any other directions you thought about going?

JB: No. I loved building things and creating things. But there were no engineers in my family. I remember in seventh grade, my math teacher said, “You’re gonna be an engineer,” and I said, “I don’t wanna drive trains!” and he’s like “No, no, no, no, no…my son’s studying to be an engineer, and I think that you’re going to be an engineer.” And he explained what an engineer was, and I’m like, “That’s it!” So I had my calling since I was really little, but I first had somebody put a name to it in seventh grade. From that point, I was on cruise control, so focused. In high school, I was also really into cycling, so I designed and built one of the world’s first full-suspension mountain bikes, and it was really fun to watch the cycling industry emerge. It was funny back then because all my friends would make fun of me for putting a suspension on a bike, and I said, “But it’s so much better!” And they thought I was weak, like your legs are supposed to be the shock ab- sorbers. But it’s fun to have watched that industry evolve.

FM: So, in graduate school, were there mentors or fellow students that you worked with on the vision?

JB: Right at the beginning of my sophomore year, I went to the dean of the engineering school and said, “You’re teaching computer-aided design wrong. And you’re do- ing a massive disservice to the students, and we have to fix it.” And he said, “‘OK, that’s amusing.” And so he picks up the phone, “Paul, I’ve got somebody for you. Can I send him over?” Click. I ride over to the research park, and I knock on the door, and it says Moller International. There was something that went off in my head, but it didn’t really click. And I walked inside, and there was a picture of this vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, and I’m like— wow! And so it was serendipity.

So I went and interned for Paul [Moller] for a quarter, and then I convinced him that I should create an internship program. I had four interns for the next quarter. And then I convinced him that we should expand and have like 12 interns, and this was with a team of like 40 engineers at the time—awesome engineers—and all of a sudden there were 12 interns and the engineers were looking at themselves wondering, “What just happened?” It was my first experience of leading a larger team. Moller had built a whole bunch of breakthrough vertical takeoff and landing aircraft through the ’70s and ’80s. It was cool for me to be able to see the integration of composites and mechanical engineering and electrical engineering and software engineering—and what was needed to…make vertical takeoff and landing aircraft possible.

FM: You’ve built a company centered around a vertically integrated enterprise. You’re not just making the part— you’re figuring out is this the right composition of this base material. Why is having that depth of control over the process critical to the transformative thing that you’re trying to do?

JB: I think to engineer and build the most performant things—whether that’s at the aircraft level or whether that’s at the system level or the component level, or the individual part—you really need to understand all the nuance[s]. And whether that’s in the material properties or that’s in the way that the pieces integrate together, [or] whether [it’s] the way that the systems communicate with one another. I think that one of the pieces that I’m so excited about and passionate about is the technology that runs both the electronics and the software that run each of the components and the controls, whether it’s the flight computers or the actuators or the air data systems or the navigation systems. All of these different systems across the aircraft share a common hardware and software stack. It gives us the ability to innovate and to move aviation to the next level from a technological standpoint. The rate at which we’re able to collect data from each of those devices, the richness of the data, the temperatures and the currents and the voltages and the acceleration levels…we know so much about everything that’s going on across the aircraft…which is valuable from a product maintenance standpoint…and [provides] the ability to really understand the aircraft at a substantially more sophisticated level than we’ve ever been able to do before.

It also enables us to build a fly-by-wire control system [that] we hope will substantially improve safety by reducing pilot workload and allowing the pilot to focus on things that pilots are really good at doing. Our aircraft—you could just design it in a way that had more pilot workload than traditional aircraft. But we’ve decided to make it substantially easier and safer to fly.

FM: You’ve built a transparent culture. Is this something that you’ve driven into your organization purposefully?

JB: I think because we grew the organization organically, with that as the ethos from the beginning, I think that helps you see it [and know it’s something] that you always have to continue to nurture and focus on and foster, but it is something we cherish.

FM: Were there any challenges with getting the FAA to ac- cept and get through the first set of papers, putting it all into motion?

JB: We started working informally with the FAA back in 2015. We had conversations well back before that, but by that point in time, there was momentum building. We started the Electric Propulsion & Innovation Committee [EPIC] at GAMA. We then began a formal certification in 2018. We’d been flying our full-scale prototype for a [little more than a] year at that point, and the level of engagement and forward lean from the FAA was increasing steadily. We’ve continued to foster a really constructive relationship with everyone that we work with at the FAA. The degree with which the FAA has leaned into this industry is really fantastic. I mean, they see it as you see it, that it has the potential to transform flight both in the degree of relevancy that it has to large por- tions of the population on a daily basis but also to make it safer. And… more accessible, sustainable. So there’s a lot of value in each of these different dimensions.

FM: Can you pick a specific challenge so far that you’ve solved that has curved things up?

JB: I think that the one right now that I’m super excited about is getting this first aircraft off our pilot manufacturing line. And that it is just so exciting to have used all of our quality processes and have built all the procedures to not just build the experimental aircraft but to have the pieces in place to begin building conforming aircraft. So it’s a monumental achievement from the team. It took a spectacular amount of work, and I’m just so proud. 

Quick 6

Is there anyone living or dead that you would most like to fly with?

Kelly Johnson

If you could fly any aircraft that you haven’t flown yet, what would that be?

The F-22

What is your favorite airport that you’ve flown into?

Orcas Island Airport (KORS) in Washington

What do you believe has been the biggest innovation breakthrough or event in aviation?

Frank Whittle’s invention of the turbine

What is one important life lesson from being a pilot and inventor?

Dare to look over the horizon.

When not working towards the first TCed eVTOL aircraft, what would you rather be doing?

Catching up on the latest from our advanced research team

This profile first appeared in the August 2023/Issue 940 of FLYING’s print edition.

The post In Depth with JoeBen Bevirt Illuminates the Joby Vision appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The weekly tradition started in the mid-’80s when Phillips suggested he and a few friends fly in formation to their favorite breakfast spot. “I did a basic formation briefing,” he says, and sketched their positions on the back of a napkin. During the requisite debrief, Phillips says he made the mistake of saying, “That was the damnedest gaggle that I’ve ever flown in.” To his chagrin, the “gaggle” moniker stuck. “It’s kind of demeaning. But it’s one of those things that got away. You can’t get it back,” he says. Today, the Spruce Creek Gaggle Flight has about 100 members. The Gaggle frequently performs fly-overs for Little League opening days, veterans’ events, honor flights, and city festivals—like Daytona Beach Jeep Week—and has been recognized with multiple proclamations.

