Is it possible to make a living as an airshow performer?

[Melissa2983298]

Are there any airshow performers that have made a living by just flying airshows? I know Rob Holland does, but are there any others? How much do they make?

Thank you!

 

[jesse]

No clue, seems like it's a "who you know" club since you need to secure sponsors with big pockets.

 

[MachFly]

Yeah it's possible, what you need is to find a sponsor and that may be difficult. I've read somewhere that it took Michael Goulian almost 20 years to do that. Basically to find a sponsor you need to show that you know what you're doing, to do that you need to win a few competition, to do that you need to find a way to fund all your own training and get a competitive airplane.
To answer your question about who else does it full time...just a few from the top of my head, Rob Holland (as you said), Sean Tucker, all the Red Bull pilots, Skip Stewart, and a whole bunch of others.
Regarding how much they make, look at Kirby Chambliss' house, N32°34'17.84" W111°43'34.63", and a list of planes he owns: http://www.redbullusa.com/cs/Satellite/en_US/Video/Aerobatic-Pilot-Kirby-Chambliss-Shows-Off-the-Planes-in-His-Garage-021243108056027.

 

[Henning]

Yes, if you are young enough to put in 10 years of dedicated effort refining the craft and skills, making connections, getting your waivers, developing sponsorship incentive. It's the same as any entertainment business, if you aren't born into it, it takes at least 10 years of perseverance and preparation to get to the point where you can make a comfortable living at it depending on hard work and/or luck. If you're a cute girl, you definitely have a leg up in the industry. You'll have to go through the 'boy's club' hazing, but in general if you are good and have a good attitude, you'll come out the better. Being cute hasn't hurt Patty Wagstaff's career one bit.

I would think 'Airshow Performer' would make a good midlife crisis change of career.

 

[whifferdill]

Yeah it's possible, what you need is to find a sponsor and that may be difficult. I've read somewhere that it took Michael Goulian almost 20 years to do that. Basically to find a sponsor you need to show that you know what you're doing, to do that you need to win a few competition, to do that you need to find a way to fund all your own training and get a competitive airplane.
To answer your question about who else does it full time...just a few from the top of my head, Rob Holland (as you said), Sean Tucker, all the Red Bull pilots, Skip Stewart, and a whole bunch of others.
Regarding how much they make, look at Kirby Chambliss' house, N32°34'17.84" W111°43'34.63", and a list of planes he owns: http://www.redbullusa.com/cs/Satell...Off-the-Planes-in-His-Garage-021243108056027.

Finding a small sponsor is not too hard. Finding a sponsor that will pay you enough to live on is extremely hard (how marketable are your abilities as an airshow pilot and personality?) Finding a sponsor who will make you rich is...well, you'll probably have an easier time forgetting airshows, and just becoming an NBA star.

The truth is that 99% of airshow pilots don't and can't make a living from their flying. They have (or had) other means of income and can afford to support their airshow "career". They may get some small additional help from sponsors. I think you can count on one hand the airshow pilots in the country who make a living on airshow flying alone. It helps to land a sponsor like Oracle or Red Bull. They're definitely not all living large as a result of their flying. Rob Holland is about the best in the business, anywhere in the world. He sold his two-seat media ride plane a couple years ago. Airshow pilots have ups and downs, depending on the sponsor situation. Sponsors come and go. Might take some time to find a good new one. A true airshow "career" is really not something to plan on unless you have top level talent and top level drive...and some people skills and smarts, and maybe a little luck. Being independently wealthy helps too.

 

[MachFly]

Finding a small sponsor is not too hard.

Yeah...but I really don't think that it should play a significant role in a career choice. I can see a small sponsor paying for your annual or repacking your chutes, but your not getting a brand new MXS (or anything remotely similar).

The way I see it you either have to have a whole bunch of money in advance (as you pointed out), or be willing to sacrifice everything and live in the same hanger as your plane to be able to fund it.

 

[whifferdill]

Yeah...but I really don't think that it should play a significant role in a career choice. I can see a small sponsor paying for your annual or repacking your chutes, but your not getting a brand new MXS (or anything remotely similar).

That was one of my points - the sponsor logos you see on the airplanes at airshows (aside from the few A-listers) are pretty modest contributors.

