Chuck Aaron

Chuck Aaron
Full name Charles Aaron
Born (1948-11-21) 21 November 1948[1]
San Antonio, Texas
Nationality American
Aviation career
Known for TAH-1F Cobra
Helicopter Aerobatics
"Red Bull Air Force"
First flight 1968[1]
Flight license Fixed-Wing & Helicopter Pilot,[2]
Helicopter Aerobatics (2005)
(all FAA)
Awards Art Scholl Showmanship (2009)
SETP Member (2011)
Living Legend of Aviation (2013)
HAI Pilot of the Year (2014)
Website
chuckaaron.com

Charles 'Chuck' Aaron (call sign "Malibu") is the only pilot licensed by the FAA to perform aerobatics in a helicopter in the United States,[3] and one of only three such pilots in the world.[4] In 1980, Aaron worked on the air rescue program for NASA's Space Shuttle, and he founded his own company, FX Helicopters in Westlake Village, California in 1997.[5] Aaron made his last pefomance at the 2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship in Las Vegas.

Aaron is also an experienced test pilot, having test-flown a tracking system for the Boeing AH-64 Apache; and an infrared vision system as the first helicopter pilot to deliberately fly into brownout conditions. He is also an FAA certificated Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic, and has assembled three working TAH-1F Cobras from surplus parts.[6]

Aaron performs aerobatic maneuvers—loop, roll, vertical climb, Split S, Cuban Eight, Immelman, and “Chuckcevak” (modified Lomcovak)—at air shows and other demonstrations in an MBB Bo 105, with proprietary modifications invented by Aaron, that allow it to perform maneuvers previously impossible for helicopters.[5] This was featured in the opening sequence of the James Bond film Spectre.[7] He serves as Chief Pilot and Director of A&P Maintenance for the “Red Bull Air Force”.[5] One of Aaron's TAH-1F Cobras is flown on the European air show circuit, by “The Flying Bulls”.[5]

Awards

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/9/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.