A former fighter pilot, Phillips is accustomed to more precise formation flying. He retired from the Air Force in 1977 as a lieutenant colonel and became an aerospace consultant for Litton Industries, General Dynamics, and others. Phillips grew up in the 1940s and ’50s near Maule Field (3NP) in Napoleon, Michigan. At 12, he started working after school and weekends for Belford D. (B.D.) Maule, who invented a light tailwheel, operated a tool milling and sharpening shop, and built TV towers and antennas. Maule later developed his signature aircraft and moved his operation to Moultrie, Georgia. Working there, Phillips learned skills that he still uses today. “I call it people’s liberal arts education. I didn’t learn a lot in school, but I learned a lot at the airport.”

An advocate for the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), for which he served as president of the Daytona Beach Chapter (No. 288) for nine years, he is as passionate about building aircraft as he is about flying them. An FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot and Charles Taylor Master Mechanic, A&P/IA, and EAA technical counselor, he has built a Swearingen SX300, a Pitts Model 12, and a hybrid Wittman Tailwind/Nesmith Cougar. Phillips talked recently with FLYING about his passion for aviation, homebuilt aircraft, and his airpark community.

FLYING Magazine (FM): Describe your early pilot training experience at Maule Field?

Keith Phillips (KP): When you’re around an airport, you know, it’s like a farmer’s kid, you learn to drive by osmosis. You never remember really learning to drive. You’re expected to drive. It’s the same with flying. In those days, the GI Bill was a big thing for learning to fly. In ’46, ’47, ’48, every little town airport, they’d have a fleet of J3 Cubs, or Luscombes, or Taylorcrafts to teach GI Bill flying classes. That gave you ample opportunity to learn to fly. I actually learned to fly without a CFI. They’d [ad hoc instructors] get their GI Bill, they soloed and got their private and said, “Come on kid, help me with this and do that, and I’ll give you a ride in the airplane.” I had a student license but never was signed off.

FM: You have owned quite a few airplanes over the course of your lifetime. What was your first airplane?

KP: When I was a junior in high school, I bought a 1941 J4 Cub. But I, of course, didn’t have the money to buy it, so B.D. [Maule] bought it. It cost $400. I put in $200 and he put in $200 for Shirley, his daughter. She really didn’t have any interest in learning to fly and never did, so I ultimately bought her half out.

FM: What aviation mentors have had the biggest impact on you and how?

KP: I had a couple of schoolteachers who were World War II guys. I basically grew up with no father image; even though my mother got remarried, he was a stepdad and was brand new to me. One of the principals in the high school was a C-47 pilot in World War II [Gordon Smith]. Another teacher was a P-47 pilot [Mr. Goodrich]. They encouraged me. But if you did something stupid, they told you about it. I flew under some wires one time when we went to a football game over in one of the towns. Raymond [Maule] and I flew our airplanes over there and landed next to the athletic field, and when we left, I flew under these wires, and the principal saw that and he really chewed me out. They certainly had an influence on me, but nothing like B.D. [Maule]. He wasn’t a good mentor, but he created the environment that allowed me to fly. I wouldn’t have been able to buy the airplane without him. I was making 35 cents an hour; $400 was a big hit.

FM: As an older pilot (Phillips turned 88 in June), are there any challenges that you’ve had to adapt to?

KP: It’s a hell of problem with things like insurance. They told me last year, “Next year, you must have a pilot.” So, I wrote a little note back to them saying, “What am I?” In order to have my insurance valid, I have to have a pilot in the airplane with me that has 25 hours in type, and he’s got to be this and that, etc. So, in essence, if I’m flying my airplane without anybody on board, I’m not covered. That is the biggest impediment that I find. I feel that my skills are still good enough so that I’m safe.

FM: You’ve built three aircraft of your own, contributed to building countless others, and were honored in 2016 with the EAA Tony Bingelis Award for your contributions to the homebuilt community. Why do you champion homebuilts?

KP: I grew up on a farm and then later the airport, and I was always building or doing something with machinery. I have a passion for it. The flying and the building are fulfilling to me. You can be creative, and one thing that EAA has done is they have deployed a degree of standardization and so forth. Early on, there were some really bad homebuilt aircraft. But over the years, standards have come way up, and thanks to Van [Richard VanGrunsven].

FM: What inspired you to build your first airplane, the hybrid Wittman Tailwind/Nesmith Cougar?

KP: In 1956 or ’57, we were at the Rockford Air Show, and I got a first ride in a Wittman. By then, I was a lieutenant in the Air Force. I was in love with little airplanes. I went over there with B.D. [Maule] in his Bellanca. I had a ride in Bud Harwood’s Wittman Tailwind and I said, “This thing is a performing fool.” When you compared it to an average little airplane of that day, it was 40 to 50 knots faster. Prior to U.S. Air Force flying, I was used to J3/J4Cubs’ performance, and that Bellanca was a rocket, and it was still slower than that Wittman. I said, “Man, I gotta have one of these.” I liked that you could make changes, as long as they didn’t impact the airworthiness.

FM: Which of your homebuilt aircraft was the most challenging to build and why? What’s your favorite to fly?

KP: The SX300, by far. It’s a very complex airplane. It goes fast, it’s got a high wing and the gear retracts. Because it goes fast, it’s more rigid [and] it takes more work. And the way Ed [Swearingen] designed it. Ed’s a good designer, but he didn’t have the genius of Steve Wittman or Van. They build things simple. If you can do something with one piece where somebody else takes 10 to do it; like the landing gear [on a Van’s RV], there is nothing there but apiece of rod. The average homebuilder wouldn’t want to get into an SX300. The SX300 is my favorite [to fly]. It makes me feel like a fighter pilot. It goes fast, [and takes] very little effort to fly, cruis[ing] at about 265 knots.

FM: As a lifetime EAA member since 1959 and the former president of one of the largest EAA chapters (No. 288), what is the secret behind your chapter’s success?