 

[MachFly]

That was one of my points - the sponsor logos you see on the airplanes at airshows (aside from the few A-listers) are pretty modest contributors.

Right...


I really need to start actively competing and find a sponsor, even a whole bunch of mini ones.

 

[AcroGimp]

If you look at the truly top-level performers of the last 20 or so years, they are great showmen and outgoing personalities. Yes they are great sticks, but they are personable, tell a great story, are high-energy - and this is what makes them attractive to major sponsors.

Patty, Sean, Rob, Skip, Kirby, Michael, Kyle, and Matt, the list is short and even Sean has a school. Up and comers like Melissa Pemberton and her husband Rex are working hard but supplement performance fees with speaking and appearance fees beyond airshows.

ICAS I think has, or had, a great article on this very subject that talked about Jacqui Warda as an example. Most performers do well to approach breaking even on the costs to campaign across 8-12 shows a year.

Performers here in the SouthWest region like Jon Melby (Brokerage Manager), Vicki Benzing (High Tech), Tim Just (UAV's), Chuck Coleman (Engineering) and others all have careers that fund their flying obsession - performance fees help to offset costs of training, maintenance, etc. And these are all fantastic sticks, truly great performers.

Would I love to be an airshow pilot? Sure I would, once I achieve a level of proficiency that would allow me to do it. But I would not expect to be able to support my wife and daughter in the style to which they have become accustomed with me being a senior level engineering manager.

'Gimp

 

[Alexb2000]

Yeah it's possible, what you need is to find a sponsor and that may be difficult. I've read somewhere that it took Michael Goulian almost 20 years to do that. Basically to find a sponsor you need to show that you know what you're doing, to do that you need to win a few competition, to do that you need to find a way to fund all your own training and get a competitive airplane.
To answer your question about who else does it full time...just a few from the top of my head, Rob Holland (as you said), Sean Tucker, all the Red Bull pilots, Skip Stewart, and a whole bunch of others.
Regarding how much they make, look at Kirby Chambliss' house, N32°34'17.84" W111°43'34.63", and a list of planes he owns: http://www.redbullusa.com/cs/Satellite/en_US/Video/Aerobatic-Pilot-Kirby-Chambliss-Shows-Off-the-Planes-in-His-Garage-021243108056027.

Kirby is also a Sr. Captain for Southwest. I don't know about the others, but these "other" jobs sure help get that kind of career rolling.

 

[whifferdill]

I really need to start actively competing and find a sponsor, even a whole bunch of mini ones.

So you want the big money, glamour, and adoration of an airshow career too, huh? What kind of plane do you have?

 

[Velocity173]

I think if one pursued being an air show pilot maybe 20 years ago you'd have a good chance at breaking in and making a living wage. Now a days the air show industry isn't exactly thriving. There have been several articles over the last couple of years highlighting the problems (military participation) and speculating that 2013 was the start of the decline for the air show. A lot of cancelations last year and some this year as well, mostly because of lack of military.

I've been attending air shows for over 30 yrs and I'm not pleased with the trend I see them going. It's becoming strictly a money making venture but unfortunately most are barely breaking even. Ten years ago you could pay $12-$15 to get in a show. Last month in Symrna TN, I paid $30. Concessions have almost doubled as well. Years ago you could show up early and get a front line show center seat. Now, that's reserved for expensive chalets. With the military not participating (minus the Blues & Tbirds) you're left with hardly any statics. In the 80s you could spend a couple of hours just walking around the military statics. Today you have a lineup of top civilian rated civilian performers but let's face it, one tumbling performance after another gets old after a few hours.

So, with the shaky ground I see air shows on right now, I definitely wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket in hopes of being a performer. Good luck to ya though.

 

[MachFly]

Kirby is also a Sr. Captain for Southwest. I don't know about the others, but these "other" jobs sure help get that kind of career rolling.

Yeah but he's been on leave forever now, and I doubt plants on coming back anytime soon.

 

[MachFly]

So you want the big money, glamour, and adoration of an airshow career too, huh? What kind of plane do you have?

No, I just want to get paid to do aerobatics. Charter is good and all, but a Pitts is more fun than a King Air.

I don't own anything, but I do get to fly an S2C a few times a month.

