Helicopter Aerobatic Pilot, Chuck Aaron, Says It’s Time To ‘Hang It Up’

Those of us who are amazed anytime we see a helicopter do something wild were sad to read the following tweet from airshow performer Chuck Aaron, “I am retiring from the "Airshow Circuit". After 10 years and about 250 Airshow...My last Airshow will be at the Red Bull Air Race in Las Vegas on October 17-18. I will continue to be a pilot of course, but I'll be done with the Airshow Circus.”

If you think helicopter aerobatics looks like something that just shouldn’t be happening, the Red Bull Team website makes it clear how unusual it is. The site says that just three pilots in the world hold aerobatic helicopter licenses, and all of them fly with Red Bull markings. Chuck Aaron is the only American.

Aaron is the guy who makes chit-chat while barrel-rolling a Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm Bo-105 and hurling the thing toward the Earth in complete control, his calm hands twisting the very physics that govern rotary-wing aircraft.

When Aaron performs at shows, it seems impossible he could speak a single word while concentrating on spiraling his helicopter in the air, but he'll actually do a little real-time back-and-forth with the guy on the PA for the crowd to hear. “I tell the announcer to choose a trick, then I have to do it as he asks me to prove that it’s not recorded," he told RedBull.com.

Aaron, who has been a member of the elite Flying Bulls with fellow helicopter stuntmen Siegfried Schwarz and Rainer Wilke, has been flying upside down for nine years (although it’s pointed out that he's been flying right-side up for much longer). His Bo-105, a lightweight, ultra-maneuverable aircraft meant for police and medical evacuations, uses a titanium rotor system with fiberglass-reinforced plastic blades.

The bottom line is, Aaron’s helicopter is tough and it takes one heck of a guy to do the things that he can make it do. We will miss him on the airshow circuit?

(Image from Red Bull website)

FMI: www.redbullairforce.com