KP: When I first got here [Spruce Creek] in 1985, I joined the chapter. They were having their meetings at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in one of their academic rooms. It was only 15 to 20 people. And then we had meetings out here, hangar tours. We had twice as many people at the hangar tours as we’d have at the meetings. The chapter has 245 paid members and 425 on its roster.

FM: You’ve lived in Spruce Creek in Florida since 1985. What does the fly-in community mean to you?

KP: It’s kind of like heaven. They say when you die here, it’s a lateral move. If you’re an airport bum like I am, I just enjoy airplanes, I enjoy the people, I enjoy helping people, and it’s good flying.

• READ MORE: Paying It Forward

Quick 6

Who is the one person living or dead that you would most like to fly with?

Bob Hoover

If you could fly any aircraft that you have not yet flown, what would that be?

The F-22. It lives in a world of its own. It flies supersonic in military power.

What is one airport you love to fly into?

Umatilla Municipal Airport (X23). It’s a great bunch of people, and they have three airport cars so you can drive to the restaurants.

What do you believe has been aviation’s biggest breakthrough event or innovation?

The jet engine.

If you could build another airplane, what would it be?

Vans RV-15, but it’s not on the market yet. When not flying, I’d rather be…Building an airplane.

This article first appeared in the July 2023/Issue 933 print edition of FLYING.

The post In Depth with an ‘Airport Kid’ appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

In 1964, Lacy was a demonstration pilot for Pacific Learjet, and he flew one of the first Learjet 24s into Van Nuys, California (KVNY), an airport that would become identified with him over the years—from the Air National Guard, to the charter company that he founded there in 1968, to the movie One Six Right, released in 2005, which capped his career as an actor and photo pilot. Lacy helped develop the Astrovision camera system mounted on Learjets and others. With it, he filmed for Bombardier, Boeing, and Lear, as well as other manufacturers, not only for marketing efforts but also flight test segments. Film credits for the Astrovision system include Flight of the Intruder, The Great Santini, Armageddon, and Top Gun.

Lacy raced airplanes as a passion, and served as president of the Air Racing Association from 1966 to 1970. He won the Unlimited category at the National Air Races at Reno in the stunning purple P-51 Mustang, Miss Van Nuys, he owned for many years. In 2010, he received the FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award and was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

Now, Lacy continues to give back, just as he always has over his career. Today, he’s working with the Aviation Youth Mentoring Program (AYMP, www.aymp.world), a women-owned and child-centered nonprofit committed to involving and inspiring underserved communities through aviation. AYMP students had the privilege to meet Lacy in person at the Van Nuys airport and learn what it takes to be an aviator. Through the Clay Lacy AYMP Flight Scholarship, Lacy has funded 12 students in 2023 for their private pilot certificates, and aviation management and/or aerospace education.

FLYING Magazine (FM): You started flying early in life in Wichita. Can you share a story from those teen years when you first took flight?

Clay Lacy (CL): I remember seeing my first airplanes when I was five years old. There was Continental Airlines flying into Wichita from Denver [Colorado], same time every day, in a Lockheed 12—smaller than a DC-3—and I’d watch it every day. When I was eight years old, my mother took me for a ride in a Staggerwing Beechcraft at the airport—I was into model airplanes by then. When I could see my house from the air, I just thought this was great. From that time until I was 12, occasionally, I would get a few dollars and buy a ride. My grandmother had a farm outside of Wichita…and across the road was a golf course, and in 1944 a guy named Orville Sanders started bringing airplanes in there. I started going over there and helping him. [My grandmother agreed to rent land to Sanders] and three weeks later there were airplanes landing there. So from the time I was 12, I got to fly almost every day.

FM: In flying for United Airlines, you saw the breadth of some of the greatest transport category airplanes ever built. Does one stand out as your favorite?

CL: I had a great career at United—a good company—I had the opportunity to be copilot on a DC-3 for my first year with United. The Convair came in new in 1952, so a year later—they had a contract with the union so the company just assigned people to be copilots—I was assigned it and what a lucky thing that was. It was a modern airplane, with a lot of new systems and good things—and just a great opportunity.

FM: You flew the Learjet early on, and worked with the company and Bill Lear. Any stories to share from that time?

CL: I was really immersed in corporate aircraft sales at an early age, and then I became manager of sales for Learjet in [11] western states in 1964, and with Al Paulsen and his company. I introduced Bill Lear—and his company got the distributorship for those states. I flew the Learjet and I met so many people, like half of Hollywood, giving them demonstrations on Lears. It was a great period in my life. And I started my own charter company in 1969.

FM: For the first flight of the “Pregnant Guppy,” how did that come about?

CL: There was a fellow in the Guard named Jack Conroy. He was always into something new. He had set a record in F-86s from LA to New York and back in one day. He ended up in 1961 building the Pregnant Guppy airplane, which is a big airplane—it would carry the [Saturn rocket] engines that would take man [up to] the Moon, in the Apollo program. Jack would build a lot of airplanes in those days, and I was test-flying most of them. So we flew the Guppy in September 1962—at the time it was considered the world’s largest airplane. It lost some speed—about 18 percent at a given altitude. But Boeing was interested in the project because they were in the process of building the 747. They were interested in how much performance it was going to lose [with the wider cross section]. They were very happy when the numbers came in.

FM: Any good memories of flying the F-86? What was it like balancing the flying with United and keeping your commitment to the Air National Guard?

CL: In January 1954, I went into the air force pilot training for 20 months and was in Georgia, Greenville, Mississippi; Del Rio, Texas; and Las Vegas, Nellis Air Force Base. I came back to United Airlines and the [Air National Guard] in September 1955. I got to fly F-86s on my days off [from the airline]—it was a great life. [The F-86] was a great airplane—I loved it. It was new to the USAF, then the Guard got it during the Korean War. I became head of instrument training for the Guard, and it gave me the opportunity to fly with the general, wing commander, and group commander. We had problems in the Guard, they had had several accidents—like seven accidents in one year—the year before I came in. They were primarily people on cross-countries, with problems in instrument flying. They had a big inspection—and our Air Force advisor chose me to do the instrument flying. I really knew a lot about it because of my job with United. When the inspection was over, he gave me a ’10,’ the highest score he could give me.

FM: What drew you to the P-51, and to race it in the Unlimited Class at the first Reno Air Races?