 

[MachFly]

In the 80s you could spend a couple of hours just walking around the military statics. Today you have a lineup of top civilian rated civilian performers but let's face it, one tumbling performance after another gets old after a few hours.

You can still spend a few hours walking about the military statics if you go to a base airshow.

And what do you mean by "one tumbling performance after another gets old?" I'm sorry but I completely disagree with you on that, I can spend hours watching a tumbling MXS. Granted most non-pilots at airshows will get bored, but who cares.

 

[ClimbnSink]

Always figured being an airshow performer was a good use of a trust fund.

 

[Melissa2983298]

Thank you for the replies everyone! Honestly, I've always wanted to be an airshow performer (basically the Rob Holland story; my dad took me to an airshow and I was hooked). I'm fortunate enough to be only 19, have my PPL (working on IFR) and starting aerobatic training within the next year with a school that trains for aerobatic competitions. I'm also fortunate enough to have a IAC competition just a few hours from me that I hope to compete in! Right now, I'm majoring in Mechanical Engineering as a backup, and continuing my training for as long as I need to in order to receive my ATP rating. I'm going to start flying in IAC competitions, and hopefully advancing through the ranks of competition! (I've always wanted to be on the US Aerobatic team!) I'll pursue my dream and if it's meant to be, it'll happen!

 

[kayoh190]

Sounds like you have a nice plan - good luck with it!

 

[Alexb2000]

Yeah but he's been on leave forever now, and I doubt plants on coming back anytime soon.

I thought when I read his bio he said that the Southwest job allowed him to pursue acro, racing, etc. for years until he was fortunate enough to get sponsors, etc?

 

[ebykowsky]

As someone who's been on both sides of sponsorships, I can tell you that your ability as a pilot is NOT the most important thing when it comes to gaining sponsors. Rather, your ability to market yourself and provide value to the sponsors is. Constantly be thinking about how you can give them return on investment, connect them with their target market, and sell their products. Even if you're Bob Hoover, slapping a company logo on your plane won't do jack squat for that company. Be creative and willing to work hard for your sponsors once you feel you're in a position to do so. Get experience in sales and marketing. I've seen plenty of emails asking for a sponsorship where the person requests money in exchange for putting a logo on their plane/boat/jacket/etc. I've also sent several of those emails myself. They all wind up in the delete folder.

PS what school do you go to? (If you don't mind!)

 

[Velocity173]

You can still spend a few hours walking about the military statics if you go to a base airshow.

And what do you mean by "one tumbling performance after another gets old?" I'm sorry but I completely disagree with you on that, I can spend hours watching a tumbling MXS. Granted most non-pilots at airshows will get bored, but who cares.

Even military air shows are a shell of what they used to be. You have far less statics and demos than they used to have. If you ever get a hold of a show program from say 20-30 yrs ago and compare it to now, you'd see a marked difference. Take the NAS Jacksonville air show for instance. In 1996 I was there and this was their line up: The Blue Angels, military demos from the F-18, F-14, AV-8B, F-16, German F-4, German Tornado, S-3, P-3 and British Nimrod. On top of all that they had ramp with statics from one end to the other. Of course they had the usual civilian performers as well. This years line up has the Blues and the usual civilian performers. No way they're going to have any decent statics there. I was there in 2008 and they had hardly anything. Not gonna be any better today with the cut backs in the military.

Another show that isn't anything like it used to be is the Daytona Beach show. That used to be something special. The ramp was full of military and it had the who's who of civilian and military performers. On Sunday after the show the military pilots would compete for the best flyby before leaving. Shows like that are long gone. Now it called the Wings & Waves show. It has a decent line up this year but nothing like it used to be.

You and I can appreciate the different styles of civilian aerobatic performers (no one flys lower than Skip Stewart) but the facts are the public is drawn to the military teams. Just reading World Air Show News in the past couple of months the organizers were having to cancel because they couldn't get a team. Some, even with a team were just breaking even. Some shows (Vectron) had a sharp decline in attendance when they couldn't pull in a team. Combine that with the rising costs of putting on a show and you have the predictable cancelations. The only thing keeping some of these shows in business are the military demo teams. Just maybe a month ago I read Congress is thinking about getting rid of the Blues and the Tbirds all together. That's what I mean about shaky ground right now in the air show industry.

To me air shows are like GA. Their glory days have come and gone and they won't be back.

