Debrief

Thrilling audiences in his Oracle Challenger biplane each year in front of as many as 8 million people, Sean D. Tucker is one of the country’s best-known aviation performers.

STARTED IN AVIATION… My father was a pilot and when I was 14 he took me flying. He was a white-knuckle flyer. It was early, like 5 a.m. and overcast and completely pitch black. He was doing an instrument training flight with an instructor. I remember when he busted through the overcast the sun was rising over the high Sierras and I knew right there there was a God and right there that I wanted to be in the sky.

EARLY CHALLENGES… After receiving my license, which took me four years to get, I was a very careful flyer, and a very fearful flyer. My instructors instilled a huge fear of me flying airplanes. I had 65 hours. I was afraid to stall an airplane. I remember taking friends flying and them asking me to do steep turns, and I wouldn’t. I was just scared to death. I knew that if there was a problem I was just not a trained aviator. I knew I had to do something about it. I said I have to conquer this fear. I went to Amelia Reid at Reid-Hillview Airport. I told her how scared I was. She took me for an aerobatic ride. And the first time we rolled it we didn’t fall out of the sky. We recovered and did a spin. I fell in love with aerobatic flight. I found my place. I have 23,000 hours and the majority is aerobatic flying and I’m still learning the art form.

BENEFITS OF AEROBATICS… Pilots gain a level a confidence that turns into calmness that makes them better and more confident aviators. They can get out of any spin they’re in in a calm, executed maneuver. Aerobatic flying is everything in terms of overcoming fear. Like Bob Hoover says, if you can fly well upside down you’re twice the pilot. Aerobatic flying makes you a more defined aviator. Putting the third dimension in the dynamic set of the Z axis and you’re controlling the flying machine and energy management, timing, recognition of speeds, control. For most people it defines them. They really have to face who they are but it also sets them free. It makes you a better aviator, a safer aviator, a more passionate aviator.

IN LOVE WITH AEROBATICS… I’ve dedicated my life to the art form. I have six flights today but I do one flight at a time. The attention to detail, whether you’re flying solo 10 feet off the ground upside down, or you’re tumbling through the sky, you absolutely have to be focused on that moment and how to accomplish that task. In the last 35 days I’ve flown 140 flights. Two weeks into the process I was flying twice a day. It takes time to acclimate.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE… I Practice 750 times a year. Been doing this full time for over 20 years. Knock on wood I haven’t hit the ground yet. Pushing the envelope is a quest to do something every day and do better. These machines will do anything you ask of them if you know how to execute it. I’m so excited to have an opportunity as an aviator to learn and increase my repertoire of figures I make in the sky. Your goal as an airshow performer is to thrill, inspire, and excite. The shear joy of those faces behind the flight line, that’s humbling man.

FAVORITE AIRPLANE… The last airplane I’ll ever own is my 1946 J-3 Cub with no electrical system. The J-3 says it all. I took a 10-year-old kid with a hard life flying in the front seat of the Cub with the door down. In fifteen minutes he was flying pretty well. And his statement to me was, “Mr. Sean, I never want to land.” He felt so free from his problems that he felt from his childhood and he was getting to feel himself as a human being in the sky. The only reason you fly a Cub is to purely fly and enjoy the moment. At the end of the day it certainly isn’t about dough, it isn’t about awards or accomplishments, it’s about living in the present and for me as an aviator, I never want to land either.

BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT… I got inducted into the aviation hall of fame and that was huge. To in there [with those guys] I was very humbled and touched. It helps me reflect on how lucky I’ve been. My whole life is defined by working in aviation. If you’re meant to fly never give up on your dream, your mission, your passion. If passion is your fuel you can accomplish anything.

Advice for students… If you are meant to fly, never give up on your dream, your mission, your passion.