CL: I always thought it would be fun to do the air racing—I had never done it. I was flying for United, early January 1964, into Reno [Nevada], and I got snowed in one day and I was walking around downtown, and I went by the Chamber of Commerce’s office. They had a sign in the window that the air race was coming in September, and I went in and got the information on it. The next day I was back in Al Paulsen’s office, and I said, ‘They’re gonna have races in Reno, and I’d like to get an airplane and fly it, a P-51.’ He looked shocked, and he said, ‘I just talked to a guy on the phone, and he wants to trade me a P-51 on a Cessna 310 he had for sale.’ The guy was in Lewiston, Idaho. In those days, the P-51s weren’t worth near as much as they are today. So Al wanted $17,500 for the Cessna 310, and…Al told him [he’d give him] $7,500 on the P-51. It was low time, one of the very last ones built— and it flew very nicely.

FM: You’ve made the move from pilot to philanthropist full-time—but you’ve been involved with charitable work all of your career. Tell us about the Clay Lacy Foundation, and the Aviation Youth Mentoring Program you’re involved in now—and what drives you to support kids?

CL: It’s something that I got into some time ago, just overall supporting kids. It’s been a good experience. I’ve had so much fun in aviation—I’m told I might be the highest-time pilot; I have over 55,000 flight hours. I love people in aviation—they’re good, honest people, I think. You tend to be honest in aviation, because if you’re not, you get in trouble if you’re a pilot. So they make good role models for young people. If [a young person] is really interested, they need to meet people who are in aviation who can sponsor them and help get them going.

Quick 6

Is there anyone living or dead who you would most like to fly with?

So many good friends…one being Bill Lear

If you could fly any aircraft that you haven’t flown yet, what would it be?

Several aircraft that I’ve filmed but not flown—like the SR-71

What’s your favorite airport that you’ve flown into?

When I was flying the line for United, Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Airport

What do you believe has been the biggest innovation breakthrough or event in aviation?

With the advances we’ve made in supersonic flight by the 1950s, I’m surprised we’re not flying faster now. But the increase in safety—it’s remarkable.

What is one important life lesson you’ve learned from being a pilot?

Learn all that you can—always be on the lookout to learn something new.

When not flying or promoting your charitable foundation, what would you rather be doing?

I have a place in Idaho, in the mountains. But, the main thing has always been airplanes and the people in aviation.

The post A Life in Pursuit with Clay Lacy appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The current 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization hosts 22 students, but it holds room for more at its base at the Salinas Municipal Airport (KSNS), south of San Jose, California. In partnership with the Monterey County Office of Education, the BHA is now an approved graduation path for high school students in the county. Though it targets the underserved populations in the community surrounding Salinas, any local student is eligible. Through the program, students work toward a private pilot certificate in a Cessna 152 and Redbird Flight Simulations FMX AATD, and go through ground school based on the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s high school curriculum.

Tucker recently completed his extraordinary solo career in 2019 at the Wings Over Houston airshow. He made full closure by donating his Oracle Challenger III biplane—a custom machine tailored specifically so he could wow audiences with his latest figures. The lucky recipient? The world, really, as it now hangs at the entrance of the Thomas W. Haas We All Fly gallery at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum on the Mall in Washington, D.C. With the museum open to anyone, free of charge, the access to inspiration only requires you to visit in person—or online.

We caught up with Sean to connect the dots between his incredible career stunning audiences with his trademark “skydancing”—and to understand why his next act is even more important.

FLYING Magazine (FM): Your own story of becoming a top-tier aerobatic performer didn’t follow a straight path. What lessons from your early days stand out to you?

Sean D. Tucker (SDT): I am the most unlikely candidate to ever be in the Smithsonian Institution. I wasn’t good at anything. I had my uncle in my life until I was about 12, and then I lost my joy until I was about 17 years old. I ran away from home…went to juvenile hall. I didn’t get much joy smoking pot, or being in street fights—but thenI found flying. And the first time I took that airplane up and got above this earth, I had joy again.

My first airshow, I was 24 years old. My problem was that I was in a big hurry. And I didn’t have any mentors. My first crop dusting job [ended when I ground looped the airplane]. I remember hanging there, by the straps, and the gas is going onto the engine and just burning. I lost it. 

And I didn’t give up on being dumb. [I was scraping a living to perform in airshows]. I was getting paid $500 to do the show—in 1970, I was already married, and not making a lot of dough, so 500 bucks to make the airplane payment was huge. I told the guy I could do 32 inverted flat spins. I failed to recover from the spin, and I lost my dream. When I finally got out of the airplane I was below 1,000 feet, my parachute opened when I was maybe 200 feet above the ground, and I saw where my body was going to be, and that was it. Here I am, a total failure as an airshow pilot, barely making a living as a crop duster, I’m married, I’ve got a wife who’s been believing in me, and it’s all about me. And I had to stop.

I found mentors who helped me realign with my real purpose. I paid $32,000 for [the next airplane] and I wasn’t going to screw that up, so I found mentors. Charlie Hilliard. Wayne Handley. I joined the IAC [International Aerobatic Club]. Went to about 14 amateur contests. Became the national champion in the advanced category—with that mission alone, to get that trophy, to set my providence. Because I accepted my responsibility and what it means to be an airshow performer—if I hurt myself I traumatize that audience, and if I kill myself, I ruin kids’ dreams.

FM: You made the decision to step away from solo performance after the 2018 season. What triggered that?

SDT: [Flying in an airshow], it’s the Indianapolis 500, it’s the Fourth of July all rolled into one, and they’re there all day with their families, celebrating freedom and watching us fly. We inspire them, we thrill them, we educate those people. [However,] we don’t have a normal day…we don’t have a normal life.

I needed to finish this journey because my gut told me it was finished. I really never had—in all the years I was performing in the arena—a close call because of the wayI train now and the mentors I had. Flying that airplane 500 times a year, 20 minutes at a time. To learn that airplane, doing three a day, to be ready so that when I’m in front of the audience, I’m at my level best. I know that airplane from the bottom of my heart. And it’s all right—until it goes wrong. [After 42 years of an airshow career], I love the practice; I love getting into the arena. If I didn’t have something to look forward to as a skydancer, I would be so depressed. I’m finishing my solo career so I can start another, and that really excites me.

