Debrief

Aaron Tippin has been flying since age 4 when his father, the late “Tip” Tippin, let him help out on the controls of a DC–3. By age 20 Tippin had a commercial certificate and planned to fly for the airlines, but fate put him on the road to Nashville instead. He has released nine studio albums and two compilations. He stopped flying while trying to get his music career off the ground, but now owns a Stearman, a Helio Courier, a Piper J–3 Cub, and a Cessna 182 “that’s in boxes.”

A BORN AVIATOR...I’m a lucky kid. That was how it started with me, just a passion. It was in my dad, it’s in me, and now I have a 12-year-old [son]. He’s just as bad.

A DREAM DEFERRED...I didn’t want to do anything else for a living [except fly]. Vietnam ended, [the military] didn’t need any pilots, so I chose to pursue the corporate world. I didn’t care about anything else. But the energy crunch in the late 1970s took the wind out of my sails. I realized I wouldn’t make it to the airlines. I decided that what I liked next best was picking up a guitar and singing.

TOURING WITH A WARBIRD...Our job at the Commemorative Air Force is to make sure that America knows about the sacrifice of the Greatest Generation and the machines that took them there and brought them home. It’s very exciting.

PILOTS AND COUNTRY FANS...When you look at that audience at an airshow, there’s a ton of country fans. Barnstorming wasn’t done in cities, it was done in the country. Country fans and aviators are kin to each other from way back.

FAVORITE AIRPLANE...I will say this. If God came up to me and said, “You only get one,” I’d say, “OK, Lord, I’ll keep the Cub.”

MOST FUN...Heck, just pulling my airplanes out and flying them. I don’t get a lot of time to do it. Getting them out and flying around the patch, shoot some landings, it’s a thrill to me…I appreciate the simple things.

ADVICE for students...There are three things in aviation you can’t use: runway behind you, altitude above you, and fuel you leave behind on a truck.