 

[Velocity173]

To the OP. You've gone from always wanting to be a controller, to always wanted to be an airline pilot, to always wanted to be an air show performer in just 4 months. You're gonna be one busy girl with all those jobs!

Not saying you couldn't do all three but my advice would be to narrow one down soon and make definitive plans for attaining it. Keep your options open but make a concerted effort to one primary goal. The secondary goals could happen later down the road. Of course marriage and kids sometimes sidetracks those plans as well.

 

[Melissa2983298]

To the OP. You've gone from always wanting to be a controller, to always wanted to be an airline pilot, to always wanted to be an air show performer in just 4 months. You're gonna be one busy girl with all those jobs!

Not saying you couldn't do all three but my advice would be to narrow one down soon and make definitive plans for attaining it. Keep your options open but make a concerted effort to one primary goal. The secondary goals could happen later down the road. Of course marriage and kids sometimes sidetracks those plans as well.

That is true! Honestly, aerobatics has always been where my heart is; every year, I go to two airshows in my state (driving two hours each way) and attend both days just to meet the pilots, get them to sign pictures I've taken of them, etc. My parents always said when I was younger, I would make them go to all of the airshows :wink2: The other occupations I've looked into, and the reason I've jumped around a lot, is because I was trying to find an aviation career that would allow me to take weekends for airshows off without being fired, which is why I was getting so many opinions. I'm going to be starting aerobatic lessons soon, so we'll see how much I like it and if I'm good at it!

 

[Velocity173]

Well if you get airsick, don't let it deter you. Chuck Yeager got sick on his first flight and look what he's done. I got sick on my first aerobatic flight in a T-34 a long time ago. Sick sac actually busted in my lap from the Gs! I was absolutely exhausted when we landed but I still thought it was the coolest thing in the world.

Over the years I've gotten sick a few other times during acro but it's only when someone else was flying. When I take my little Glasair up on weekends, I'm fine. It's just something that usually goes away in time for most.

 

[whifferdill]

...but let's face it, one tumbling performance after another gets old after a few hours.

Totally agree with that. There are way too many monoplane airshow acts that are boring tumble-snapfests, and not done with a high degree of skill, control, creativity, or imagination. A few of the big name guys can do them in a more interesting, skilled way. But lots of average airshow pilots use lots of tumbles because they are way easy to do for a lot of perceived "wow" factor for airshow crowds. But airshow pilots are flying for your average spectator, not us. There are only a few airshows acts I have much interest in watching.

 

[Velocity173]

Totally agree with that. There are way too many monoplane airshow acts that are boring tumble-snapfests, and not done with a high degree of skill, control, creativity, or imagination. A few of the big name guys can do them in a more interesting, skilled way. But lots of average airshow pilots use lots of tumbles because they are way easy to do for a lot of perceived "wow" factor for airshow crowds. But airshow pilots are flying for your average spectator, not us. There are only a few airshows acts I have much interest in watching.

Last month Syrmna had all the big names. I actually enjoyed the jet Waco "Screaming Sasquatch" the most. Brought back memories of Jimmy Franklin. I don't remember Jimmy bringing it to a complete stop and then accelerating straight up though. Enjoyed the Quick Silver Mustang and enjoyed Skip's performance before he landed with engine problems. The monoplane stuff, no one really stood out. Basically a tie between Rob & Mike.

 

[Henning]

You can still spend a few hours walking about the military statics if you go to a base airshow.

And what do you mean by "one tumbling performance after another gets old?" I'm sorry but I completely disagree with you on that, I can spend hours watching a tumbling MXS. Granted most non-pilots at airshows will get bored, but who cares.

I agree with the tumbling acts getting old. All it is is brute power and brutal maneuvers, there's no grace or elegance. In the dance of aerobatics, modern tumbling routines are akin to watching a mosh pit.

 

[Neal Howard]

I used to share a hangar with Jill Long (Ragged Edge) few years ago at our airport. Basically her sponsorships only covered some of the aircraft and performing expenses and she didn't come anywhere close to making any money at it. I also know David Martin and don't believe he "makes a living" from performing either, but both of them definitely have had a lot of fun performing airshows. Both have undoubtedly had to put a lot of their own money into the endeavor just to get to perform.