FM: One of your mentors was legendary pilot R.A. “Bob” Hoover. How did he inspire the Bob Hoover Academy?

SDT: The men and women in this business really do care; they honor that privilege. Any time we hurt ourselves, it takes away somebody’s dream. All the years in the arena, I never had a close call because of the mentors I had—like Bob. We strive to incorporate Bob’s character traits into the academy and with our students: commitment to excellence, tenacity and grit, humility, reverence (for opportunity, for aviation, for life, for humanity), optimism, education, service, and patriotism. A few months before his passing, we asked Bob if we could rename the academy in his honor.

FM: Tell me the origin story of the BHA, and why it’s so powerful in the lives of these young people.

SDT: At the time when we started this project, [Salinas was] equal to Chicago in kid-on-kid deaths; gangland shootings. Every Kid Can Fly was born with an initial offering of flight training for students at Rancho Cielo (an alternative high school program). The time available after school was limited, so a revolutionary administrator at Monterey County Office of Education (MCOE) stepped in to form a transportation-pathway, diploma-earning high school classroom in January 2016. The results—the transformation in kids’ lives—speak for themselves. “My struggles, they do not define me, they make me stronger. Someone believed in me, and taught me to fly.” That’s from Manny, whose brother was murdered. Another student, Diego, wouldn’t look you in Jeff Berlin (all) the eyes. Now he’s a Marine Corps drill instructor.

FM: What is your greatest achievement so far with the BHA?

SDT: To honor my mentors who took me under their wings. [I took aerobatic instruction from] Amelia Reid—I had about 50 hours of flight time in the early 70s, and I was scared to death of banking an airplane too steeply. I was scared to death of stalling an airplane. I would panic at the controls. When you panicat anything, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. She opened the door for me and gave me a 10-hour aerobatic course, and that was it. I had a purpose. I got to live on the Z-axis. Now we have our own high school, our own campus. See all the adults at the academy? All those adults are putting time in and believing in these kids. Igot Bob Hoover looking at my kids. All God wants us to do is leave this world a better place.

FM: How do you see the BHA serving the local community, and how does it work for the kids who get involved, in their lives? How can you broaden its reach?

SDT: I’ve worked 10 years with this public/private partnership, getting students to the point where they can fly—just because the instructor says they can fly, we have a process to ensure they’re ready. I have another volunteer instructor fly with the student, then they go fly with me, and I’m just using all my experience as an airshow evaluator. Remember, these are children, and children’s brains aren’t developed [completely], but these children have some significant milestones they have to get over just to become ready to solo, where your nephew, or your son, or your friend have loving parents, and they can speak about their fears.

Currently, our enrollment is at 22 full-time students, and our capacity for the campus is 40 students. The curriculum is getting them to graduate from high school on an alternative education level, so they don’t thrive academically. They’re smart, they just don’t have the tools, and we’re starting to give them those tools. These are significant baby steps [for children from disadvantaged backgrounds]. And when we mesh the two kids together—kids from loving families, kids that have struggling families—I think it’s going to change the whole equation. And then we can take the template nationwide.

FM: Can you share with us a couple of the gems that Bob Hoover passed on to you?

SDT: ‘Sean, you keep flying that low and that slow, and you’re gonna bust your buttons,’ Bob Hoover once told me. I did not fly that particular maneuver that low or that slow again. Bob Hoover told me a long time ago, ‘Sean, you fly it as far into the wreck as you can—and miss the trees.’ So I can credit Bob with that one, too.

Quick 6

Who’s the one person living or dead that you would most like to fly with? Leo Loudenslager

If you could fly any aircraft that you have not yet flown, what would that be? Lancair Legacy

What is one airport you love to fly into? My favorite airshow venue and airport is Sussex, New Jersey.

What do you believe has been aviation’s biggest breakthrough event or innovation? The industry’s commitment to safety 

What was your favorite airplane to perform in? The Oracle Challenger III, now upside down at the NASM 

When not flying, I’d rather be...I love hiking big, beautiful mountains around the world.

This article was originally published in the March 2023 Issue 935 of  FLYING.

The post Paying It Forward appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

FLYING Magazine (FM): When do you first remember developing a love of airplanes?

Brian J. Terwilliger (BJT): I grew up watching the Blue Angels, building and flying model planes, and turning the walls of my childhood bedroom into an aviation shrine. As a boy, I watched my first IMAX film at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and little did I know then that my passion for airplanes would culminate in a career in aviation filmmaking. It was a life-fulfilling moment to return a couple of decades later to premiere Living in the Age of Airplanes in the same IMAX theater!

FM: What is the backstory on how One Six Right moved from idea to production? Was there one instance, conversation, or lucky break that made that film a reality?

BJT: I learned to fly at the Van Nuys Airport (KVNY). The movie started out as a love letter to my home airport but evolved into a story about the value and struggle of all GA airports. After the idea was born, I reached out to the VNY public affairs office for support and access. Tomy surprise, I was met with heavy resistance. I suppose they didn’t believe that I was actually going to focus on the positive! In the end, the airport became a great ally to the film—but it took years.

FM: You have just remastered One Six Right for Blu-ray—tell us about that project.

BJT: One Six Right was filmed using the Panavision/Sony F900 1080/24p digital cinema camera, and because of the technical limitations of DVDs in that era, less than 20 percent of the camera’s resolution could be displayed. We remastered the film so the full 1080p image could be experienced on an HDTV. It took two about six months full time to rebuild the film shot-by-shot using the original HDCAM source tapes. We overlaid the full HD resolution shots over the DVD version and matched the images, frame for frame. After color correction and digital enhancement using the latest software, the result is a stunning version that looks surprisingly modern.

FM: How long did it take to shoot, edit and secure distribution for both of your documentaries?

BJT: Altogether, it took five years to make One Six Right, and six years to make Living in the Age of Airplanes. They were both extraordinary undertakings, but equally rewarding. I led the efforts from fundraising to marketing and everything in between, though more than 500 people were instrumental in making the two films. Countless decisions were made daily that ultimately resulted in less than two hours on-screen.

FM: Describe how the deal with National Geographic came together that leveraged your crew’s ability to travel to shoot the scenes for Living in the Age of Airplanes?

