ANN Chats With Helo Pilot Charles 'Chuck' Aaron

by ANN Correspondent Valentino Valencia

Every story has a beginning... so what makes legendary helicopter pilot Charles "Chuck" Aaron's so special? Well, Chuck will go down in the history books as the first pilot to get his aerobatic certificate in a helicopter, the Red Bull BO-105 CBS made by Eurocopter/Messerschmitt Boelkow Blohm (MBB).

How he got there is enough to write a book on. It almost seems that he was born into aviation, although Chuck will say he was never pushed into it. For him, his father (a flight instructor) was "my greatest inspiration." This ignited the fire... but it was rotorcraft that gave him that feeling of a "magic carpet ride."

Fast forward several years... to when energy drink company Red Bull asked him if he could make a helicopter perform aerobatics. Chuck needed some time to ponder the notion, but he soon came around to the idea. However, it took one-and-a-half years to convince the FAA, and several modifications to his helicopter, to make that dream a reality.

Besides the aerobatic certificate, Chuck also has an aerobatic move named after him -- similar to the Lomcevak, called (naturally) the "Chuckcevak."

So what drives Chuck to do what he does? "I really want young kids to see what I'm doing, take that experience and take their own dreams and say what can I do that is as big as that is in aviation."

And what's next for Chuck in all his endeavors? Chuck is working on making additional modifications to his aircraft so he can hover upside down. "It's going to take a lot of work and even though I know how to do it, it's going to take a lot of nerve to do it, and I'm just not there mentally yet," said Chuck.

One of the questions that is on a lot of peoples' minds, and one that Chuck gets asked a lot, is if he has any intentions of starting up a flight school. To that he replied, "I may do that, I'm kicking that around. The one thing that I want people to understand is that I don't want anyone to get hurt doing what I'm doing. I've got a lot of years and a lot of experience and a lot of close calls doing what I'm doing. I've scared myself to death a bunch and probably should have died 15 times ago.

"As long as I can teach someone how to do it and feel safe about it, than I will do it."

FMI: www.redbullusa.com