In any given aeronautical period, there's a pilot that performs extraordinary feats with his flying machine. Chuck Aaron is such a pilot. An aerobatic helicopter daredevil. As such, he's thrilled crowds with his incredible aeronautical maneuvers in the one-of-a-kind Red Bull chopper. No one else does backflips and 360 degree barrel rolls in a chopper. His signature 'Chuckcilvak' free fall is breath stopping.

Aaron is the first and only civilian pilot licensed to do what he does with a helicopter. He's also the first helicopter pilot to achieve the Art Scholl Showmanship award for outstanding air show performances. In 2011 Aaron was inducted to the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and in 2013 officially honored as a Living Legend in Aviation.

After 10 strenuous years of performing at air shows, Captain Chuck Aaron is retiring.

I had the opportunity to chat briefly with Aaron at the Camarillo airport prior to his recent Wings Over Camarillo air show performance.

Chuck, you're retiring, why?

Aaron began: “I've started doing this actually at this very air show back in 2005. I've done air shows all across the United States from Los Angeles, to Key West, New York, Chicago, Seattle, Hawaii twice and back to here. I usually do about 35 air shows a year which means I'm gone from home. So it's really about family. I love to fly, and I'll still always fly but I'm just going to stop the air show routine because it takes me away from home so much. Ten years of it is plenty... I think I've set a standard and set the bar up so the kids that see me will recognize, look he's thought outside the box and do what he does at air shows and I want them to at least also think outside of the box in anything they're doing. I don't care what it is. I don't care if they're cutting grass, or if they're engineers. I want them to think what can I do to change this world to make it a better environment to make it better for everyone else. And what I really want the kids to do is to change aviation and particularly change helicopters and make them so they're faster and more effective and more useful. So I just want to be an inspiration to kids to dream up ideas... they're the ones with the computer brains. I almost missed that whole part of life... I'm right in the middle of it at my age and I just hang onto what little computer work I know. My grandkids are here and they can whip through computers 10 times faster than me. I was born a little too early for the computer age but early enough to where I can do what I'm doing in aviation. But there's still a lot more to do and that's what I want. I want these smart kids to come up and do well and think outside of the box like I did and dream up new aviation opportunities.”

Do you know of anyone following in your footsteps, close to doing what you're doing, I asked?

No, but Sikorsky has a program where any child can come up with a better idea... an annual program where a kid can submit an idea... a drawing or an idea of some kind... of a new type of design. If they like your idea, they'll award a scholarship. After college, maybe bring them aboard the Sikorsky team. There are programs out there... we just need thinkers, we need doers, people thinking outside of the box.”

Who made the Red Bull helicopter that you fly, I asked?

“This aircraft was made by Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm.* I took it here to my hanger and did some secret modifications to it that I can't tell you about. All we did was make it a little more beefy, a little stronger, changed the center of gravity on it and some other little tricks so we could do air shows with it.
Has the industry learned anything from your work with this helicopter?

“I'm sure they have, of course,” Aaron said “Quadcopters have come out since then and I think that's where technology is going to go. I think, for an idea, is go with quadcopters. Try to make that scenario
of four blades inside a protective shroud like the drones. They could hover stable and fly really fast, super fast. That's where aviation is going... a mix of something between a helicopter which can only do 150 miles/hour maximum and a jet that can go 500-600 miles/hour. At some point, some time, a helicopter is going to get up to 500-600 miles/hour. It's going to get there. It's a matter of someone thinking about how am I going to get there, how can I make this happen. What do I have to engineer to make it work... to make it function. That's where the world is going. So the first person that does that is going to set the world on fire.”

Is Sikorsky the premier helicopter company? I asked.

“Them and Bell. I like both companies. Both companies are great... great American companies. Sikorsky is super innovative. They came out with the Sikorsky X2 which is a one of a kind prototype which has my rotor system on it, two of them, stacked on top of each other and counter-rotate. And they added a propeller that we call a pusher prop on the tail that pushes the aircraft. They don't have a tail rotor blade like I have to counter torque. The main rotor blades are used for liftoff and fly away like a helicopter and they add power to the pusher prop to push it faster. That type of idea, or something like it in the future is going to be the quadcopter type of effect. But they have that one (X2) doing 270 knots... almost 300 miles/hour. So we can go faster now by taking the next step. And that's how we have to do everything... step by step by step.”

Have they been analyzing your helicopter?

“Oh yeah they have,” was the immediate response, adding, “I've taken their test pilots up and showed them how it works.”

They must have gained a good deal of knowledge from your experience, I said.

“I'm sure they have but of course they won't be telling me about it”, said Aaron.

I have heard that it took an over abundance of courage to pull off the first back flip with the Red Bull chopper. So I asked.

“It's a long story but the short story of that is, after I got the aircraft certified by the FAA... at that time no one in the FAA has ever certified a helicopter to do aerobatics but I got it done. Then it came time for ME to get certified. Now that I've gone this far down the road, I had to teach myself to do a loop. I went out in the middle of nowhere and tried doing loops and couldn't do it. I'd chicken out. I tried it 50 times and every time I'd go up and maybe do one degree more and chicken out. You can't mess it up because if you do you die. Finally one day... it was the perfect clear day like today... I felt good so I went out and took it up and I was pulling up to go to my chicken point... it's been three months of doing this... and I said I'm finally going for it. I pulled it over and did the loop. I was so excited I did ten more in a row, right then, ten in a row because I didn't want to forget what I did and I wanted to remember how I did it. For me, it felt like I'd gone through the speed of sound.

That all happened in 2005 and Aaron has been thrilling air show crowds since.

His parting comments for future pilots: “Be careful. Practice. Think about what you're doing. Think about how to get out of something if you do something dumb. Make sure you have an escape plan. Always think things out... always talk it out with others, talk with your mentors, figure it all out before you jump off and do something. Don't do it on your own. Don't do it in a wild flash second, you have to plan it. That's what I did and I'm still alive to be here to tell you about it.”

If you missed the Wings Over Camarillo air show, the Miramar air show is the last best chance to see Chuck Aaron perform in the Red Bull helicopter. His rolls, flips, and 'Chuckcilvak' free fall are helicopter aerobatics to behold. You too will wonder... did I just see a helicopter do a back flip??? I often resort to pinching myself to be sure I really saw what I think I saw.

Aaron's remaining schedule is the Red Bull air race in Dallas, TX September 26-27. Then to the Miramar, CA air show October 2-4, and the last show is his half time performance at the Red Bull air race in Las Vegas NV on October 17-18.

Miramar air show info is at http://miramarair show.com/

*Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) was a German aerospace manufacturer formed as the result of several mergers in the late 1960s. Among its best-known products was the MBB Bo 105 light twin helicopter. The company was bought by Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG in 1989, now part of EADS.