Boston-area airshow pilot Michael Goulian is to receive the airshow industry’s 2009 Bill Barber Award for Showmanship during this year’s EAA AirVenture at the end of July. He joins a list of distinguished airshow performers.

Goulian grew up with aviation after his late father Myron Goulian, a former crop duster and airline-training pilot, established Executive Flyers Aviation in Bedford, Mass., in 1964. Like his father, Goulian soloed by his sixteenth birthday and soon began aerobatic training. After numerous medals in aerobatic competitions over a number of years, he won the U.S. National Unlimited Champion title in 1995. His father was there to see it.

Goulian has mentored youngsters who dream, as he once did, of a career as an airshow performer. With co-author Geza Szurovy, Goulian wrote Basic and Advanced Aerobatics , now recognized as one of the top-selling aerobatic training books. Goulian currently competes in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship at sites around the world. Watch a video of his latest race online.