BJT: National Geographic wasn’t actually involved with the making of the film—I raised the film financing independently and shot it on all seven continents years before NatGeo ever saw it. By making the film without a distributor or release date, I was able to retain complete creative freedom to tell the best version of the story. The message and imagery of the film were a natural fit for NatGeo, and I was thrilled to partner with them as the distributor for the IMAX release in 50 cities worldwide.

FM: What sort of logistical challenges were encountered along the way?

BJT: Documentaries typically have small crews, but since this film didn’t include any on-camera interviews, we didn’t need lighting technicians or even a sound recordist. When traveling to 18 countries over a yearlong period, each additional crew member represents an extraordinary amount of additional money for airfare, lodging, food, etc. The magic formula was a crew of four, including me. The logistics were quite complicated, dealing with foreign languages, interpreters, government agencies, and complex permits for ancient and spiritual sites, gaining access to the Louvre, etc.

FM: In Living in the Age of Airplanes, was that your creative vision to create stunning imagery, or just good luck?

BJT: Our goal was to capture the most stunning images possible! The secret—besides a talented crew and the best equipment—was patience and persistence. We often shot the same subject on multiple days and during different times of day until we got what we were looking for. I set very high standards, and my appetite for great images was insatiable.

FM: Describe the coordination involved in both films between your crew and the pilots flying the subject airplanes. How much did safety play into your decisions?

BJT: Safety is always first. The most important goal in every aerial photo mission is arriving back safely. If we got good shots, that’s a bonus. We’re making a movie—no shot is worth an unnecessary risk, and we plan accordingly. I always create shot lists before a shoot, and even more so with aerials. In the case of air-to-air, everything is briefed beforehand and all questions are addressed on the ground. During the flying sequences, I sit in the backseat of the helicopter with a monitor, and there is constant communication between myself, the pilot, the director of photography, and the pilots flying the subject aircraft. It’s a creative ballet in the air.

FM: Following a bouquet of flowers from the grower in Kenya to the wholesale market in Amsterdam to a vase in Alaska in just over 17 hours in Living in the Age of Airplanes was brilliant. How did the idea come together?

BJT: Airplanes not only take us places far and fast, but they also bring the world to us. Of all the things that travel by air, flowers made the most striking example of a time-sensitive product. The logistics were completely authentic down to the FedEx delivery of the Kenyan flowers in Anchorage, Alaska.

Quick 6

Who’s the one person living or dead (or fictional) you would most like to fly with? 

Pete Mitchell

If you could fly any airplane or helicopter you have not yet flown, what would that be? 

The space shuttle

What is one airport you’ve always wanted to fly into?

An aircraft carrier

What do you believe has been aviation’s biggest breakthrough event or innovation?

Astounding reliability and safety of jet-powered airplanes

What is one important life lesson learned from being a filmmaker?

The power of determination and perseverance

When not shooting a film, I’d rather be…

Traveling and collecting new experiences

This article was originally published in the February 2023 Issue 934 of FLYING.

The post Capturing the Essence of Flying appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

An example of her determination and willingness to adapt to challenges was her 2014 appearance at the World Advanced Aerobatic Championships. She was sharing a CAP 332SC with others in her group, and when it came time for her to compete, the airplane broke down and could not be repaired. Faced with elimination, she welcomed the generosity of an Italian competitor who loaned her his CAP 232. Her mantra of “be bold, be daring” carried her to fourth place in that program—and seventh overall, and first woman overall—despite competing in an unfamiliar airplane she had never flown.

Based in the Alpilles region of Provence in southern France, Astles has found success with competition aerobatics, and also as a race pilot on the Red Bull Air Racing Circuit, where in 2017, she won the event portion held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Astles shared with FLYING how she got to this place, and what she does to maintain her competitive edge.

FLYING Magazine (FM): Your record of achievements indicates you’ve always pushed hard towards your goals and persevered through any challenges you faced. Tell us about your work ethic.

Mélanie Astles (MA): If I had to quote keywords to define my work ethic, those words would be passion, determination, and boldness. I focus on my target, clear away the limiting beliefs, and make a plan to go after it. This way, I can change negative beliefs into positive thinking. I abide by Nelson Mandela’s saying that you either win or you learn. My philosophy is that challenges make you stronger, and failures are incentives to make you progress.

FM: We all know aerobatics competition is extremely strenuous on the human body. How do you condition yourself to handle the G loads of this type of flying?

MA: “A great mind in a healthy body” could be my motto. My physical conditioning is intense, with workouts virtually every day and coaching several times a week. Breathing and abdominal exercises are very important to sustain the G loads, and I recently took up yoga, boxing, and stretching. In aerobatics, mental preparation is just as important as physical preparation.

FM: Does your preparation regime for aerobatics extend to your diet?

MA: I don’t follow a strict diet, because as is everything in life, it should be pleasurable. I eat healthy food regularly but occasionally won’t say no to a pizza, a hamburger, or a drink of champagne.

FM: Walk us through your pre-competition preparations. Do you have methods to eliminate outside life stresses from your mind so you can focus on the demands of the routine?

MA: I guess my best friend is music. Before a competition, I like to be by myself with my headphones listening to my favorite music, oblivious to everything else. At that moment, I am already in the air. In aerobatics, mental preparation is essential. I recently had an insight into hypnosis and learned some basics of autohypnosis, which is sometimes practiced by people, like Bertrand Piccard, who have trained themselves to use autohypnosis for short periods of restorative sleep.

FM: Describe the precision it takes to become a successful Red Bull Air Race (now Air Race World Championship series) pilot. What is the focus like, and what margin of error do you have to maintain to excel?

MA: In aerobatics, we have to perform figures in a limited area, and we are given marks by several judges, very much like ice skating. The difference with air racing is that we compete against the clock, so we are judged on speed. Along the runs, we have to find the best track trajectory, avoid penalties, and preferably not hit a gate.The concentration needs to be maximum because the run is only about 1 minute, so precision is essential, as we fly at nearly 400 km per hour very close to the ground or water. The margin of error is nil.

FM: As a woman, have there ever been times in your career when there were indications that the men around you doubted your skill and determination?

MA: When I was touring with the Red Bull Air Races, I was rather welcomed by the men, everybody was kind and helpful to me. The one problem [I had] was maybe with the media. As the only woman in the sport, I attracted the media, and some of the males resented that, which is a bit understandable. I did not have this feeling of sexism with the other pilots and believe strongly that they saw me as a pilot and not as a woman pilot. And I guess from my results, everybody realized I was not just a pretty face, but was there for fighting and winning!

FM: Throughout your bio and blog posts on your site, you use the word “happiness” frequently. Is flying your happy place?

MA: I always wanted to fly, and when I started flying at 21 years old, the exhilaration was even stronger than I had anticipated. Reaching the sky where I knew I belonged was an intense experience. What other word but “happiness” could I use? My motto of  “Smile On” started when I flew my first Red Bull Air Race in Spielberg, Austria, because I just could not believe this was happening to me. I had a permanent smile on my face, even during my runs. When we get on the course, the clock starts when you hear “Smoke On,” which immediately became “Smile On” for me, and that has remained ever since. It is my peaceful cry which I would like to hear throughout the world.

FM: Tell us about the personal relationship you have with F-HMEL, your Extra 330SC.

MA: F-HMEL is indeed very special to me. When I started competing in aerobatics, I shared airplanes. When I wanted my first airplane, the banks refused to lend me the money. But thanks to the help of one of my sponsors, who helped me build a case with the bankers and stood security for me, I was able to buy F-HMEL, and it has been with me through many competitions. 

FM: Tell us about being an ambassador to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Arizona. What is the importance you place on inspiring young people to become involved in flying?

MA: I am very proud to represent the Pima Air and Space Museum internationally, because it is one of the most beautiful museums I have ever seen. The Pima staff and I share many common values and want to inspire people to join the aviation world by making it feel accessible. I love promoting the museum, it is just so natural for me because the history found there highlights the values I defend.

Quick 6

Who’s the one person living or dead you would most like to fly with? Someone who is dreaming of flying but can’t.

If you could fly any airplane or helicopter, what would that be? The F-15 Eagle, because it’s my favorite fighter.

What is one airport you’ve always wanted to fly into? Oshkosh (KOSH).

What do you believe has been aviation’s biggest break-through event or innovation? Breaking the sound barrier.

What is one important life lesson you’ve learned from being an aerobatic competitor? It is not so much what I do in competition, it is who Ibecome through competing.

When not flying, I’d rather be… Learning new things

The post Melanie Astles Reflects on Perseverance and Precision appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

To Dorn, morphing into Worf each day was a lengthy process because of the amount of makeup and prosthetics required to bring the character to life. But when the cameras stopped rolling, it wasn’t the starship Enterprise that drew Dorn’s attention, it was a Cessna 172 Skyhawk. But there was a problem.

You see, Michael Dorn likes airplanes that go fast. Really fast. After moving through a few general aviation airplanes, he began buying and flying a long list of former U.S. military fighter jets. This desire to go fast also explains why he drives a Tesla Model X P100D today. “It has ‘Ludicrous’ mode,” Dorn says. “I live for on-ramps!”

In an interview with FLYING, Dorn discusses his love of fast airplanes and describes how he developed Worf into such a popular Star Trek character

FLYING Magazine (FM): You’ve owned a Cessna 172, 310, and 340A, and a Citation 501SP, plus a SOCATA Trinidad TB-20, and a Beechcraft Baron 55. What have you owned that satisfies your need for speed?

Michael Dorn (MD): I have been lucky to have owned a number of military jets, including the Casa Saeta HA200, Lockheed T-33, North American F-86C, and North American Sabreliner 40A. But the one jet I have always wanted is the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. The 104 will be my final airplane, because it really goes fast.

FM: Since the military cannot sell their used airplanes directly to the public, how are civilians able to buy these decommissioned military jets?

MD: In the old days, the publications that list used airplanes had a section for fighter jets. You always saw quite a few T-33s, F-86s, MiG-21s, and L-39s. Now, the operations that do dissimilar aerial training with the military need fast airplanes for U.S. pilots to train against, so they fly great stuff. When they are done with these jets, civilians can pick them up to be flown as experimental exhibition airplanes.

FM: Tell me about the exhilaration that you feel flying your fighter jets.

MD: I’ve always wanted to be a fighter pilot since I was very young because I love aerobatics and speed. The jet airplanes I fly can do Mach 1 or Mach 2 and that kind of speed is exhilarating. If you are low to the ground or going through clouds, you get that sensation of speed. But if you’re just blasting through a bright blue sky, it does not feel fast until you look down at your air speed indicator and you see 0.96 Mach and realize that OK, now that’s fast!

FM: Do you use flying as an escape from your work as an actor?

MD: Yes, all the time. When I was working on the show, I was flying at the same time on the weekends because it was a total release. I equate it to meditation because you’re not thinking about anything else but keeping the airplane in the sky. And with a bubble canopy, you have a different perspective looking down on really beautiful country. I get a little ethereal and find myself asking what is the problem here, what are we fighting about?

FM: How was the character of Worf developed? Did you have any input on what we saw on screen?

MD: The cast had already been working together when they decided to add the character of Worf. I went in to read for the part and was in makeup within the hour. They gave me no guidance on what the character is or what they wanted him to be. I asked the show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, what his vision for Worf was, and he told me to just make the character my own. To an actor, that’s like Christmas.

FM: What influenced how you developed the character?

MD: The rest of the cast were all just really nice people on and off screen, laughing a lot, happy to be going into space together. It struck me to make Worf the opposite of that because he was a professional soldier, didn’t joke around, didn’t smile, and was kind of gruff and surly. Luckily, the writers took off on that and wrote some fantastic stuff with that in mind.

FM: What is the one attribute a young person needs if they want to break into acting as a career?

MD: They need to have thick skin and be resilient because it’s a tough business. When I started, there were only three television networks, that was it. Now there is so much out there with all the cable and streaming work that if someone knows their craft, the chances of working and making a living as an actor are pretty good. To rise to the top and become a star, you have to be very good at your craft. Even if you are not a star, you can still be a character actor and work all the time.

FM: A lot has been said about Worf’s makeup on the show. What was it like putting all that on and taking it off at the end of shooting each day?

MD: When we started, it was three hours to do the makeup and glue on the prosthetics. By the end of my run as Worf, it was down to one hour and 45 minutes. It was very challenging because they are literally putting glue on your face, and you have to wear it for as long as 15 hours. When I was made up as Worf, I couldn’t go and have lunch in the commissary, because when I would come back, they would have to reglue. That part of the role made my skin crawl.

FM: Once you were made up as Worf, did you stay in character on the set?

MD: No, I am not one of those actors who needs to be in character to do the job. They would say, “action,” and I’d do my lines as Worf; and when they said, “cut,” I would just say, “thanks,” and go about my business. People onset would see me as Worf and assumed I, too, was gruff and surly because I had the makeup for that. But that was not at all the case. I am nothing like Worf in that regard.

FM: Now that Capt. Kirk has gone to space, is that a ride you want to take?

MD: No, because it is dangerous, even if they’re not going into orbit. It’s one of those things where you’re not in control. They put you into a rocket and just shoot you up. For the money they want to go up, I’d much rather use that to buy an F-104.

Quick 6

Name one person you’d like to fly with, living or dead.

Bob Hoover

If you could fly any airplane or helicopter, what would that be?

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

What one airport would you most want to fly into someday?

The airport in Lukla, Nepal [VNLK]. Yikes!

What has been aviation’s biggest innovation?

There are two: the jet engine, and advancements in technology including GPS.

Would Worf have made a good fighter pilot?

He would’ve been an incredible fighter pilot because, like real fighter pilots, he did not have any fear.

When you’re not flying, what would you rather be doing?

Playing tennis. Wherever I lived, I made sure there was a court within 2 or 3 miles.

The post From the Starfighter to the <i>Enterprise NCC-1701-D</i> appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Fornof’s body of work could fill a book, and in fact, it will soon, as he is currently working on his biography, My Life Is a Movie, to be released at a later date. It will be a wild ride through a career that features just about every outrageous thing you could do with an airplane while the cameras were rolling…except fly right through a billboard. That stunt was planned, but cut for one of the Bond films, and—like everything Fornof has done—had it happened, it would have been spectacular. Here’s a look at the backstory of how Fornof has done so much and lived to tell the tale.

FLYING Magazine (FM): Your 17,000-plus hours not only include movie stunt work, but also a long career as an airshow pilot and test pilot. How many performances and different aircraft fill your logbooks?

Corkey Fornof (CF): I’ve flown more than 3,000 low-level aerial performances and practice sessions as a formation team or solo in the T-6 Texan, P-51 Mustang, F8F Bearcat, Pitts Special, Bellanca Super Viking, Christen Eagle, and the world’s smallest jet, the BD-5J. To date, I’ve flown 311 different aircraft.

FM: When your movie stunt flying involves dangerous maneuvers, who is in charge when planning the stunt, and who has the final say when it comes to safety?

CF: I work as an aerial coordinator/stunt pilot, which is a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) position to write, design, and fly the ‘money shot’ sequences. On set, I have total control over safety. If I, the director, or first assistant director (1st AD) sees an uncomfortable situation and makes a safety radio call of “CUT CUT CUT,” that stops everything and gets everyone’s attention.

FM: With so many moving parts to a stunt flying sequence, what measures are put in place to assure safety from start to finish?

CF: Posted on the call sheet is a notice that aircraft will be used on set, and everyone must attend a safety brief-ing before filming. The 1st AD will make it clear that before anything is done around or to aircraft, it must have my approval. For air-to-air filming, I always have a full safety briefing before filming sequences, and everyone on set knows I am the director during air-to-air shoots.

FM: What is one of the closest “close calls” you have had while filming a stunt sequence?

CF: We were using Kauai’s Nā Pali coast flying a Cessna 402 to shoot sequences by flying down the dramatic canyons towards the ocean. Coming over one saddle, I saw three swinging wires all about 2 inches in diameter. With the nose 45 degrees down, there was no way to go over them, and if I went under them, I would impact the ground, so I just tried to fly between the wires.

FM: How does someone survive flying a Cessna 402 through three large power wires?

CF: The top wire came across the nose and windscreen and clipped off part of the vertical rudder. I felt pain in my left foot and looking down, I saw a long gash about 3 feet by 5 feet at the rudder pedals, where part of the wire was attached. At the time, I had no idea we were dragging about a 150-foot-long piece of the wire, which acted like a tailhook as we took out the main powerlines into Princeville. The airplane was still flying, so no emergency was declared. We landed safely at Lihue [PHLI]. I credit the training I had with saving all of our lives.

FM: What’s the best piece of training advice you ever received?

CF: The training from my father, Bill Fornof, and Bob Hoover was unbeatable. They were kings of the air-show business in the 1960s and 1970s. They told me to go watch a ballet because when you watch a ballerina on stage, you see they have total control over their hands and feet, and they demonstrate total control in energy management. They also have great situational awareness on stage. I learned to fly as they dance, in total control.

FM: So what’s the story about you and Bob Hoover’s sig-nature Panama hat?

CF: When I was 13 years old, I started flying in the back of Hoover’s Mustang to airshows, to clean his air-plane and my father’s Bearcat. I was getting sunburned cleaning the airplanes, and eventually started wearing a Panama hat. Hoover saw me wearing it at one of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base shows and liked it, so he started wearing one too. So I was the person who introduced Hoover to that style of hat, which sort of became his trademark. He signed that original hat, and I still have it in my office.

FM: What was the biggest stunt you ever filmed?

CF: Flying a Jetstar II through a large hangar door in Face/Off. The shot had 26 cameras, more than any other shoot in film history. We had one take, so I watched my GPS for 60 knots, and then just turned 90 degrees and drove the Jetstar through the hangar doors while explosives were going in the hangar.

FM: Is flying these unbelievable stunts ever fun?

CF: It is all very hard work, but we do have our fun. During the filming of Phantom, I was Catherine Zeta-Jones’ stunt double for the biplane scenes. It was not an easy task—she’s beautiful. I wore a long wig and a leather helmet. That night at a cast party by the resort’s pool, as the crew was having some good-natured fun ribbing me, Catherine grabbed an open mike and said across the entire resort PA system that if she and I were in the same dress, wig, and make-up, you couldn’t tell us apart from a half-mile away! The pool area came apart with laughter.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the Q2 2022 issue of FLYING Magazine.

The post A Legendary Movie Pilot Shares a Lifetime of Great Stories appeared first on FLYING Magazine.